Thrive Music Studio

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 100 people is on the autism spectrum. Because it's a spectrum, someone with autism may have almost undetectable symptoms or they may have difficulty performing daily tasks that most of us take for granted. Both the individual with autism and the family of that individual need community and institutional support.

Play is something that is written into our DNA. Play is how we explore ideas to see what works. It's how we explore alternate realities which helps our critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It's also through play that we develop empathy as we act out different roles through make-believe.

Play isn't just for children. It's what makes us come alive.

We owe it to ourselves and to one another to embrace the diversity that is humanity. The right to human dignity is a universal one and it should not depend on the colour of our skin.

Yet everyday, we receive countless messages that tell us that we're better than or inferior to someone on the basis of how we look. Some messages are very subtle while others are overt.

To perceive someone as ""other"" is to enter into the realm of ""us"" vs ""them"" which dehumanises all of us. It's time for us to find a better way.

The answer lies in discovering what we have in common with people who look different from us. So here are some questions to ponder:

✅ Do you love your child?

✅ Do you want to see your child happy and healthy, living a productive, meaningful life?

✅ Do you wish to be treated with respect and civility?

✅ Do you long to be seen, heard and understood?

If you answered yes, you'll find that the other person likely gave the same answers too. The things that really matter in life are really the same for all of us.

There is only one race. And that is the human race.

We really are social species. Our brains actually release hormones that neutralise stress when we're engaged in positive social interactions. And learning to understand another person's emotional world is so important to us that our brains are designed to look for and understand countless non-verbal cues.

Thrive chooses to specialise in collaborative learning because learning is social. Everything we learn is because of what someone showed us or told us.

The interactions that take place in a typical class at Thrive are highly interactive and occur between children, between parent and child and between children and caring grown-ups in our studio community.

Children learn that the world is a safe place for them to explore because of the many positive interactions they have that give them the confidence they need to be curious. It also encourages them to be generous and compassionate with others just as they themselves get to be the beneficiaries of all that love and goodwill extended to them.