We've got a twenty year old autistic son. He loves music particularly folk and Irish, possible because it's always been played around the house and in the car.

We have however stopped taking him to live sessions because part of the autistic condition is to have your own agenda. We are always conscious of the effect on performers of James becoming restless when he's finished his food/drink. He also , rather embarassingly, puts his fingers in his ears sometimes, not to reflect on the performance, but because of the way he hears certain frequencies.

We have, until recently, taken him to a local theatre which has performers on on Saturday lunchtimes, which he was just about able to cope with, as it's a situation that is miked up while people are chatting/eating lunch, and there is a girl there who has Down's syndrome who attends most weeks with her carers and copes very well.

It is a shame because James actually likes the music, but I think in many cases it can be stressful for the carers as well as the performers, and it depends on how the individual is able to cope.