Prologue, Part 1

Chloe Beale had always wanted to be a mother. She was always playing house as a child with all of her dolls and stuffed animals. When she was a teenager, she babysat all of the neighborhood children at one time or another. She had several nieces and nephews (thanks to having three brothers, all of whom were married with kids), and she doted on them and spoiled them and loved them like they were her own.

By the time Chloe was 30, she still hadn't dated anyone she loved enough to settle down. She had a good job as a nurse practitioner for adults, and she finally decided to have a baby on her own. She selected a donor and was fortunate to get pregnant on the first try. Just three months before her 31st birthday, she gave birth to a little girl. She named her Megan Rose. She had beautiful sky blue eyes and red curly hair like her mother.

Chloe went back to work when Megan was 12 weeks old, sending Megan to a daycare near her office. She missed Megan but was happy to get back to her patients. Megan was a content baby, and the daycare workers simply adored the little girl.

When Megan was six months old, the pediatrician gave Chloe the okay to give her some baby food. She said if Megan did well with that, she could try to give her some finger foods. Megan did well with baby food, but she did not like finger foods at all. She would gag, sometimes to the point of vomiting, if anything solid went anywhere near her mouth. Chloe figured Megan simply wasn't ready and thought she'd try again in a few months.

By nine months old, Megan still wanted to no parts of anything thicker than baby food. Chloe brought it up to the pediatrician, and she was assured that gagging on solids was normal. Megan wasn't crawling yet, but the pediatrician said it was normal for babies not to crawl yet at her age.

Megan's first birthday came around, and she still wasn't interested in solid food. When Chloe gave Megan a small smash cake, Megan just cried. She didn't shove her hand in it like most children her age, and she made a face when Chloe's youngest brother Chris tried to get her to eat icing. Megan wasn't talking at this point, and she wasn't crawling or walking either. When she had her well visit, the pediatrician suggested Chloe look into some early intervention services to see if Megan qualified. The services would be provided by the local county, and they'd come to daycare to give them. Chloe made the call right away and scheduled an evaluation.

Chloe took the day off work when Megan's evaluation was scheduled. Unfortunately, Megan was not in one of her better moods that day. She was either fighting a cold or getting some new teeth, so she was really cranky. When the early intervention workers came in (a physical therapist and a nurse), Megan was crying most of the time. Chloe actually ended up putting Megan down for a nap about half an hour into the evaluation. The workers had to go on what Chloe could tell them about Megan for a lot of the categories because Megan was so upset. Based on what little they saw and what Chloe could tell them, Megan qualified for services. She would get physical therapy to help her learn to crawl and then walk, and she also qualified for occupational therapy to help her learn to accept solid foods. She appeared to also have a cognitive delay, so they'd be setting her up with a special educator. While Chloe was figuring on Megan having a delay in gross motor skills and eating, she had no idea there was any cognitive delay. She cried for at least an hour after the workers left. She blamed herself. What had she done wrong?

Chloe realized there was one change she had to make. She needed to find a job somewhere else. While Megan's therapy was covered by the county, she wanted to look into private therapy as well. Her current job's insurance didn't offer much coverage in the way of therapy. Chloe was able to find a job at a different practice that offered insurance that would help Chloe get more services for Megan. The practice was also willing to give Chloe the day off on Fridays so she could use that day to help her daughter. Chloe would miss her patients at her old practice, but Megan had to come first. She couldn't pass up the offer from the new practice, so she took it.

Megan progressed quickly in physical therapy. She was crawling within a month of getting weekly physical therapy. Her daycare workers were great about following the physical therapist's recommendations and sharing them with Chloe. Two months later, Megan took her first steps. Her physical therapist scaled back the frequency of her visits to twice a month rather than weekly.

However, progress was slow in every other area. Megan screamed and cried through feeding therapy, and she showed very little interest in her special education sessions. She still hadn't said a single word by eighteen months of age. She was able to sign the word "more." It was her only method of communication besides crying. It was frustrating for everyone. Chloe felt helpless. She loved her little girl so much, but she had no idea how she was going to get through to her. She held out hope, though, that somehow Megan would "catch up" with her peers.

By Megan's second birthday, she was doing a little better. She was running around at her birthday party. Her cousins were trying to get her to play, but Megan had no interest. She still didn't eat her cake. She did try a little icing, but that was it. She had progressed a little beyond baby food, but not much. Chloe could get Megan to eat pasta if it was very small, like Spaghetti-O's. Even homemade spaghetti had to be cut very small and practically drowning in the sauce for Megan to eat it. About a month after her second birthday, she finally said her first word, "cat."

At this point, Megan had started to get ear infections. It seemed just as one ear infection would clear, she'd have another one. She spent at least two or three months with one ear infection after another. She had stopped saying the one word she knew and had begun to reject any food other than baby food. Chloe took Megan to an ENT, and he recommended ear tubes to drain the fluid. Chloe agreed, and the surgery was scheduled shortly after.

