Born three and a half months prematurely, Derek Paravicini is blind but has literally become an Autistic Concert Pianist. But with perfect pitch, innate talent and a lot of practice, he became a concert pianist by the age of 10. Here, his longtime piano teacher, Adam Ockelford, explains his student’s unique relationship to music, while Paravicini shows how he has ripped up the “Chopsticks” rulebook.
Derek Paravicini weighed half a kilogram when he was born, prematurely at just 25 weeks. Growing up blind and with severe autism, Paravicini had trouble communicating, but was fascinated by sound. He began teaching himself how to play the piano and, by 4-years-old, had taught himself an incredible catalogue of songs that he played with unusual technique. Soon, Paravicini began studying with Adam Ockelford, a teacher at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London, who saw in him the marks of a highly inventive musician. Paravicini gave his first concert at age 7 and, two years later, played the Barbican Hall.
TV and Stage
Once a child prodigy, he’s matured into a creative musician, able to reimagine songs in ways few can. Now in his thirties, Paravicini has continued to grow as a performer, with the ability to reimagine complex pieces of music even after only hearing them once. He was featured in the series Extraordinary People in the United Kingdom and, in the United States, on Stan Lee’s Superhumans, which verified his musical ability and confirmed his savantism. Paravicini has also worked with composer Matthew King. The two have played improvised pieces on BBC Radio and collaborated on Blue, the first concerto ever composed for someone with learning impairment. Autistic Concert Pianist indeed!
We’ve all heard of the tumult going on over head injuries, concussions, traumatic brain damage, the NFL; but, there is little specific information helping parents about their children and sports.
I’m told that during the war the brits had difficulty accepting that their wounded “chaps” with belly wounds shouldn’t be given tea to drink (it causes peritonitis) because doing so was such a national “tradition”—such is American football! Read more →
Concussion and Contact Sports Five important things to know
Did you pick out the Five Things About Concussions You Should Know?
First – don’t wait to “see if it goes away” before you seek accurate diagnosis. Often an accurate diagnosis depends on comparing measurements in an early visit with those in a later visit.
Second – Follow-up care is important not only to prevent further harm but sometimes to make an accurate diagnosis, especially about the brain and nervous system which can be very subtle.
Third – We now realize that there are long term effects of concussions, possibly up to 6 years! There may even be life-long consequences that must be overcome.
Fourth – Even multiple impacts without a diagnosed concussion often lead to long term effects. And,
Fifth, Helmets are designed to prevent skull fractures and NOT concussions.
We’ve been reviewing all the new pediatric health-care guidelines published last year in the past two articles. So far we’ve found that new research prompted governing groups to release care-guidelines for Congenital Dislocated Hips, Calcium supplementation, Fluoride supplementation, Read more→
Pretty much everyone has had a headache at some time or other. Unfortunately it is principally viewed as an adult disease when, in fact, it frequently occurs in children and adolescents as well. (more…)
Concussions are when a child’s head gets knocked around and causes their brain to be bumped back and forth against the hard skull. It always causes at least some tissue damage but children’s bodies being what they are, doesn’t always produce noticeable effects, at least not immediately.
Here is a fairly large collection of posts about the why’s and wherefore’s of the topic, which is receiving a whole lot of interest from the research community, including explanations, examples and even videos.
10 Posts in "Childhood Concussion" Series
Childhood Concussion Series: Intro/Index – 23 Jul 2013 This Childhood Concussion Series has grown into a fairly substantial number of posts, probably because there's a lot of interest in researching this topic, not to mention it's our kids, right? There's not only explanations but videos and examples too!
More dangerous than we thought – 24 Jul 2013 This article begins a discussion about children's concussions and how new research shows that they are more dangerous than we have thought even just last year. We'll even give (and show) real-life examples.
New guidelines for sports – 27 Jul 2013 Let's attempt to explain children's sport concussion injuries and the dilemmas around diagnosis, treatment and prevention. We'll be taking about the new concept of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy as well as rules and regulations.
Reading test a predictor of concussion – 30 May 2014 An interesting finding, if it pans out, is that simple tests (like reading) may be able to help diagnose childhood concussion and neurological impairment. That, of course, helps in treatment and rehabilitation.
10 scary issues – 18 Jun 2015 There are at least six scary issues about sports brain injuries and many of them involve player, coach, sponsor and even parent dishonesty, such as: denial, pressure to win, mis- or un-informed caregivers, legislation, return to play and repeat injuries (among others).
Football and brain damage – 21 Aug 2015 This post attempts to explain football player's brains—well, as much as that is possible. Of course, that's in order to attempt to explain how they are injured and what happens when are. Sort of like an enigma wrapped in a mystery.
5 things to know – 12 Sep 2015 A concussion from a contact sport often leads to long term problems - many of which can be avoided if parents understood these five things before letting their children participate. Understanding these five things can help you make informed decisions about return-to-play after an injury.
TBI, concussion and early nutrition – 28 Apr 2016 Here's an explanation of the "Cool Kids Brain Injury Nutrition Study" and the new things it has taught us about children who are injured playing sports receiving brain injuries.
Video: Concussion 101 – 6 May 2016 This video is for kids and parents of kids who have had a concussion and explains in less than a few minutes the three important things to remember if you've had a concussion. It's when that awesome brain of yours gets bumped and thumped around a bit inside your skull and it's a lot more complicated than the doctors who took care of your grandpa or even your dad had any clue about.
Video- concussion management – 30 May 2016 There is more new medical information about concussion, especially pediatric concussions, in the past 3 years than in the previous 10. We now know that it's much more complicated and substantial than we used to think and we're beginning to understand how better to treat children who've been injured. It's explained in this video.
If you’re interested in reading about other childhood sports injuries, you may like: Common sports fractures.
