The Ninth Cloud is an in-home support organization for the families and their children interested in in-home classes.

We send experienced, caring teachers into homes across New York to work one-on-one with kids through music, art, yoga, cooking, computers, and chess. Our work isn’t therapy—it’s about discovery, regulation, identity, and giving kids a space where they’re not being evaluated.

How this started

I’m Sergei Avanesov, and I didn’t start out planning to build this organization.

I was a working jazz saxophonist. I grew up in a multicultural family in Russia and studied at conservatories in the Netherlands and New York, performed across Europe, Asia, and North America, and spent years on stages and in recording studios.

But about ten years ago, I started teaching music privately—mostly in people’s homes. And I kept noticing something.

Some of the kids I worked with were autistic or neurodivergent. Their parents would say things like, “He doesn’t usually sit this long,” or “She never touches instruments at school.” I realized that for many of these kids, music (or art, or movement) wasn’t just a skill—it was a way to regulate, to communicate, to feel competent in a world that constantly asked them to be different than they were.

I also saw how hard it was for families to find people who would come to their home, meet their child where they were, and just… show up consistently without making it about fixing or changing them.

So I started hiring other teachers—people who understood that progress doesn’t always look like a milestone chart, that “fun” classes aren’t extras, and that sometimes a kid’s best work happens when no one’s watching with a clipboard.

That became The Ninth Cloud.
 

What we do (and what we don’t do)

We’re not clinicians, therapists, or a medical practice. I didn’t study special education or autism intervention, and I don’t pretend to have clinical expertise.

What we do have is years of sitting in living rooms with autistic kids and their families. We’ve seen what happens when a child finds their instrument, their art form, their way of moving through space. We’ve watched parents juggle school emails, therapy schedules, and waiting lists while trying to hold their whole family together. And we’ve learned that sometimes the most valuable thing we can offer is just showing up—consistently, with patience, without an agenda to “fix.”

Our teachers bring music, art, yoga, cooking, computers, and chess into homes. But really, we’re bringing a space where kids can be themselves, where progress is defined by the child (not the world), and where parents don’t have to translate, manage, or apologize.

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If you’re looking for in-home classes - we work with families across five boroughs, Long Island and many areas of Upstate NY. If you’re looking for a teacher who will come to your home and meet your child where they are—not where a milestone chart says they should be—you can learn more about our services here or reach out at email/contact link.
 

– Sergei Avanesov

Founder, The Ninth Cloud