Music Therapy

Music Therapy is the unique application of music to enhance personal lives by creating positive changes in human behavior. It is an allied health profession utilizing music as a tool to encourage development in social, emotional, cognitive learning, and perceptual-motor areas. Music Therapy has a wide variety of functions with the exceptional child, adolescent, and adult in medical, institutional, and educational settings. Music is effective because it is a nonverbal form of communication, a natural reinforcement, and is immediate in time and provides motivation for practicing nonverbal skills. Most importantly, it is a successful medium because almost everyone responds positively to at least some kind of music.

Music Therapy is particularly useful with autistic children owing in part to the nonverbal, non-threatening nature of the medium. Parallel music activities are designed to support the objectives of the child as observed by the therapist or as indicated by a parent, teacher, or other professional. A music therapist might observe, for instance, the child's need to socially interact with others. Musical games like passing a ball back and forth to music or playing sticks and cymbals with another person might be used to foster this interaction. Eye contact might be encouraged with imitative clapping games near the eyes or with activities which focus attention on an instrument played near the face. Preferred music may be used contingently for a wide variety of cooperative social behaviors, like sitting in a chair or staying with a group of other children in a circle.