Music For Special Education: The How to Guide to Success in Music Class

Do you teach music for special education classes? Have you ever been stumped on how to make your self-contained special ed music class fun, engaging and successful for your students?

If so, you are in good company. It can be challenging finding what works for your special education music classes.

In this blog post I will share with you some of the things that I have learned through trial and error in my own classroom, and hopefully save you some of the challenges I had when starting to plan music lessons for special needs students.

Benefits of Music for Special Needs Students

There are so many benefits to exposing your special needs students to music. Here are just a few of the many ways that music benefits all students, especially students with special needs.

Social Benefits of Music

Music class can be a good way to teach social skills to students. Having a hello song and teaching students about responding to a hello greeting is a social skill they can learn.

Taking turns with an instrument is another one. Many of these students may have social goals on their IEP that you can work towards in your songs and activities.

Emotional Benefits of Music

Some special needs students may have difficulty expressing their emotions. They may also have difficulty processing emotional cues in others, such as body language and facial expressions.

You could use a song like If You’re Happy and You Know It, and in between repetitions of the song, have pictures of people with different emotions and have students identify what emotion they see.

Also, students get the emotional benefits of joy, camaraderie, and all the other wonderful emotions you can experience through music! 

Educational Benefits of Music

Songs can be a great way to practice foundational skills such as identifying colors, counting to ten, identifying letters, words or numbers, just to name a few. Again, there might be specific IEP goals students are working towards that you can incorporate into some of your songs.

For example, I did a winter song and then had students count the snowflakes. For more advanced students, I would have two sets of snowflakes. They have to point to the set with 3 snowflakes or the set with 5 snowflakes.

Musical Benefits of Music

And of course we can’t forget the musical benefits of music for special education. Learning about concepts such as steady beat, singing, correct use of instruments and all the other musical concepts that you can explore in your class.

Remember that for many students, the eventual goal is to mainstream them. So the more you can prepare them to join a mainstream classroom with some basic musical knowledge, the better.

Accommodations will most certainly have to be made even after mainstreaming, but it would help them tremendously to have some basic knowledge to work from.

Planning Music Lesson for Special Needs Students

Set Some Basics Music Goals for Your Special Ed Students

I have two different levels that I see – PreK and K-5. While there is a wide range of students in the K-5 class, there are more students on the older side (2nd grade and up).

For my PreK class, my goals are mostly to get them to respond to music through some sort of movement and to explore the correct use of an instrument such as rhythm sticks or a drum. Do not expect that all students will respond right away. Expect a lot of blank stares the first time. Students need MANY repetitions of the same song before they might join in and move along with it.

With my older grades, we started with the steady beat. We also had goals such as sorting percussion into metal and wood groups and describing how a song makes them feel. Many students are non-verbal, so I have not done any singing goals, but each group of students is different. Tailor your goals to their needs.

Tips on How to Teach Music to Special Needs Students

Routine

Students thrive on routines, especially in special education. Have a standard routine every time students come to your room. Mine consists of sitting, reviewing correct music class behaviors, looking at our visual picture schedule, singing a hello song, doing some songs and activities and then our goodbye song.

Repetition

I cannot stress this one enough. Repetition is KEY for special ed students. With my PreK class, I will be slowing this down considerably next year to the point of creating a new lesson for them each quarter.

That’s right. They will repeat basically the same lesson for 9 weeks in a row. And love it. I will add an extra level of familiarity with them during the beginning of the year by using mostly songs they already know (Wheels on the Bus, Baby Shark, etc), that will help take away from the unfamiliarness of a new space (the music room).

My older class doesn’t need to repeat quite that much, but we will probably do the same songs for at least a month at a time.

Picture Schedule

When teaching music for special education classes, have a visual schedule of what you are doing for the day. Students thrive on routine, and knowing their schedule helps them know the purpose of the lesson and what is happening next. Otherwise, anxiety over the unknown can spiral your class right out of control.

Students who do not know the game plan for the class period often act out with a variety of behaviors, so give them what they need (a picture schedule), and you’ll already have upped the success factor in your class.

A great place to learn more about picture schedules in at Autism Little Learners. Tara has a wealth of information about ways to use visual supports in your classroom. You can even check out this 7-Day Visual Supports Challenge.

Visuals

Visuals are incredibly useful in teaching music for special education. With my PreK class, I have learned to give the verbal direction once, then just use the visual until they comply or I show them what I am trying to communicate, hand over hand.

See if you can give one word directions. Clap. Sit. Play. I had no concept of how many extra words I was using until I first encountered my PreK class. The assistants in that class coached me and it took a while but our class was rocking by the end of the year.

