Resources & references

Read a case study about the use of improvisational music therapy for an adolescent with intensive support needs. Themes discussed include choices around structure, multi-sensory approaches, and the musical material.

This article explores the role of assessment in hospice music therapy. It presents an assessment tool designed to assist music therapists in achieving a detailed portrayal of the current level of functioning of adult hospice patients and obtaining relevant information to be used to create a care plan.

Read an article exploring the concept of the neurodiversity movement and how it can be adopted in a music therapy context, written by an autistic music therapist. 

This article explores and develops a critical notion of participation within the context of music therapy and blind/visually impaired children through a community music therapy and disability studies lens. Theoretical ideas that are relevant for practice, research, and further theoretical discussion are also included.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a major transformation in the delivery of music therapy services worldwide as they moved online. Parents and their children with visual impairment participated in online music therapy sessions. Parents indicated that the programme was a valuable family resource that supported bonding and interaction. A discussion of the findings is followed by implications for practice.

Read an article exploring the use of the Differentiated Didactic Approach to Teaching the Arts (D.D.A.T.A) framework to bridge the gap between clinical music therapy and social inclusion, particularly in using community music therapy approaches to facilitate inclusion of disabled individuals in cultural arts experiences.

This article examines two cases of military service members treated with music therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, and other psychological issues, highlighting how music performance can support personal growth, rehabilitation, and community change.

Read an article exploring the paralells and contrasts between Western music therapy and the Senegalese Ndëpp healing ritual. The author further explores the role, approach, and limits of music therapists in an increasingly globalized world, including the importance of interdisciplinary dialogue when supporting individuals from different cultures.

This scoping review explores Bruscia’s (1987) clinical techniques for improvisational music therapy as they relate to music therapy in autism research to determine the most commonly used clinical techniques in music therapy with clients with autism. The work was undertaken as a preliminary step in a pilot study to explore how the techniques can be represented in terms of individual ways of playing, musical relationships; and how the use of the techniques impacts the participant’s experience of musical connection, influence, and expression.

Read an article exploring the neural changes observed in dementia patients following a music therapy program targeting cognitive function. Results suggest that music therapy may increase the connectivity of compensatory neural networks used to improve and maintain cognitive performance.

Read an article exploring the ways that a music therapist uses music therapy sessions to support families to engage with music-making with their multiply disabled preschool children outside of the music therapy space. Specific characteristics of the resources and tools provided are discussed.

Click here to read another study on the same research project by the same author.

This book utilizes The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Children (UNCRC) as a tool to critically explore what implications the convention has for the profession of music therapy, and more specifically, music therapy for children and adolescents.