Nathaniel loves music! The occupational therapists use an electric keyboard to help him learn patterns and other skills. For example, it is really important that he can move his left hand to the right side of his body (crossing the midline of his body). He does this by playing each key from left to right and from right to left. One day I was working with him. I played the first few notes of a song and told him to copy what I did. He copied my pattern exactly one octave lower. He has never taken piano lessons. He plays patterns for us to follow and he follows patterns that we play.
His music therapist makes videos of herself making facial expressions and breathing to the beat of music he likes. He tries to follow. These skills will help eventually with eating and speaking.
Occupational therapy also uses the card game Taki to help him learn new skills. It's a card game in which players have to match cards by color and/or number. He is a wiz with matching color cards. He is getting better with recognizing numbers. Today I gave him a card and he twisted it around. I didn't understand why until I saw that I had given him a 3 card that was upside down. He oriented it correctly and placed it appropriately.