or three hours, Willson was able to answer 12 basic questions, such as "What is your name?" and "How old are you?" (Dillard, 2009, p. 21). This was significant progress, considering that several years of occupational and speech therapy in public school special education programs plus home schooling had failed to help him with his communication problems (Dillard, 2009, p. 21). This was the spark that started Precision Songs, as Arlyn and Will found that using music to "[break] down large amounts of practical information into small bite-size pieces and then setting those pieces to simple music" was therapeutic for autistic children (Dillard, 2009, p. 21). They leave out lyrics in strategic places as a cue for the child to provide a live response, usually the answer to a question (Dillard, 2009, p. 21). Eventually, the child graduates from singing to speaking, but the bonus is that the music "helps autistics focus and learn what's important" (Dillard, 2009, p. 21).
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