Dr Pamela Heaton of the University of London, co-author of a report for the Economic & Social Research Council, said music teachers, especially those teaching instruments, should be given introductory training for dealing with "atypical children".
Her research compared the skills of six- to 19-year-olds with autism with a control group of matching age, IQ and level of musical background.
The children with autism had communication difficulties, but a sub-group of them produced "exceptional results" in one test, scoring 89 per cent compared to the average of 30 per cent.
"Most music teachers find it very hard to teach children who don't have good language skills," said Heaton. "If we had people who could teach the piano or violin on a one-to-one basis and understand their problems, we could see a lot of enjoyment."
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