Heres my latest gang, what do you think?
Ronny

He came to our facility in May of 84, a five year old package of trouble. His mane was Ronny and he was non-communicative; I’m not sure if he could speak, but he never did at least in my presents. He was self abusive, preditorily, extremely anti-social, a real prize package, of problems and on top of that, we were told he was autistic.

We got Ronny, because the three facilities he had attended previous to ours, couldn’t handle him. We were sort of his last hope, although I’m sure Ronny didn’t know, or care.

The brains of our association were already making noises like, perhaps Ronny should be in a mental hospital were he could be protected from himself a little better.

Ronny just pushed a chair over to a wall and rocked. He would go foreword until I thought he was going to hit the floor, head first. Then he rocked back until his head hit the wall, that was pretty much his day. He rocked like that for hours, but if he sensed you weren’t paying him attention he would bite himself. If those working with him were not very careful he would bite them, sometimes hard enough to draw blood.

About three weeks after Ronny graced us with his presence, I was working alone. Ray Snowsell, my regular, working pro, had called me in because he had a family issue that had to be addressed. He said it would only be for a couple of hours and so I agreed even though I had worked all day at my regular job.

Shortly after I came on duty a young female staffer from another part of the facility came into the room. She was very attractive, but I was amazed, because Ronny had stopped rocking and was studying her intently. I thought for a moment he was actually attracted to this young lady and who could have blamed him she was quite a looker. The C D she wore was on speaker, so every one could hear it. When she turned it off, so as to speak to me, Ronny went back to his rocking. After she left, I got the record player from the other room and played it for Ronny. The result was amazing to say the least. The rocking stopped, the self abusive behavior stopped and as far as I know, so did the predatorily behavior. He didn’t turn into a social butterfly or anything like that, but he did have an interest in life that he really seemed to enjoy.

When Ray finally arrived I told him what I had discovered, about Ronny and his love of music.

Ray had always claimed he could play the piano, but whenever pressured, had declined, saying the piano we had available was not suppose to be played.

I’m probably tone-deaf, but even so, it was evident the Ray could play the piano. I didn’t recognize the tune he played and seldom found music that entertaining, from a purely personal point of view. Ronny on the other hand was excited, his eyes sparkled and his hands fairly danced though the air.

I offered him my hand and we walked hand-in-hand to the piano. We waited patiently for Ray to finish and when he did I clapped. Ronny was already sitting on the bench, gently nudging Ray off the other side. Poised above the key like a predatory bird the index finger of each hand systematically tapped each and every key. The result of this test told us that there were two white and one black keys that weren’t working.

Ronny played the same tune that Ray had just finished. He played it ever bit as well as Ray, in fact better because he substituted keys that were similar for any of the three that didn’t work.

Ray and I talked about Ronny, and how we could help him develop his musical skill, but we might as well have save our effort. Neither of us ever worked with Ronny again. He was moved into a musical program, headed by two highly respected music teachers and they were supported by a person specializing in communication with the autistic.

We did hear reports of the amazing things Ronny was accomplishing in the field of music, but it was different then being involved.

About ten weeks after Ronny left our program, Staff and volunteers were invited to a piano recital, given by Ronny Cadman. When I entered the auditorium I was amazed by the grand piano which was on stage. It wasn’t a grand piano, but it was a piano that was grand, in comparison to the one Ray and I had introduced Ronny to, such a short time ago.

Gordon Budd one of Ronny’s music teachers, told us “Ronny is gong to play four very difficult piano pieces, then I will introduce the fifth as the grand finally.”

Ronny walk onto stage dressed in a tuxedo, he seemed to be impervious to the audience. He played the pieces with a certain style that even I could appreciate and the sound was flawless.

When he finished his fourth piece, Gordon Budd announced that for his final effort Ronny had selected a very technical piece, which was written to be preformed as a duet, but which Ronny would try to emulate, solo.

I know from the roar of applause that accompanied Ronny off stage, that he had indeed accomplished something, quite remarkable. Ronny paused just before disappearing off stage and gave the audience a bow, the demonstration was much more remarkable than I could have imagined.

I would like to tell you Ronny went on to enjoy a long and rewarding life in music, but that is not the case. At age thirteen, Ronny suffered a ruptured, appendices, perhaps he couldn’t tell anyone of his pain, perhaps he didn’t want to.

Ronny died at the age of thirteen, of a ruptured appendix. I’m not much of a religious man, but I like to think that there is someone somewhere who perhaps needed Ronny’s special talents. Perhaps he helps with the music in the place he gone to now, because God know he had the talent.

Talk to you soon ---ablelaz.