Alison's Allure
Alison Krauss' music has become a major fixture in our home. The sounds of her music flow through our home on a daily and constant basis since the fall of 1997.
Alison Krauss is a bluegrass singer and fiddler player. She has won numerous Grammy Awards and many other awards. Her band is Union Station. As her many fans can attest, she has a voice that can leave you breathless and yearning to hear more!
My 20 year-old daughter, Alison Higginbotham, has become an enormous fan of Alison Krauss (AK). Her devotion to AK's music has impacted Alison's life in delightful and surprising ways.
Alison was diagnosed with a rare and devastating form of seizures as an infant called infantile spasms. As a result of infantile spasms, Alison has cerebral palsy, is non-verbal (she can say "mama" but communicates with informal gestures), and has significant delays in her cognitive and physical development. Alison's cognitive awareness has increased dramatically since listening to AK. Her communication gestures have also dramatically improved. Recently, to our surprise, she started saying "good-bye"! Since we and others always say "bye" or "bye-bye" to Alison, the only place she could have learned that word was from AK's song "Every Time You Say Goodbye" and the other AK songs that have "goodbye" in it! Alison has also learned to say "fa-get" and "get" from AK's new song "Forget About It". Alison has also made up a "sign" for AK. Ironically, the "sign" looks like a "K" in sign language (Alison hasn't been taught sign language) and places it on or near her nose. We recently realized that she also does an "a" in sign language and alternates between the "a" and "k", thereby doing a sign for AK! (see picture)(her fine motor skills limits her ability to use sign language)
Alison first heard AK the day she had corrective surgery on both of her feet at Shriner's Hospital in Shreveport, LA. Her roommate, Stephenie, played her AK tape every night. After returning home from the hospital, I bought her AK's "Now That I Found You: A Collection". She would cry when we didn't play the tape for her. When it was time for her to regain her walking abilities after the surgery (she has been able to walk short distances since she was 6 years old), I used AK's music to get her to walk from one side of the room to the other side. Motivated by AK's music, Alison soon learned to walk again. Since then, Alison wants to constantly listen to AK's music. She now has all of AK's CDs as well as the audio tapes (the CDs for home and the tapes for the van -- she has a small tape player that attaches to her wheelchair for when she goes for rides in her wheelchair around the neighborhood). She also has other CD's that have songs recorded by AK.
Alison has learned to "dance" by rocking back and forth and from side to side. She takes our hand in hers so that we can dance with her. She points to the tape player in our van for AK's music. She points to the VCR for us to play videotapes with AK on it. Prior to this, Alison never watched television. These are some of the things Alison has started doing -- they may seem small to many, but they are major things for Alison to be doing and it also shows us some of the things she understands.
Most nights, she wakes up at all hours of the night. Guess what she wants to do? Watch and listen to AK! She screeches with excitement and "dances"! Recently, one evening Alison wanted my husband, Danny, to play AK's music in the living room. When he said no, that instead he would turn it on in her room, she broke into a broken hearted cry!
AK's music has unlocked a door for Alison's and as a result her development has flourished far beyond any doctor's expectations for her. She has blossomed like a beautiful butterfly spreading her wings and soaring! We have a much clearer understanding of what and how much Alison understands. I am a true believer that God sends or uses people to help others. God has given AK a tremendous gift, which in turn became a tremendous gift for Alison.
We took Alison to see AK in concert in June 1998 in Jackson, MS. A reporter in Jackson doing a story prior to the concert heard that Alison was a huge fan and we were traveling there from Louisiana to go to the concert. The reporter wanted a few quotes for article. I told her the story behind Alison's love for AK. The article came out the day before the concert, which was when we arrived in Jackson. I was pleasantly shocked when I read the article because it had more than a few quotes -- the story was about AK and about Alison! The title was "Hear Bluegrass on the Water" and it was the cover story! It was a delight to read about my two favorite Alisons in the same article!
Alison doesn't like to stay stationary while in her wheelchair, but did so during the whole concert! Alison "danced" so hard during the concert that my husband had to hold her wheelchair down! When AK sang Alison's two favorite songs, "When You Say Nothing at All" and "Oh, Atlanta", Alison was in heaven!
We had to chance to meet AK and share with her the impact her music has had on Alison. It was a thrilling experience for my family to meet Alison Krauss because of the impact her music has had on Alison. Her development continues to improve -- we believe that Alison Krauss's music has played a major role in Alison's developmental progress. We will always treasure her and her music.
We hope to take Alison
to another AK concert -- who knows what she'll start doing
after hearing AK live again! Until then, we'll just keep the
CD player and VCR going!
By Karen Lagrange
Written 1999