Hello, The age for beginning music lessons depends on (1) the teacher and her methods and experience with young children (2) the ability of the parent to get the child to do the musical songs and games and to practice with the child at home and (3) the cooperation of the child.  With piano lessons, for ages 3-6, I often begin with a 2 octave Glockenspiel with black and white "keys" which resembles a very large piano keyboard.  The length of time spent on the Glockenspiel depends on the child but it can range from 3 weeks to 14 months.  The child learns largely by imitation but can learn the Letters of the Keys.  At this point, part of the lesson may include singing, listening and drawing while listening to music.  Once they move to the piano, I have a program which calls the fingers by colors.  For example, there's the RED Finger, Green Finger, etc.  The parent continues to sit in on every lesson and work with the child at home.  The parent plays audio and video tapes for the child.  The child pretends to play the songs while listening and right afterwards plays the song on the piano..  Counting is done with words such as "Mississippi Hot Dog" and Hop Bunny Hop. Finger numbers and note reading are also introduced.  I have several computer games for teaching note reading.  If the child has a problem with attention span, I let them play or color, while I help the parent to understand the "homework for that week".   I use some of my own songs and Suzuki Piano Books.  I think that the children learn quite a lot.  I also teach violin to children ages 3 1/2 and up using mostly ideas from Suzuki Violin Teacher Training and note reading and computer games, introduced gradually.  I run my own private Music School Halifax Canada).

The Big Brothers-Big Sisters program is wonderful and I highly recommend it.  My son was in it for 7 years.  The program is for children ages 7-16 with only one parent.  See if there's a program for it in your area.  We started attending the same church as the Big Brother, and I think that church and the "church family", and the youth programs are a wonderful influence on children, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. 
My son took violin lessons, and his "Big Brother" was very supportive, such as attending recitals, etc.  I also think that music lessons are important for a child's development.  Later my son went to college and became a professional violinist.    You can never take the place of your late husband, but you can be the "best Mom ever" and help your child to develop her talents and gifts and become a "wonderful human being".

My daughter-in-law used Baby Plus with my grandson.  I believe that he was "normal" prenatally and moved around, so maybe that's a difference.  My grandson had a small problem with hearing because of something like wax in one ear, and it was corrected.   But I don't think that it was caused by Babyplus.  He has great rhythm and started drum lessons at age 4, and is now 7.  Loves drums, and wears those special headphones for "deadening" the drum sound.  I'm interested in any other comments on the subject.

Hi Lois,
My email should be [email protected]     (It should be dot ca NOT dot com.  Also my website is mapleleafmusicschool dot com

Sorry about the confusion with my email.    Songs with flats are very challenging for beginning violinists.  Avoid the Keys of C,F, Bflat and Eflat.
Stick to the key of D at first and maybe A.  Later add the key of G.  Do not use the smallest finger for many months, as there is much to learn with the other three fingers,  (The index finger, middle and ring finger)   Making the bow go back and forth is s challenge.  Try emailing me again.  Skippy in Canada

Hi Lois, Sorry my books are not available online.  However, I do have some extra ones at my studio,  Contact me through my email   which is
 skippym at eastlink dot com or my website www mapleleafmusicschool dot com and I'll look into shipping you a book.  All the best, Skippy

 I have been teaching violin for 41 years.  I tune the violin to standard tuning, G,D,A,E.  However, the beginner uses only the E String and the A string.  I  use only 3 colored stripes which I place under the strings.  You must understand that most violin teachers use only certain keys at first.  The child usually spends some months on the \keys of A Major and D Major.  After the child can play well in these keys, the next key to add is G major.  Other keys are avoided the first year.
On the A String, Do = PINK for open A, Re = BLUE for note B, Mi = GREEN for Not C Sharp, and Fa = RED for the NOTE D.
The E String is the same-  SOL = PINK = NOTE E, FA = BLUE = NOTE F Sharp, LA = GREEN and is NOTE G sharp, High DO is RED and is NOTE A
Notes such as C natural, F natural, B flat are avoided for the beginning months, maybe even the first year.  And the Note B flat is definitely avoided, usually for the first 2 years.  Besides this the violin MUSSuzuki Violin T be very small, the LEFT arm must make a Bit VEE shape and not be at all straight.  My granddaughter started out with a 1/32 size.  I also own violins in 1/`16 and 1/10 sizes which I RENT to my students.    I highly recommend the book called "They're rarely too young and never too old to twinkle" by Kay Collier Slone, published by SHAR Publications.  In teaching Suzuki, the student learns by rote, and by listening.  Their are also many clips on Youtube, if you type in Pretwinkle: Suzuki Violin Class -- This is by teacher Eric Davenport.  All the best, Skippy

