Music Therapy Use For Autism Spectrum Disorder

Music being a lifeline for individuals with all types of isolating emotional, physical, neurological and psychological conditions, has incredible effect to the autistic children. It enables the autistic children to interact and communicate to others and have improved learning

ASD is an abbreviation of Autism Spectrum Disorder, a disorder characterized by “social-interaction difficulties, communication challenges and a tendency to engage in repetitive behaviors”. ASD has become so prevalent that “1 in 68 children are identified with ASD” a number which is higher among certain racial minorities (CDC Press Release). While there are many therapies such as pharmaceutical or behavior correcting therapy, it is music which shows much promise in aiding children with autism. From its start in prehistoric humans to today’s clinical and classroom settings music has had a profound impact on the individual; well documented studies and

Autistic Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is a brain disorder that mutates the ability to produce healthy and energetic brain cells. This is sometimes referred to as mitochondrial disfunction in autism and causes an autistic child to excel in cognitive tactics but to struggle with the simple skills of communication. This fact is easily proven because in most cases, and autistic child is also an extremely genius human being. Autistic children don 't like to be touched, loud noises, or changes in their daily routine. (Autism-Topic) They also have trouble making eye contact, forming relationships, answering to their

From 1997 to about 2007 the number of children with autism spectrum disorder has increase from 42,517 to about 258,305 and has risen since (Reschke-Hernández, 2011). With this rise of children who have autism, the rise of music therapy has since appeared greatly. When music therapy was first documented, the music was used in both group and individual settings. It was used with those who lacked social skills, those who needed rehabilitation, for self-expression, for psychological improvement and also recreational purposes (Rescheke- Hernández, 2011). Music therapist use techniques such as improvisation music therapy, dancing and singing, speech dynamics, and rhythm to help clients with social skills, body awareness and communication skills (Rescheke- Hernández, 2011). Children who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder can be treated through music therapy to enhance their social skills, learning skills, and coordination.

This article defines music therapy and how it makes an impact for individuals with diagnoses on the autism spectrum. It also explains the job of the therapist and how they work with their clients.

As mentioned before there are many interventions to treat autism in children. Parent Education and Training, Social Skills Training and Speech-Language Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Music Therapy, and Sensory Integration/Occupational Therapy are some of the most commonly used therapies. However, this study will focus only on applied behavior analysis (ABA) and music therapy and the benefits when they are used together.

One of the major deficits that come along with autism is communication skills. Some people with autism may have the language skills and don’t know how to put them to use and others may not have the language skills and have not been taught how to communicate their wants and needs (Eren, 2015; Gattino, Riesgo, Longo, Leite, & Faccini, 2011; Kern, Wolery, & Aldridge, 2006; Kim, Wigram, & Gold, 2008; Lagasse, 2014;Thompson, Mcferran, & Gold 2013). On the other side of communication is the social aspect of it. People with autism, especially adolescents and adults, are most of the time socially awkward. They may use their body language wrong or they may not understand others body language and they may not do simple things we take for granted such as eye contact when talking or listening. A lot of the time they don’t understand what personal space is or just plain how to be socially accepted (Eren, 2015; Gattino, Riesgo, Longo, Leite, & Faccini, 2011; Kern, Wolery, & Aldridge, 2006; Kim, Wigram, & Gold, 2008; Lagasse, 2014;Thompson, Mcferran, & Gold 2013). The role that music therapy plays in changing the social and communication skills in people with Autism is presented in this review. It is conjectured that music therapy will has a positive effect on communication and social skill in people with autism by increasing the skills so that they are more socially accepted. The following reviews of literature look at both side of the perspective of having a positive affect and no affect

According to “Childhood and Adolescence Voyages in Development” by Spencer Rathus, autism is described as “an autism spectrum disorder characterized by extreme aloneness, communication problems, intolerance for change and ritualistic behaviour”(p. 255). Autism is a prevalent developmental disability that is rapidly growing in our world today. However, autism is quite a new discovery. It was first documented by Leo Kanner in his 1943 paper “ Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact,", but the search for a more indepth understanding of the condition is still going on (Reschke-Hernández, 2011). As of now, an exact cause or cure for autism remains unknown. However, early diagnosis and active interventions in life can lead to positive outcomes. Music has been used as a

There are multiple ways to heal and multiple benefits that come out of healing. One of those healing methods is Music Therapy. Music Therapy has been shown to help many people of all age groups, a specific group being children with autism. It helps benefit children with autism by improving their communication and social skills. Just simply listening to music calms and puts the brain at ease. Music Therapy is beneficial to this specific group because though they may have deficits socially, they show none when it comes to musical affect. This form of therapy allows autistic children to improve those social skills in a fun and engaging way.

A. Blythe LaGasse researched how music therapy can improve social skills and joint behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The study, published as Effects of a Music Therapy Group Intervention on Enhancing Social Skills in Children with Autism, is relevant because it could possibly help children with autism gain better social skills through the use of music therapy group interventions. For the most part, this study was extremely informative but could have been improved by more consistency with the participant’s guardians completing required test.

For people with autism music therapy is used to effect change in behavior and create skills. (MusicTherapyPerspectives) Music provides auditory and visual stimulations. It can also manage stress,

Over the last 20 years, there has been an increase in the number of studies investigating the use of music as an intervention with children with autism. There are studies that identifies music playing a key role in not just motor development but in social-motivational aspects. These social-motivational aspects play a central role in ASD. In article, published on the Social Motivation Theory of Autism, it is said that “social motivation is a powerful force guiding human behavior and the disruption of social motivational mechanisms may constitute a primary deficit in autism” (Chevallier et al., 2012). This study investigated the behavioral analysis, through social-motivational aspects of musical interaction between the child and the therapist in improvisational music therapy. A number of studies have reported that individuals with autism demonstrates a preference for auditory stimuli over other stimuli, when the auditory stimuli is presented in music (Chevallier et al., 2012). Which is one of the few reasons why music can be beneficial to individuals with

Gooding (2011) conducted a study that used specific interventions such as movement to music, instrument playing, singing and improvisation activities for a group of adolescents with different learning disabilities, including Asperger’s Syndrome. All participants showed an increase in social skills over the course of the study. This could suggest that music-based interventions were effective in combating social skills deficits.

This review paper discusses music therapy as an intervention for autistic children to support their psychological, cognitive, and physical development. Autism affects 1% of the population in the United States. Autism is a mental condition that varies in degrees in young children and as of right now, they have it for life. Autism (ASD) is typically characterized with having difficulties in social interactions, verbal communication and repetitive behaviors. Children that are affected by autism have an extra connecter between their brain cells that causes a slowdown in the normal pruning process that appears during brain development. People with autism have to be taught communication skills and learn to create relationships with people, objects and experiences in their lives by going through therapy. However, not all individuals suffer to the same severity of breakage.

First off, autism is a disorder associated with many developmental problems, especially when they communicate or when they’re trying to be social. Music is being used to help people with autism, because autistic people more than often how a strong interest to music (Whipple, 2004). This helps to teach them to have more social skills like verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and to have a more normal developmental processes. Study done by Kim, Wigram, & Gold (2009) showed that there were more positive responses for music therapy, than there wa for toy play sessions for children. This came to the conclusion that music therapy promotes a more social, motivational, and emotional development in children that had