Ten year old Jordan was diagnosed with autism when he was four years old. He has been nonverbal ever since. He never has joy and his mother, Karen, feels like she does not have a connection with Jordan. It is just him and his mother. Jordan is scared of human interactions and has a hard time communicating with people. Every night, Karen would always sing him the same lullaby. One day, Jordan and Karen were walking through the streets of New York, and Karen asked Jordan if he wanted to go to Central Park for a concert. Jordan did not respond. They kept walking, and Karen decided that they were going to get a sandwich. 

Suddenly, Jordan heard the sound of music. Jordan suddenly changed directions to where the music was playing from. Someone was playing the piano in a music store. Jordan looked the man straight in the face, and he smiled. Karen grabbed Jordan and started walking away frantically. The man asked, “What’s wrong?”

Karen said, “He has never smiled at me. It is hard to realize that the one person that I love the most has never smiled at me. He has never connected with me, but he connected with a complete stranger.”

The man said, “He is not connecting with me. He is connecting with the music.” Karen and Jordan went home. The next day when Karen woke up, Jordan was not there. Karen called the police and they searched. Karen went through the streets looking, and then she remembered the connection between Jordan and music. She went to the music store, but it was closed. She remembered that there was a piano in Central Park, and she started running. She came upon Jordan fluently playing the same lullaby that his mom sang to him every night. Music is a way for Jordan to have courage and connect with people. Jordan and his mother can now communicate through music, and his mom signed him up for music lessons.