I have been teaching violin for 41 years.  I have taken some Suzuki training and using Suzuki books as well as my own books.  I have designed and written my own Color-Shape method.  I have written one book for Violin and 4 books for Piano using the same method.  There are 5 colors which correspond to the five fingers.  On Violin, the THUMB = PINK, the INDEX finger = BLUE, the Middle finger = GREEN, the Ring Finger = RED and the little finger = ORANGE.  On the right hand for piano, the colors go in the same direction.  The little finger = PINK and the RING finger = BLUE, the Middle finger = GREEN, the Index finger = RED and the THUMB = ORange.  Each color is represented by a shape and the books are printed in black and white and then colored by the children.  The shapes are PINK = STAR, BLUE = SQUARE , GREEN is a WEDGIE (or GREEN EGGS on PIANO) , RED = Triangle and Orange = a Diamond.  The children color their songs.  For more information my website is mapleleafmusicschool dot com.  Many songs which are easy to sing are very hard to play on the violin because of the bowing and the fingering.  Also on Youtube, check out Cassandra playing the "Train Express Song".  It takes the child often 2-3  months to hold the violin nicely and to bow correctly, even before using the left hand fingers.  If any questions, just email me through the form on my website.

I have known several families using two or three languages, including my grandchildren.  So here are some ideas.  With my grandchildren, the MOM speaks German (1st language) and English for the second.  The DAD's languages are First English, then German and Japanese, and they live in Germany and are surrounded by German.  So with the older boy, they started him on YBCR at 8 weeks and did lots of flashcards.  He learned to REad and speak English at the same time.  By age 2 and 2 months he could read HOP on POP, and continued reading English.  He picked up phonics and learned to read German very easily.  Also I found many clips on Youtube, including Mr. Thorne's phonics program, and I made about 50 DVDs of Youtube clips emphasizing English and general knowledge.  Also I read stories on the webcam and saved them to DVD.  For a while we did Skype about an hour every week, and I read stories and sang songs -- all of this was very helpful.  He went to Japanese school on Saturdays for 3 years, and my son read Japanese with him every night., although he can't speak it very well, he can understand it.   He speaks German as his first language and his English is very good, although he has to think about it.  He is in Grade 1 (in German school) and reads at a Grade 4 level.  He's been reading chapter books in English since he was 4.   His sister is 3.6 and speaks very little English and doesn't read much in any language.  The parents say that they are too busy.    They haven't had much time for the DVDs and Skype is only half an hour 2-3 times a year.  If you can find any one to Skype with that is very useful, or a babysitter speaking the second language.  They can read stories and sing songs in the languages of your choice.   Download clips from Youtube and save them to memory stick or DVD.  Teach READING in both languages starting as babies.  Those are my thoughts.

Good Luck to those who are teaching colors.  As stated previously, I taught by choosing ONE color and POINTING to it.
I rarely bothered  with the NOUN so I didn't have to worry whether I said the "BLUE car" or the car is blue.  I just
pointed to things and said BLUE- BLUE.  Then I asked my DS to point to something BLUE.  On a different day, we
did another color.   This makes more sense to
me than the original article, since you can do it with a child who is not yet very verbal.  Also I think that you should NOT point
to things that are far away, such as "grass".  Stick with items which are near to the child, such as toys.

When I taught my 2 year old colors, I chose one color, and for a day or 2 we would point to everything RED.
I would point to 10-15 objects in a day all with the same color, usually with his toys, or things
in the kitchen.  I would say, This ball is RED.  Let's point to some other things that are RED>
Then 2 or 3 days later we would point to everything blue, repeating the same method,
of pointing to objects of the same colors.   After doing several colors, we would start pointing
to things of 2 different colors.  Point to something RED,  OK, now point to
something BLUE.   I emphasized what colors his clothes were and other familiar objects.
By the time he was 26 months he could point to various colors when I asked him.  Later as he began talking,
I used the colors in phrases and sentences.  But by that time he had been able to identify the colors by pointing
 for several months. 

