Music is one of few things that all people share though their

Summary: Music is one of few things that all people share though their forms may vary wildly There are billions of tunes upon millions of tongues but despite the multitude how many more songs could there have been There are silences that should have been filled and melodies forever aborning This is a story about someone whose voice might never have been heard whose song was nearly lost behind a prison of silence Her name is Gina Marie Incandela She is seven years old Gina has performed the National Anthem for the Houston Astros the Cleveland Indians the Florida Marlins and the New York Mets in front of a sell out crowd at Shea Stadium She has auditioned at Radio City Music Hall performed at the U S Open and appeared on the Today Show She will soon be singing at a show along with Jordan Sparks The Naked Brothers Band and Bre Morgan Despite only being seven years old Gina s accomplishments are the match of many seasoned performers However this is not what truly makes her unique The miracle is that Gina has autism a neurological condition that can severely challenge the ability to socialize and communicate When she was 2 years old Gina had not yet begun to speak She was diagnosed with PDD NOS an autistic spectrum disorder Her mother Michelle whose fierce pride and love can be found in every word shares Gina s story In addition to a speech and language delay she had many other developmental delays She did not have age appropriate social skills She had poor eye contact sensory issues and feeding issues among others She had difficulty transitioning and did not adapt well to new environments She was often afraid in public and could not tolerate noisy places such as theme parks or carnivals She had odd behaviors such as scratching the floors and walls and stacking her toys instead of playing with them She had no imaginary play skills When she went to a playground she showed no interest in other children She would simply pick up sticks and rocks The doctors that diagnosed her were unable to state whether her condition would improve or worsen They were unable to tell us whether she would ever be able to speak Their advice was to enroll her in a specialized program as quickly as possible to give her the best chance to overcome her disabilities She got into music because there was a therapist at her school called Miss Kristin We noticed when Gina started music therapy her speech started to improve I really couldn t tell you why I don t know if it s because she just sort of learned through music whether it just reached a different connection with her or that when she was trying to formulate the words to sing it was strengthening the muscles that she would have needed for speech She started singing around the house and I noticed pretty early on that she was really unusually accurate with her pitch When she was three years old she was singing notes and using vibrato which was a little odd At that time her speech was so poor when she sang a song you d have to know what it was to recognize the notes because she couldn t say the words She was basically only pronouncing vowels She started singing around the house We had a LeAnne Rimes tape and there was a version of the National Anthem on that tape Gina started listening and repeating that We realized Gina had a definite gift for music and performing She had just turned six and we asked her Gina would you like to sing the national anthem at a ball game and she said Yes We took her to an audition for the national anthem at a local spring training facility The Houston Astros train about 10 minutes from our house in Kissimmee Florida explains the mom of two We really weren t sure how she would do if she would like it or if she would be shy singing in front of people We got to watch our little six year old kid get up before that crowd and just absolutely nail the National Anthem which is one of the hardest songs to sing I still get chills From there things just took off really quickly She became a very in demand anthem performer From diamond greens to black foam walls Gina went on to record her own CD titled I Dare To Dream with Orlando producer song writer Tom Dale who immediately saw something special Tom met Gina and said I think her talent is just extraordinary and that we should get her into the studio and record this She s amazing I did not think Gina was going to enjoy the recording studio process because it s very different from performing before a live audience I was concerned she might find it boring She went into that studio and had an absolute ball She loves putting the headphones on and hearing her voice She has a knack for her timing when to come in on her song and usually is dead on just after hearing it a few times You just don t expect her to get up and sing the way she does Most of the people that hear her sing don t know about the autism They ll say That s great and then we ll talk about the story and when they hear where she started they re just completely in awe Michelle reveals Gina is very comfortable on stage in front of people She actually prefers a larger crowd I think it s actually easier for her to connect with a very large crowd than a small intimate crowd She s really happy to be up there doing it and it gives her a sense of confidence If she has a performance we go as a family so everybody becomes involved with her We use the opportunities to work on social skills because after she s finished a lot of people come over to meet and speak with her We work on maintaining eye contact and answering questions and just talking to people We use every opportunity we can to work on those skills It s opened up new doors for her and she blossomed doing this In just a year she went from being a shy child with social issues into a confident social kid and top notch