LI Teen With Autism And 'Superpower' Of Perfect Pitch Releases Christmas Song

KINGS PARK, NY — Ben Blanchet, a Kings Park teenager who has autism, recently released a Christmas song.

Blanchet, 17, created "Rock That Jingle," a holiday rock song just under two minutes.

"Rock That Jingle" was released at the end of November to all music streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, etc.

"Ben's goal is to demonstrate to other kids who have autism, that even though there are many challenges of having autism, and even though he still likes to stim, and rock and self-talk, autism has many special gifts which Ben refers to as 'superpowers,'" his mother, Angela, said.

That was the basis for Blanchet's book, which he wrote when he was 13. The title, "Maybe Autism Is My Superpower," sees Blanchet describe how he sees his autism as a superpower.

Blanchet has perfect pitch and hears the world around him very differently, according to his mother.

"When he was 3 years old, he couldn't speak, but he would hear a song on the radio and come into the house and repeat it on our keyboard," Angela said.

Ben Blanchet did not have functional language until he was 7, but his family realized he had a gift for music.

Blanchet, after writing his book, launched a Facebook page that now has 112,000 followers — many of them being families of people with autism or special needs. Blanchet uses the page to post about his perspective of having autism to help other families, and he also shares his music there.