A systematic review by Geretsegger, Elefant, Mössler, and Gold (2014) analyzed various articles assessing the effects of music therapy on children with autism spectrum disorder. Ten studies (totaling 165 participants) were included in the systematic review that examined the short-term and medium-term effects of music therapy interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder. The studies included in the systematic review focused on music therapy intervention with client goals pertaining to social and communication skills such as improved social interaction, non-verbal communication skills, and social-emotional reciprocity. The systematic review of ten studies assessing the effects of music therapy provided evidence that music therapy can help children with autism spectrum disorder improve in social and communication skills. In addition to the systematic review, an article by Hosseini et al. (2015) studied the effectiveness of music therapy intervention on improvement of social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder.
In this study social and communication skills were assessed by a social skills rating system (created by the authors) consisting of four aspects of social skills including cooperation, verbal/nonverbal assertions, self-control and responsibility. The researchers used a control group (no intervention) and an experimental group (music therapy intervention) to assess the possible benefits of music therapy in improving the four aspects of social skills used in the rating scale. The participants were given pretests before the study and posttests after the study and the results were reviewed after the conclusion of the posttest to compare data from the control group and experiment group. The study results indicated a significant increase in social skills’ scores of the experiment group, which shows that music therapy is an effective method of intervention in teaching children with autism spectrum disorder.
Personal Music Reflection
When I started working at a group home five years ago, I did not think music would be an essential role for helping me bond and form positive relationships with my clients who have traumatic brain injuries or my clients with autism spectrum disorder. I use music as a part of my interactions with my clients regularly from using it as a de-escalation tool to helping them improve their mood. Soft, calming music playing in the background helps my client who has autism de-escalate during sensory time while I give my client sensory arm compressions or use a sensory brush after a bout of overstimulation. The repetitive rhythm of the music played during my client’s sensory time brings him comfort and helps them transition to a calmer state of mind. Working as an SLP I will use my AFC experiences and relationship I build with my future clients to interpret how my future clients may benefit from music therapy.
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