Professor Tony Attwood, author of The Complete Guide to Asperger Syndrome and world-renowned expert on autism wrote:

“You work with children and adults with autism using sound in a fascinating and unique way. I strongly endorse your approach and intuitively find it extremely appealing. In particular, I like the suggestions of enabling the child to cope with volume levels and also to use their body to control sound. For those with autism who are very young or a severe expression of autism, I think this would be an extremely enjoyable and productive experience for them."

The Nautilus Project is based on many years of composing and performing work with children using music technology and, of course, my special interest in working with and developing the potential of children with autism.

Providing an appropriate environment is fundamental to the work, especially as far as sensory issues are concerned. To this end, one of my strategies is to place speakers with very quiet sounds being played (sometimes by me, sometimes by a parent, sometimes recorded) as the child physically approaches the session. This enables the child to engage with volume levels, sound qualities etc.

The engagement process is certainly multi-faceted. I tend to use sounds chosen specifically for a child (possibly based on special interests) and these are often located on a sampling keyboard (many of the children are amazing at recognising precisely where sounds are located on a keyboard) Sounds such as mountain streams, steam trains, Tibetan singing bowls are used. The use of non-pitched sounds removes the requirement for 'traditional' music techniques on the keyboard.

Parents/carers are also able to take part and even compose music themselves, for example, for night-time calming activities.