performer Music is one of few things that all people share though their forms may vary wildly There are billions of tunes upon millions of tongues but despite the multitude how many more songs could there have been There are silences that should have been filled and melodies forever aborning This is a story about someone whose voice might never have been heard whose song was nearly lost behind a prison of silence Her name is Gina Marie Incandela She is seven years old Gina has performed the National Anthem for the Houston Astros the Cleveland Indians the Florida Marlins and the New York Mets in front of a sell out crowd at Shea Stadium She has auditioned at Radio City Music Hall performed at the U S Open and appeared on the Today Show She will soon be singing at a show along with Jordan Sparks The Naked Brothers Band and Bre Morgan Despite only being seven years old Gina s accomplishments are the match of many seasoned performers However this is not what truly makes her unique The miracle is that Gina has autism a neurological condition that can severely challenge the ability to socialize and communicate When she was 2 years old Gina had not yet begun to speak She was diagnosed with PDD NOS an autistic spectrum disorder Her mother Michelle whose fierce pride and love can be found in every word shares Gina s story In addition to a speech and language delay she had many other developmental delays She did not have age appropriate social skills She had poor eye contact sensory issues and feeding issues among others She had difficulty transitioning and did not adapt well to new environments She was often afraid in public and could not tolerate noisy places such as theme parks or carnivals She had odd behaviors such as scratching the floors and walls and stacking her toys instead of playing with them She had no imaginary play skills When she went to a playground she showed no interest in other children She would simply pick up sticks and rocks The doctors that diagnosed her were unable to state whether her condition would improve or worsen They were unable to tell us whether she would ever be able to speak Their advice was to enroll her in a specialized program as quickly as possible to give her the best chance to overcome her disabilities She got into music because there was a therapist at her school called Miss Kristin We noticed when Gina started music therapy her speech started to improve I really couldn t tell you why I don t know if it s because she just sort of learned through music whether it just reached a different connection with her or that when she was trying to formulate the words to sing it was strengthening the muscles that she would have needed for speech She started singing around the house and I noticed pretty early on that she was really unusually accurate with her pitch When she was three years old she was singing notes and using vibrato which was a little odd At that time her speech was so poor when she sang a song you d have to know what it was to recognize the notes because she couldn t say the words She was basically only pronouncing vowels She started singing around the house We had a LeAnne Rimes tape and there was a version of the National Anthem on that tape Gina started listening and repeating that We realized Gina had a definite gift for music and performing She had just turned six and we asked her Gina would you like to sing the national anthem at a ball game and she said Yes We took her to an audition for the national anthem at a local spring training facility The Houston Astros train about 10 minutes from our house in Kissimmee Florida explains the mom of two We really weren t sure how she would do if she would like it or if she would be shy singing in front of people We got to watch our little six year old kid get up before that crowd and just absolutely nail the National Anthem which is one of the hardest songs to sing I still get chills From there things just took off really quickly She became a very in demand anthem performer From diamond greens to black foam walls Gina went on to record her own CD titled I Dare To Dream with Orlando producer song writer Tom Dale who immediately saw something special Tom met Gina and said I think her talent is just extraordinary and that we should get her into the studio and record this She s amazing I did not think Gina was going to enjoy the recording studio process because it s very different from performing before a live audience I was concerned she might find it boring She went into that studio and had an absolute ball She loves putting the headphones on and hearing her voice She has a knack for her timing when to come in on her song and usually is dead on just after hearing it a few times You just don t expect her to get up and sing the way she does Most of the people that hear her sing don t know about the autism They ll say That s great and then we ll talk about the story and when they hear where she started they re just completely in awe Michelle reveals Gina is very comfortable on stage in front of people She actually prefers a larger crowd I think it s actually easier for her to connect with a very large crowd than a small intimate crowd She s really happy to be up there doing it and it gives her a sense of confidence If she has a performance we go as a family so everybody becomes involved with her We use the opportunities to work on social skills because after she s finished a lot of people come over to meet and speak with her We work on maintaining eye contact and answering questions and just talking to people We use every opportunity we can to work on those skills It s opened up new doors for her and she blossomed doing this In just a year she went from being a shy child with social issues into a confident social kid and top notch performer

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