Yamaha apologises to parent after turning away autistic child

SINGAPORE — A branch of Yamaha music school at Plaza Singapura turned down a student with autism, with the instructor purportedly saying his wife supported his decision not to teach the boy.

The parent of the child gave his account of the unhappy episode in a Facebook post on Monday (Aug 14), but said that the family is not taking any action against the school on the matter. Yamaha Music has since apologised to them for what the instructor did.

The incident happened last Friday when the child, 12-year-old Alex Lim, turned up for his second lesson to play the flute. There was a “shock” cancellation 75 minutes before the session was due to start, the boy’s father Ivan Lim said.

Mr Lim, 51, who is director of a research and publishing firm, told TODAY that the teacher had refused to teach Alex because he was autistic, and that the teacher’s wife, a nurse, also told him not to do so.

He said that the school’s staff member also tried to blame the boy’s grandmother for not responding to a phone call about the cancellation.

The grandmother, Mr Lim said, was the one who registered Alex in July for classes at Yamaha Contempo Music School. She informed a Yamaha staff member about Alex’s condition during enrolment, and asked for a teacher with the necessary experience.

After his first lesson, Alex told his father how enjoyable it was. When the second lesson was cancelled, the boy was crestfallen. “It was heartbreaking to see the look of disappointment on Alex’s face when I got to the school,” Mr Lim said.

Family members had spent a long time preparing the boy for the new class and place, which made the rejection harder to bear.

“As parents of special needs children, we deal with (such challenges) every day,” Mr Lim said. He quit his job as a journalist six years ago so that he could spend more time with his son.

“We just feel very hard done by (the teacher’s behaviour) and the way he conducted himself, and disappointed that there was no proper explanation given,” Mr Lim added.

The account from Yamaha Music (Asia) was that its staff member was not aware of Alex’s condition during enrolment, and the teacher learnt of it only when Alex’s grandmother informed him personally during the first lesson. The school apologised for the communication breakdown anyway.

Last night, it delivered a letter of apology in person to Mr Lim.

“We sincerely apologise for all that we and the teacher did and all that Mr Lim and family went through. No child, parent, or grandparent should be made to go through what happened,” its spokesperson told TODAY.

It also apologised for not supervising the teacher over the cancellation of class, which gave “extremely short and unfair notice” to Mr Lim’s family.

It has since spoken to the teacher, who admitted that his conduct was unacceptable. The spokesperson added: “We understand and accept that Mr Lim and family are upset, hurt, and furious for the treatment received. We know that Alex was massively disappointed at no longer having lessons which he had worked so hard for and was eagerly looking forward to.”

TODAY understands that Yamaha is looking to take action against the teacher.

Mr Lim said that the family has been offered a full refund of about S$300 for the lessons, but they may not take it.

He added that Alex used to take flute lessons from a family friend, who is a composer and conductor, but those had to stop because the friend frequently travelled overseas for work. Now, they are thinking of enrolling Alex in another music school.