Derek Paravicini is blind, doesn't know his fingers from his thumbs and needs round-the-clock care. But he has an extremely rare gift - he is a musical prodigy whose piano-playing has thrilled audiences at venues from Ronnie Scott's to Las Vegas, the Barbican to Buckingham Palace. Born prematurely, weighing just 1lb 5oz, Derek remained in hospital for three months and technically 'died' several times before he was finally strong enough to go home. It was not long before his blindness became apparent, and as he grew older, it also became clear that he had severe learning difficulties and autism as well. Desperately trying to find something to engage and stimulate baby Derek, his nanny discovered a toy organ at the family house and put it down in front of him. Miraculously, without anyone realising it at first, Derek taught himself to play. By the time he was two, he could pick out nursery rhymes - before he could even talk. Music proved to be an outlet not only for expressing himself, but for communicating with others - his way of dealing with a strange and confusing world. By the time he had graduated to the piano, aged four, he was already an exceptional musician in the making. His mentor in this journey has been teacher and music psychologist Dr Adam Ockelford. 'I'd never seen anything like it,' says Ockelford of first hearing Derek play. 'He hit the notes with his fingers, his hands, his elbows - even his nose! You could tell that he'd never had a lesson, yet he produced this original version of Don't Cry For Me Argentina , with hundreds of notes racing off in all directions. It was eccentric, mad! But wonderful to hear. I just had to teach him.' Adam Ockelford's compelling account of their musical relationship is both immensely moving and a fascinating testament to the young man who still can't tell his right hand from his left, yet amazes all who hear him play. As Jools Holland, who has performed with Derek, says: 'He's got a wonderful pair of musical ears. He just has to hear what you play and he's straight there. There are no limits to what he can do.'

Adam Ockelford was born in Nottingham in 1959, grew up on the Isle of Wight, and, when he left school, studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It was at this time, in the late 1970s, that he first started working with blind children, including those with additional disabilities. He was fascinated by just how musical many of them seemed to be. Trying to understand how these young people could 'hear' and understand music so effectively led him to develop a theory of how music makes sense - not just to them, but to all of us - a theory for which he was awarded a PhD by London University in 1993, and that has since been published in a number of academic journals and books. But Adam believes that theories are of little value unless they're put into practice, and he continues to work with a number of the young people - now adults - whom he first started to teach over twenty years ago, including Derek. Adam is Director of Rushton School and Children's Home run by the Royal National Institute of the Blind; a Research Fellow at Roehampton University and the Institute of Education, London; Secretary of the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research; Chair of 'Soundabout', an Oxford-based charity that supports music provision children with complex needs; and founder of The AMBER Trust, which provides bursaries for blind and partially sighted children to have music lessons.