Megan did well with the surgery and appeared a bit less cranky. However, her eating didn't go back to the way it had been. She also hadn't gotten her one word back. Chloe was frustrated and sad for her daughter. They'd worked so hard to make progress, and a string of ear infections seemed to take it away. Again, Chloe felt helpless.

When Megan was about 2 ½, the early intervention program recommended Chloe have one of their psychologists evaluate Megan for autism. She'd really started to show signs of it. Chloe agreed, figuring having a label might be helpful. It was clear that Megan wasn't going to "catch up" anytime soon. She'd also looked into some more intense therapy for her, and she'd have better luck acquiring funding for it with a diagnosis.

Dr. Stacie Conrad arrived at Chloe's house on a day that Megan happened to be in a good mood. She played with Megan for a while and asked Chloe a long series of questions about her daughter. Dr. Conrad was pleasant and wonderful, but she more or less made it clear that Megan appeared to be on the autism spectrum. She'd have the results back in a month or so, but she told Chloe to be emotionally prepared for the diagnosis. After she left, Chloe cried for a good hour or so. She knew that this was going to mean a much more difficult life for her little girl. She had so many hopes and dreams for her daughter, but she feared that autism would prevent a lot of them from happening. She didn't know a lot about autism, other than the little bit she'd seen in movies and on TV. In some ways, though, it was a relief. Megan was delayed because she was autistic. It wasn't because Chloe had done anything wrong. It was just the way she was. She resolved that she wasn't going to cry about it anymore after that, and she focused on helping her daughter.

Chloe told the daycare workers about the evaluation the next day. Ashley, one of the workers in Megan's daycare room, suggested Chloe look into music therapy for Megan. Ashley had a nephew who was autistic, and music therapy had been helpful. Megan seemed to enjoy music time at daycare, and she thought music therapy might be helpful. Ashley checked with her sister Denise and gave Chloe information for the Barden Bellas Music Therapy Company. She said that Denise had used a therapist named Beca, who was the owner of the company. Chloe took the information and planned to call them.

Dr. Conrad came back to the house a month later and confirmed Megan's autism diagnosis. Chloe had already emotionally prepared herself for the diagnosis, so she had come to terms with it before she had it on paper. Dr. Conrad gave her some ideas for places to get funding for therapy. Chloe did well financially at her job, and the insurance was good, but she was going to need some help.

Prologue, Part 2

Beca Mitchell had always been interested in music. For her 16th birthday, someone had bought her a music mixing program, and Beca had really enjoyed mixing different songs together to make mash-ups. In college, she made money on the side as a DJ for various nightclubs in the area.

She graduated from Barden University with a degree in music. She had a bit of a hard time finding work after that and relied heavily on her DJ work to pay the bills.

One day, her stepsister Emily asked her to drive her to a community service event her honor society was attending. Emily wasn't yet old enough to drive, and her mom and Beca's dad weren't available to drive her. Beca agreed. There was a special needs program on weekends at a nearby school, and Emily's honor society was volunteering there. The program said they could use more help, so Beca agreed to volunteer. One of the workers saw Beca's guitar case in the backseat of her car and asked if Beca would be willing to play her guitar for the children. Beca wasn't totally accustomed to interacting with children, so she agreed. It seemed like a more comfortable way for her to help.

Beca sat on a bench in the school gym and pulled out her guitar. Emily and a few of her friends walked some of the kids over to watch. Beca began to play her guitar and sing "The Wheels on the Bus." Many kids' faces lit up as they heard the familiar song. Several other kids walked over and watched Beca. Many of them did the hand motions with Emily and her friends while some of the kids just sat and swayed.

Beca played a few more familiar kid songs, and soon had almost all of the children sitting near her. One of the workers' jaw dropped in shock as a few of the kids who they'd considered non-verbal began to sing along with Beca.

As the program ended, one of the workers approached Beca. She thanked Beca for playing and singing for the kids. She asked Beca what she was doing for work. Beca explained that she'd just graduated college, and she hadn't been able to find work other than some DJ gigs. The worker suggested Beca look into becoming a music therapist. She explained that several of the kids who had been singing along with Beca hadn't ever spoken a word before. Beca was touched that her music had done this for the kids and thought it would be worth looking into the idea.

Beca did some research on music therapy and thought it would be good to try. However, this meant going to grad school. She didn't have the money to go back to school as she was barely paying the bills with her DJ gigs. She hated to bother her dad, but she called him anyway. She told him she wanted to go to grad school for music therapy. He agreed to help her. She'd spoken so passionately about how she'd reached several kids with her music that her dad couldn't help but agree to help her financially with grad school.

Beca got her master's degree and began her career as a music therapist in the local school system. She worked with a variety of children, and her methods usually helped her students. It was amazing how using songs and playing instruments could help children speak, learn important skills like the value of different coins, and sometimes it simply calmed them down.

After a few years with the school system, Beca opened up her own practice, the Barden Bellas Music Therapy Company, with other music therapists she had met in grad school. Beca and her friends Flo and Jessica had a solid practice. They did a lot of work in an office, but they would also come to clients' homes, schools, hospitals, etc. if need be.