Music Therapy for Children with Autism

Music Therapy for Children with Autism

Music is a more primal, natural, patterned way of communicating. People with no communication abilities have been shown to respond to and seemingly connect with music therapy.

People with autism like patterns. Music is full of patterns. Music has rhythm. It is something that they can feel, rather than think about. It is something they don’t have to interpret. And it can be used, some say, as a bridge to learning about speech or improving an autistic child’s speech and communication abilities.

Music therapists can build relationships with previously unreachable children by using the power of music to reach them. They can help clients build communication skills, lower their anxiety and improve their overall ability to function.

Why does music therapy work for those on the autism spectrum?

1. Music is considered a universal language.
2. Music captures and helps maintain attention. It motivates and engages a person to respond and participate.
3. Music allows people with autism to express their emotions, and identify their emotions, in ways they might not otherwise have been able to.
4. Music can increase cognitive skills, as well as increase auditory processing, perceptual, gross and fine motor skills. This is because the rhythmic part of music organizes the sensory system in a person’s body. It is like a form of sensory integration therapy, if you do it right, with the right kind of music for the person, which trained music therapists know how to do.
5. Music can have anxiety reducing features. The repeated use of the same piece of music can create a sense of security and familiarity in a given setting, making an autistic person feel more comfortable and more able to learn.

For additional information on music therapy as well as other innovative therapies to help people on the autism spectrum, see the book, New Hope for Autism by Craig Kendall.

http://www.aspergerssociety.org/newhope