Via Ozarks First

"The Little Wing program at the School of Rock offers music classes for all preschoolers, but teachers are finding that the special needs students are learning much more than notes and chords.

When he's playing the drums, young student Tyberius is a rock star. He's having too much fun to realize how the much the music is helping him learn and grow.

"He's always loved music. It just clicks for him, which is very common for kids with his disorder," his mother Becky Velasco said.

Tyberius has Autism and attends Little Wing music classes at the School of Rock to supplement his regular therapy.

"He's getting that social interaction in a safe environment and it's very fun for him," Velasco said.

Velasco said music has made a big difference in his interaction with other kids.

"He'll do a lot of stuff on his own by himself and you have to really pull him in, but with music you don't have to pull him in because he loves it," she said.

Jonna Howes teaches Tyberius and the other special needs students in individual and group lessons.

"They can connect to music in a way that they can't necessarily connect to other things," she said.

With every song and every strum she sees the benefits that dozens of medical studies have proven."