I'm a piano teacher and sensory-informed coach who helps music teachers better understand and support their autistic and ADHD students.

For more than 40 years, I've worked with students with different learning styles, strengths, and needs. Today, I bring that experience together with specialized training in sensory processing and regulation to help music teachers understand what's happening beneath the challenges they see in their lessons.

Hemdah Salonimer-Horner

Coach for Music Teachers of Autistic & ADHD Students

My Connection to Sensory Processing

As a child, I struggled with processing sounds. Loud or unexpected noises could be physically painful and overwhelming, and I didn't have the words to explain what I was experiencing.

Piano wasn't always a calming place for me either. When I made mistakes while practicing, I could become so frustrated that I would hit myself or the piano. My mom helped me redirect that frustration by asking me to hit my thighs instead. Neither of us knew it then, but that pressure helped calm my body so I could return to practicing.

It wasn't until high school that I began to experience music as something that could calm my brain. I also began to realize that I wanted to teach. I thought perhaps I could help other kids who struggled the way I had.

Years later, my study of sensory processing gave me a new understanding of those early experiences, and a new way of seeing the students in front of me.

Today, that understanding shapes both my teaching and the way I help other music teachers understand and support their students.

Experience & Training

My work brings together more than 40 years of music teaching experience with specialized training in sensory processing and regulation.

Music Education & Teaching

• Master of Music in Piano Performance with an emphasis in Pedagogy, University of Missouri–Kansas City

• Bachelor of Arts in Music/Music Education, Graceland

• Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM), Music Teachers National Association

Sensory-Informed Training

• Inside Out Sensory Certificate, Levels 1 & 2, Jessie Ginsburg

• Training and study in sensory processing, regulation, and neurodiversity-affirming approaches

• Ongoing professional learning focused on understanding and supporting autistic and ADHD students