Viewing music as a language, Ockelford, a composer, performer, researcher, and professor of music who has worked with children with special needs in the UK, draws on his research with blind children to propose that autistic children are also affected by an exceptional early cognitive environment (in which musical skills are more likely to flourish), and contends that exceptional musical interests and abilities should be nurtured in these children. He describes the nature of autism, how it is identified, and its main theories; how verbal language works and the features that autistic people find challenging; how music functions, how its abstract patterns make sense, and why these patterns are likely to appeal to children with autism; the nature of musical development and a framework of six stages across three domains of engagement that can be used to plan and deliver music curricula; the development of communication and how musicality corresponds to this, including how music can be used as an augmentative strategy to improve communication and support social development; the impact of early exceptional cognitive environments caused by autism in the context of music; and how to identify and teach children with perfect pitch. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)