Music isn’t just entertainment. It regulates us. It connects us. It grounds us. It creates pure joy.
I just got back from a trip through Europe. Three cities. Three concerts. And zero overlap in genre, crowd, or volume.
In Prague, we landed at the legendary Reduta Jazz Club, and my 17-year-old son got invited up to play a song with the band. In Vienna, I sat in the Mozarthaus and let a string quartet resonate through my body. And in Budapest? The Scorpions! Loud, glorious hard rock.
Different genres. Different countries. Different audiences entirely and every single room gelled.
We spend so much energy on all the “2e” things — the strategies, the accommodations, the executive functioning hacks — that it’s easy to forget the things that actually bring us joy, connection, regulation, and grounding. Music does all four. For gifted and distractible brains especially, it’s fuel.
Julie F. Skolnick, M.A., J.D. is the founder of With Understanding Comes Calm and the author of Gifted and Distractible: Understanding, Supporting, and Advocating for Your Twice Exceptional Child.
