Perfect Pitch in the Key of Autism: A Guide for Educators, Parents, and the Musically Gifted

Autistic people and musical individuals often have perfect pitch, a gift they were born with.  The musical gift may be accompanied with learning differences such as reading comprehension problems, trouble with mathematics, and significant difficulties in learning how to read music. This book was written by a music therapist and an autistic researcher, and is endorsed by leading experts in the field of autism and special-needs education. The Rancer Method addresses perfect pitch, giftedness, autism and sensory issues in music education.

Henny Kupferstein, M.A. is a doctoral student of psychology with a specialization in autism research. She is also a musical savant with absolute pitch and synesthesia. Henny gives web-based piano lessons to non-verbal and autistic students around the world. She is a parent of autistic children and is an autistic scholar, composer, and researcher. Henny is a contributing author, appearing in six chapters in the book Been There, Done That, Try This!, edited by Tony Attwood, Craig R. Evans and Anita Lesko. Henny can be reached via HennyK.com


Susan Rancer, RMT is a Registered Music Therapist since 1975. She has absolute pitch and was a child prodigy, and performed on the piano from a young age. She maintains a private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area where she does music therapy with special needs clients. She is the Author of Teaching Music to the Special Needs Client: A Music Therapist's Approach (ch. 25) in the book Islands of Genius by Dr. Darold Treffert, who is the world's expert on savants. In 2005, Susan published a short booklet titled "Perfect Pitch Relative Pitch", a guide for identifying and testing for the phenomena. Susan can be reached via SusanRancer.com