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Music Therapy and Children with Autism

Music therapy can be a particularly useful when working with children with autism due to the nonverbal, non-threatening nature of the medium. Studies have shown that children with autism have difficulty with joint attention, symbolic communication and sharing of positive affect. Use of music therapy has demonstrated improvements of socially acceptable behaviours. Successful therapy involves long-term individual intervention tailored to each child’s needs. Passing and sharing instruments, music and movement games, learning to listen and singing greetings and improvised stories are just a few ways music therapy can improve a child’s social interaction. For example passing a ball back and forth to percussive music or playing sticks and cymbals with another person might help foster the child’s ability to follow directions when passing the ball and learn to share the cymbals and sticks. In addition to improved social behaviors music therapy has been shown to also increase communication attempts, increase focus and attention, reduce anxiety, and improve body awareness and coordination. Since up to 30% of children with autism are nonverbal and many have difficulty understanding verbal commands music therapy becomes very useful as it has been found that music can improve the mapping of sounds to actions. So by pairing music with actions, and with many hours of training the neural pathways for speech can be improved. Child-appropriate action songs would be like playing the game “peek-ka-boo” or “eeny meeny miney mo” with a musical accompaniment, usually a piano or guitar.

Children with autism are also prone to more bouts of anxiety than the average child. Short sessions (15 – 20 mins) of listening to percussive music or classical music with a steady rhythm have been shown to alleviate symptoms of anxiety and temporarily decrease anxiety related behaviour. Music with a steady 4/4 beat is thought to work best due to the predictability of the beat.

Target behaviours such as restlessness, aggression and noisiness can also be affected by the use of music therapy. Weekly sessions ranging for ½ hour to 1 hour during which a therapist plays child-preferred melodies such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and engages the child in quiet singing increases socially acceptable behaviour such as using an appropriate volume when speaking. Studies also suggest that playing one of the child’s favorite songs while the child and therapist both play the piano or strum chords on a guitar can increase a child’s ability to hold eye contact and share in an experience due to their enjoyment of the therapy.

Musical improvisation during a one on one session has also been shown to be highly effective with increasing joint attention. Some noted improvisation techniques are using a welcome song that includes the child’s name, which allows the child to get used to their surroundings; an adult-led song followed by a child led song and then conclude with a goodbye song. During such sessions the child would most likely sit across from the therapist on the floor or beside the therapist on the piano bench. Composing original music that incorporates the child’s day-to-day life with actions and words is also a part of improvisation. The shared music making experience allows for spontaneous interpersonal responses from the child and may motivate the child to increase positive social behaviour and initiate further interaction with the therapist.

Some common Instruments in music therapy for children are:

Upright piano, Guitar, Xylophone, Small guiro, Paddle drums, Egg shakers, Finger cymbals, Birdcalls, Whistles, Toy hand bells