Listening to and creating music can be an effective way to help alleviate various symptoms and provide a sense of inner calm. For this reason, music therapy is becoming an increasingly popular form of holistic "healing," particularly for children and adults who are neurodiverse. Playing musical instruments and engaging in music therapy…

Background: The Beatalk technique is a speech therapy method, based on human beatboxing, involving intense, rapid repetitions of speech-like sounds. The goals of the current feasibility study were to test its effect in enhancing articulation accuracy and voice measures in a small group of adults with intellectual disability (ID), using a wide…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can experience difficulties functioning in society due to social communication deficits and restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Music therapy has been suggested as a potential intervention used to improve these deficits in ASD. The current systematic literature review focuses on two methods of…

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a continuum of traits that may negatively affect social and emotional competencies of individuals, including challenges in their engagement abilities, possible limitations in reciprocal interactions, and inflexibility in initiating and sustaining communication. Such challenges may affect language…

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have marked deficits in social communication skills, which can challenge their ability to participate in academic and social activities. Music therapy is a popular intervention for children with ASD, and although research evidence supporting its effectiveness is growing, methodological flaws limit…

This study examined whether the therapeutic relationship in music therapy with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder predicts generalized changes in social skills. Participants (4-7 years, N = 48) were assessed at baseline, 5 and 12 months. The therapeutic relationship, as observed from session videos, and the generalized change in social skills,…

Research shows that teaching sign language to all young children has a wide range of benefits, from enhancing social-emotional and preliteracy skills to supporting positive parent-child relationships. With "Sing & Sign for Young Children," early childhood professionals will have a fun, easy, and highly effective way to teach and…

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the functioning of the brain and consequently other areas of development in an unstable and irregular way. There are many therapeutic approaches to autism and one of them is music therapy. Music therapy is a purely therapeutic treatment (Anagnostopoulou & Manti, 2009). It does not seek…

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that challenges families and professionals to find effective interventions that can improve the lives of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The objectives of this paper are to find out social deficits and different interventions for autism spectrum disorder in children and adolescents.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that challenges families and professionals to find effective interventions that can improve the lives of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The objectives of this paper are to find out social deficits and different interventions for autism spectrum disorder in children and adolescents.

Self-determination leads to a higher quality of life, yet many individuals with autism spectrum disorder struggle with the component skills necessary for self-determination. Music therapy is one method of treatment for persons with autism spectrum disorder and has the ability to improve or develop skills in communication, self-awareness,…

We identified, summarized, and appraised the certainty of evidence for 12 studies investigating the use of music therapy for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The studies were summarized in terms of (a) participant characteristics, (b) dependent variables, (c) procedures, (d) results, and (e) certainty of evidence. A total of 147…

Background: The impact of music therapy on the communicative behaviours of young people with profound intellectual and developmental disability has not yet been established. Method: Four adolescents participated in individual music therapy (MT) and toy play sessions with the same therapist in a 6-month period. Sessions were video-recorded and…

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of using music and/or sign language to promote early communication in infants and toddlers (6-20 months) and to enhance parent-child interactions. Three groups used for this study were pairs of participants (care-giver(s) and child) assigned to each group: 1) Music Alone 2) Sign Language…

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder resulting from chromosome 21 having three copies (trisomy 21). Cognitive functioning and anatomical features cause speech and language development delay (Kumin, 2003). Children with DS generally enjoy communication (Schoenbrodt, 2004), and respond well to interaction and social scripts. Music therapy has…