Have the child's eyes tested.  Just in case.
Some of the ideas already given by other parents sound like they would work..
Here's some more.
Choose several words that she knows from a book.
You read the book to her but every time the special word appears
you stop and let her read it.
You read the left page and she reads the right.
If you have any type of bell or something that dings, then
ding the bell for the page turn.  Kids think that this is funny.
Get colored DOTS from the dollar store.  Usually they are a thousand
for a dollar.  At every page turn, stick a dot on the page.
Ten little dots can equal a bigger sticker.  Two (or three, or four, wahtever)
big stickers equals something that will please the child.
Have the child read to you while you are doing something in the
kitchen.  That way you are close at hand.  I used to have my four-year-old
read to me while I did the dishes.
Keep reading to her, but try to read things that are just a bit too hard
for her to read herself.  Good luck, Skippy

There are numerous problems with the study mentioned. First, the young children are sightlearning to read certain words in particular fonts.  So showing them letters of the alphabet and expecting them to identify them by sound at 18 months or to read words in different fonts seems totally preposterous.  Also many children in the 12 - 18 month group are not very verbal.  And often when they say something only the mother can guess what it is. Also I agree that YBCR does not teach children to read their own names.  It is obviously ridiculous to show an 18 month words which he has never seen before.   My grandson started on YBCR at 8 weeks and did all the DVDs, not just ONE DVD over a period of more than one year.  He was also shown flashcards.  But after 7 months of doing the program, I am sure that he would not be "reading".   At the age of 2 1/2, however,  he seemed to be reading quite a few words from children's books which I showed him.  His first language is German, and his second language is English.  By the age of 2 and 10 months, he was able to read some sentences from the German newspaper, although he had received very little instruction in reading German.  From the age of 3 he started Japanese school one day a week, and his father also reads Japanese with him in the evenings, and by age 5 he can read Japanese too, which is his third language.  Unfortunately, I do not know what his reading level is in English, but he seems to understand phonics and can read words which are new to him. 

I would not worry at all if a 2 year old gets languages mixed up.  If she continues to listen to and speak the languages, she will sort it out after a while..

 I know of a family where the mother was Japanese, the father Bulgrarian and they conversed in English.  Every year they would invite the Japanese grandmother to visit them for a month.  Then they would have the Bulgarian grandmother visit for a month, sometimes bringing her Albanian speaking step-daughter with her.  The children went to English speaking school.  The 2 year old listened but spoke only a few words of Japanese-- just a few words.  But after he turned 3 he started speaking a lot.  His older sister about ages 5 to 6 spoke and read her 3 languages, with great fluency.    So give the children a lot of experience in listening and speaking.  If possible have a native speaker (Vietamese or German) visit you.

My grandchildren are learning 3 languages:  First: German, 2) English 3) Japanese.  The 2 year old speaks mostly German and only a  few words of the other languages.  The almost 6 year old has about this fluency:  100% German, 75% English, 50% Japanese.   The mother and her family speak to the children in German, the father and I (the other grandmother) speak English, and the father and his Japanese friends speak Japanese.  The 6 year old understands everything in English, but in speaking he occasionaly gets mixed up.  I don't get upset, I just continue.  The problem is that the 6 year old boy doesn't have enough opportunity to use his English.  When he is older he could come to Canada where I live for a few weeks in the summer and that would help. The children did the Your Baby can Read program from the age of 6 weeks, and the older boy started reading English and German at the age of 2.  He goes to Japanese school on Saturdays and has attended for 3 years.  He can read and is learning to write Japanese. Mixing up languages is quite common for children who are learning.
All the best, Granny Skippy

Play the "Sillies GAME"  -- That's when you can give wrong answers but you know they ar wrong.
Ask questions that are "not very academic"  What's the wether like.  What's your cat's name, etc.  They should be
Silly questions.
Praise her for "Effort"
Note when she finishes something.
Did she get dressed?  Finish her ice cream?  Whatever she finishes, praise her for that.
Have her do simple things like empty a wastebasket. 
Make an "EFFORT CHART"  She gets a sticker, not for being right or wrong but for effort.
If she is at least 4 or5, you can find a piano or violin teacher who will accept students that age.  I have taught piano and violin for over 40 years, and there is nothing like music lessons to learn the value of continuing.  It's also valuable in learning to do something such as learning a song, practicing it for a few minutes,
leaving it till the next day, and pick up learning it again.  She needs to learn that you can come back to some things and work on them again.
Also you can do silly things yourself, such as offering her uncooked pasta.  Make a list of the steps you need to do to cook it.  Point out to her how important it is to complete those steps. 
Read all the books that were suggested above -- they sound excellent.
All the best -- Granny Skippy

Keep reading about this.  Google for Autism and Diet.  There's numerous links.  Also Google for Autism and KETONES.  Autism and MCT, and coconut oil.  Also read comments of parents at the end of some articles.  All the best.