Resources & references

A music therapist speaks with the mother of a young client who receives music therapy services. Learn how music therapy has helped her son, who is diagnosed with Angelman syndrome, find the motivation to achieve his therapeutic goals, including improved social and physical skills.

This video (in Spanish) presents a child with a neurologic disorder who received music therapy services in Spain. It includes interviews from the child's mother, the music therapist, and a music therapy student.

Heather Overly, a board-certified music therapist, discusses how music therapy can support children with  developmental disabilities. Through live session examples and interviews, she demonstrates how group music therapy can meet therapeutic goals such as self-expression, academic skills, and social skills.

A comprehensive guide to music therapy with young children, providing a detailed examination of development from birth to age five, with theoretical perspectives and extensive scales of developmental milestones.
The author categorizes development within five levels. An expansive catalog of musical goals is provided for singing, playing, moving, and musical understanding within each level.

 The central impairments of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affect social interaction and communication. Music therapy uses musical experiences and the relationships that develop through them to enable communication and expression, thus attempting to address some of the core problems of people with ASD. The present version of this review on music therapy for ASD is an update of the original Cochrane review published in 2006. The findings of this updated review provide evidence that music therapy may help children with ASD to improve their skills in social interaction, verbal communication, initiating behaviour, and social-emotional reciprocity. Music therapy may also help to enhance non-verbal communication skills within the therapy context. Furthermore, in secondary outcome areas, music therapy may contribute to increasing social adaptation skills in children with ASD and to promoting the quality of parent-child relationships.

This study employed an online survey to investigate current approaches, clinical interventions, and outcome measures used by music therapists working with young children with acquired communication impairments (ACIs)  to address language- and communication-oriented goals. Among the diverse range of interventions employed by music therapists, song singing, vocal improvisation, and music and play emerged as the most effective techniques for supporting individuals with ACIs in achieving their goals. 

Pascal Comeau is part of the team of music therapists working at this hospital. With a variety of instruments, Pascal does much more than make music. By cleverly using soothing sounds, bright colors and fun shapes, he helps children who are admitted to the hospital for long periods of time or who have frequent appointments express their stress, fears and other feelings through music. For children with physical disabilities, playing an instrument and moving to the beat of the music can even improve their motor skills. In this video, find out more about the fascinating profession of music therapist!

Charlotte Stewart, a board-certified music therapist, sings a hello song to a child during an individual music therapy session, helping the child develop their verbal communication skills through singing.

This book describes well-defined models of music therapy for working with families in different clinical areas, ranging from families with special needs children or dying family members through to families in psychiatric or paediatric hospital settings. International contributors discuss their specific approaches and share case studies. Particular emphasis is placed on connecting theory and clinical practice and on discussing the challenges and relevance of each model.

 This article introduces an adaptation of the music therapy and autism specific AQR-instrument. The author developed this adaptation following the requirement to report on the outcomes of his work at a school for children with autism. After introducing the AQR-instrument, the author describes how his adaptation enables him to produce bar charts illustrating client progress. 

Music as therapy for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has traditionally focused on social interaction, communication skills, and social-emotional behaviors. However, recently, there has been an increased research focus on the role of motor and attention functions as part of the hallmark features of ASD, which may have significant implications for the role of music as an intervention for individuals with autism. The purpose of this article is to provide a critical appraisal of new research developments for therapists and researchers to potentially reassess the role of music and expand the current clinical scope of practice in music therapy for autism. Our argument is based upon compelling research evidence indicating that motor and attention deficits are deeply implicated in the healthy neurodevelopment of socio-communication skills and may be key indicators of structural and functional brain dysfunction in ASD. 

Simra was born with the rare conditions Lebers Amaurosis and Joubert Syndrome leaving her with total blindness as well as having poor muscle tone, co-ordination and balance. Watch as Simra explores the world through music with the help of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy.