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SALT LAKE CITY — Fourteen-year-old guitarist Micah Spjute can play a hymn, cover a classic rock tune or serenade classmates with a song and tap dance routine. But ask him why he likes music and the words don’t come.
Instead, there’s silence and then a sigh.
That’s because, his mom, Becca Spjute, says, Micah has Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. The music question prompts too many thoughts to flood her son’s brain and the words don’t come out, she said.
Because of his diagnosis, Becca Spjute says her son has a hard time making friends, but music helps. It gets him out there, up on stage. Micah performs in his school’s jazz band and choir and at other venues.
“Really, with my kids, it gives them a better level of confidence,” Becca Spjute said.
In fact, Micah's siblings also face challenges and meet them with the help of music.
Their parents say Caleb, 12, and Macey, 6, also show some symptoms of Asperger’s; and Julia, 9, and Caleb have Tourette syndrome. Caleb plays piano and his sisters play violin.
The children are shy, “but when they get up there, and they can get on stage, it’s almost like they’re a different person," Becca Spjute said.
Really, with my kids, it gives them a better level of confidence.
–Becca Spjute, mother
“It’s hard to get into social situations when you have Asperger’s,” their dad, Troy Spjute, said. “You don’t know where to start, where to begin. But when you go up there and perform, people come up to you and start talking to you.”
Troy Spjute speaks from experience. He says he has Asperger’s syndrome too.
“(Troy) didn’t have a lot of friends when he was younger,” Becca Spjute said. “He always felt like people looked at him like he was weird, and he was depressed a lot of time.”
In high school Troy Spjute found his place in a school choir.
”I saw him change over the course of the two years,“ said Brian Bentley, Troy Spjute’s former choir teacher. “He became much more confident — confident socially and musically.”
“I think he really had a sense of being part of the group and an important party of the group by the time he finished,” Bentley said.
Troy Spjute recalled a scene from the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” during which a teacher explains to a student that music is supposed to be joyful.
“It lifts you up,” Troy Spjute said. “It lifts you up in a lot of different ways. It’s a confidence booster. It just lifts your spirit.”
It gives you, he says, “a feeling in your heart, you know, that can really change who you are.”