I also use visuals with my PreK class to help bring the song and routine to life. Visuals of animals in songs like Old MacDonald or Hickory Dickory Dock help students engage.

You can grab a copy of the visuals I use for these two songs (Old MacDonald and Hickory Dickory Dock), as well as more tips on how to use this song with your special ed students. Click here for this special ed music resource kit.

I use visuals to show what I want them to do in each activity (clap, play an instrument, listen, etc) and to help them pick choices (ex: what animal should we sing about on Old MacDonald’s farm?).

I use a visual of students sitting when they come in the door. I have visuals of our rules (I use the same ones that they use in their classroom at circle time). If there is something you want them to understand, be prepared to have a visual handy.

Puppets and Play Toys

Music can be a bit abstract for many students. Having something concrete can help them perceive and respond to music. For example, marching toy dinosaurs to We Are the Dinosaurs by The Laurie Bernker Band was a wild success with my PreK class.

Instruments

Isn’t it universally true that every song is better with an instrument to play along? Special ed students love instruments just as much as all your other students. So of course we use them in practically every lesson.

I usually have an instrument of the month (or quarter for my PreK). We discuss the correct way to use it (not in the mouth, gentle, etc). Then we pass it out and play with the song.

Sensory Activities

One thing that is a huge hit with special ed students is sensory experiences. Things like sitting under a big parachute as the adults lift it up and down over their heads, having a giant scarf brushing up and down over their face as you lift it up and down, bubble activities and more.

Hand Over Hand

Sometimes when you are teaching students skills such as steady beat or even making a choice of two pictures on a piece of paper, you may have to physically guide their hand. This is called “hand over hand” and is a form of scaffolding to help them learn new skills.

This can be a very helpful tool, but always keep in mind the temperament of the child as well. Some students are ok with hand over hand. Some students are resistant to touch. The student’s aide should be able to help you gauge what is best for each individual child.

Limited Choices

An overabundance of choices can be very overwhelming to special needs students. When possible, give students just two choices. 

For example, when teaching about types of percussion, we didn’t sort woods, membranes, shakers and metal all at the same time. We just sorted metal or wood. So for each instrument I could just ask metal or wood?

Non-verbal options

Remember, many of your students may be non-verbal or have limited verbal abilities. If you can find the right way to ask a question, you might be surprised how much they know.

The first time I to tried to teach about types of percussion, I thought the kids were not grasping it at all. I would show an instrument we had just talked about and ask them – is this a metal? Well, no matter what instrument is was, they would just say “yes” to everything.

Then I had a different idea. I gave them the instrument in their hands. Then I grabbed two buckets. I asked “metal or wood” indicating one bucket for metal and the other for wood. They had about 95% accuracy after that.

Another non-verbal tool is a choice chart. It has picture of, for example, different movements we could do to a song (tap, jump, clap, etc). Students can point to their choice.

Finally, here is another example of a non-verbal tool I used in teaching music for special education. I saw a music and emotions worksheets on @buchananmusicprogram on Instagram and thought – this would be perfect for my special ed students!

Students pick a color and emotion to go with a song. We listened to different kids of music and students worked with an aide to decide on a picture to paste and a color to go with each song.

A List of Music for Special Education Classes

Looking for some helpful songs and resources for teaching your special ed music classes? Here is a short list of some of the songs my students loved. And don’t forget! I’ve already compiled two primary songs and the visuals I use into a ready to go resource for you. Click here and get two ready-made special ed visuals for music class with a how to page of exactly how to use these songs with your special ed population.

YouTube Channels

The Singing Walrus – great songs for older students. The songs are simple, but the music is less baby-ish.

Super Simple Songs – excellent for PreK classes

CocoMelon – there is something magical and mystical about CocoMelon songs. Students are always pulled into the videos. 

Songs for Younger Grades

We Are the Dinosaurs – Laurie Berkner Band

The Goldfish Song – Laurie Berkner Band

Wheels on the Bus

Old MacDonald

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

The Rainbow Song

Logo Te Pate (from Moana)

Colombia, Mi Encanto (from Encanto)

Songs for Older Grades

Rock and Roll version of Jingle Bells

First Snow by TSO – click to view the motions I created on YouTube!

Mary At the Kitchen Door (blues-style folk song)

Colombia, Mi Encanto (from Encanto)

Looking For More Ideas For Music Class?

Here are some other blog posts you might enjoy.

Movement Activity With Troika by Prokofiev

Five Fun Ways to Teach About Famous Composers

Want a FREE Mini-Unit on Jazz Music?

Click here to get a FREE jazz mini-unit! With fun rhythm and jazz listening sections, this is a great way to introduces students to jazz music!