Bruce Springsteen awakens potential in severely disabled Brisbane boy

THE music of Bruce Springsteen has spoken to millions across the world — but few have been affected like one special Brisbane boy.

The Boss adorns Adam Brooker’s bedspread. Picture: Claudia Baxter

IT’S Monday morning and the school day is just getting started. A fresh faced 13-year-old takes a seat in front of his teacher, pencil poised in his hand ready to learn.

Reading and writing are on today’s lesson plan. But instead of learning in a classroom, Adam Brooker is at home guided by his mother as he listens to Bruce Springsteen songs, tapping out the beat and using the lyrics to learn how to read, write and speak with the power of ‘The Boss’.

Adam is a little different than your average teenager; he has severe intellectual disabilities which make it incredibly difficult for him to talk and keep up with his classmates.

Several years ago his mother J’Aimee Brooker had almost given up hope for getting her son to talk or interact until she took a car ride to clear her head and turned on her favourite Bruce Springsteen song.

As soon as his music started playing she looked in her rear view mirror and saw the biggest break through she’d seen from Adam in years. He was bopping along.

“I was feeling defeated because we just weren’t getting any progress for Adam and didn’t know what to do so we went for a drive and I put on Bruce’s music because I’ve always loved it,” Mrs Brooker said.

“Everything else until this point Adam could have cared less about.

“But when the Bruce song came on, I saw a spark of interest and kept it on repeat, by the end of three or four runs he was tapping his head and I thought we’ve got a breakthrough.”

Adam Brooker with his mum J'aimee. Picture: Claudia Baxter

Mrs Brooker came home and dug out every Springsteen album she could find and within a few weeks Adam was making noises along with the music.

“He picked up a plastic guitar and started pretending to do the same things he saw Bruce doing,” she said.

“He can’t remember anything from school, but he can now tell you any song from Bruce.”

Encouraged by his interest she started using Springsteen to teach Adam how to speak, read and write using the music and lyrics from his favourite songs.

Although Mrs Brooker said Adam’s progress has been encouraging it hasn’t been without it’s challenges. Adam was taken out of school last year after being bullied by his classmates.

Mrs Brooker quit her job so she could stay home and teach him herself.

“The bullying was so bad, it was so intense that the kids, a group of 10 or 12 boys would even do it in front of us,” she said.

“He was so strong to begin with and would say ‘they’re just mean’ but it got to the point last year where he was broken, he would come home crying and retreat to his bedroom, we were losing some of the speech he had learned because he was being picked on by how he sounded.

“There was a horrible situation where the kids lured him onto the back oval promising to let him play with them and when they got him there they bent his fingers back as far as they could.

“He didn’t have the words to tell us … as a parent it feels like you’ve massively let your child down, he was hurt and embarrased didn’t know what words to use to tell us.”

Since leaving school she said Adam is happier and is determined to keeping moving forward.

“He’s the kind of kid with so much stacked against him, anything he does achieve is so much harder fought,” she said.

“Adam’s never been invited to a friend’s birthday, nor has he been able to do any of the things most 13 year old boys do.

‘To counter it all he will always pop in a Springsteen DVD, grab his guitar and pretend to play along. It’s his most prized posession.”

Adam sustained long-term disabilities when Mrs Brooker was hit by a car when she was 10 weeks pregnant. Both her legs were so badly broken she needed surgery, but while she was under the general anaesthesia switched off Adam’s brain development.

“We were told we were never going to have children and just as we accepted the news and started to move on I found out I was pregnant,” she said.

“It was a huge surprise but then to have that ripped away has been a steep learning curve.

“We held out hope that we would be lucky … but you have to make the best of the cards you’re dealt.”

Originally published as Bruce Springsteen awakens potential in severely disabled Brisbane boy