Since 2022, Farmers Branch-based nonprofit Spin the Spectrum has taught the art of DJing to children and adults with autism. The inspiration for founding the organization, co-founder Courtney Willis said, was hip-hop founding father Grandmaster Flash.
“I watched a documentary on him and he commented about when he first got on a controller, saying he felt like he had full control of everything, and that full control gave him a calming sense,” Willis said. “Being a DJ, for the most part, you’re able to be in charge of your sensory environment.”
After watching the documentary, Willis, a speech therapist by trade, reflected on the patients she serves at her speech-language pathology practice, where she works with children with autism and other developmental disorders that can delay or inhibit speech. She took the idea of combining her practice with DJing to her friend Jay Clipp, a local DJ who has worked with the likes of Jay-Z and LeBron James and recently provided the soundtrack to Colman Domingo’s Met Gala party.
Jay Clipp, working alongside a student at Spin the Spectrum
Clipp is the founder of Keep Spinning DJ Academy in Farmers Branch, which provides DJ classes to neurotypical students, but with Willis’s SLP background, the duo thought they could bring similar offerings to neurodivergent children who love music. “Our first student was this young man whose mother reached out and said that he wanted to mix songs using two iPads, so we did that and worked with him,” Clipp said. “He took a few classes, and then we got a few more students from Courtney’s clients. From there, it just started to grow.”
A few months after Spin the Spectrum launched, the organization began to gain steam with various media attention. Today, Willis and Clipp now work with dozens of students. The organization offers a range of programs, including DJ classes, music production workshops, and pop-up camps, all tailored to accommodate various learning styles and sensory needs. “It’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done in this profession, and I’ve been spinning since the 90s,” Clipp said.
Recently, a third member joined their team: producer JaBorn, best known for his work with Erykah Badu. JaBorn now offers production classes through Spin the Spectrum, assisted by Willis. Clipp introduced JaBorn to the project after he observed that some of his students were interested in music production. “We had one student this year who came in, and he signed up for DJ class,” Clipp said. “But in his first class, I noticed that he wanted to take beats and elements of songs from existing songs and put those together with the other elements of beats or melodies from other songs or lyrics. It was at that point that I was like, ‘Yep, I have to bring in my man JaBorn.’”
JaBorn has already impacted various students, including one child named Ethan, who has seen progress in more than just music through participating in the classes. “We’ve really seen how much Ethan has evolved socially. He’s becoming himself,” Clipp said.
But that’s not to say that his production skills are lacking. “I know for sure that that young man, if I needed, could stand in for me,” JaBorn said. “If I needed a second ear on site, I could pull Ethan in to help. … We have people actually trying to buy his beats from our social media posts.”
Through DJing and music production, the students at Spin the Spectrum are also developing their motor skills. One of Willis’s patients, who was also seeing an occupational therapist for a global motor delay, saw rapid growth in a matter of months. “His OT called me, and she asked, ‘What are y’all doing? Because this kid has had a global delay for over a decade, and I am writing his dismissal papers, because he is no longer delayed,” Willis said.
Dozens of aspiring music professionals with autism have been impacted by Spin the Spectrum.
Spin the Spectrum also strives to help students become working professionals in the music industry. “We do have an end game to create sustainable income and careers for autistic and neurodivergent people,” Willis said. “This is quite possibly the most overlooked community in the workforce, with the most potential.
“We want to get to the point where this is its own self-sustaining biome, where we have autistic teachers and autistic evaluators,” she continued. “If our autistic DJs have a gig somewhere, we want to have autistic people doing the sound and doing the setup. All of these are areas where somebody who’s autistic or neurodivergent could thrive.”
Through the skills gained at Spin the Spectrum, students are able to grow in their families and communities. “I’m proud to call Dallas home. I’m glad this resource is available here in our community,” JaBorn said. “When you see the small bits of evolution, even those small strides, it means the world to everyone involved in that child’s life. It means the world to them.”
