Resources & references

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.

 Music therapy can uniquely help severely injured children and their families deal with the events surrounding an accident and its aftermath. The use of music therapy in treating these families on a pediatric service is described and illustrated with a fracture patient and a burn patient

This book is available in an official English edition by the Publisher.

This book, written by music therapist Guylaine Vaillancourt, is divided in two parts. This book is intended to make parents, educators and care-givers aware of how music and music therapy can benefit children. It also explains how the purposeful use of music by music therapy professionals can restore, maintain or enhance physical and psychological well-being of children.

See the record of the book Music, Music Therapy and Child Development
 

This study suggests that music therapy may help manage anxiety and pain in pediatric intensive care (PICU), with parents reporting benefits for both their own and their children’s psychological well-being.

The purpose of this theoretical paper is to examine current literature in developmental psychology in order to discuss how music therapy can foster resilience in early childhood. Music therapy can help prepare young children and their families for handling adversity, increase parental sensitivity, and create multiple opportunities for families to develop adaptive interpersonal interaction patterns.

One of the few controlled researches that focus on parental bonding and music therapy.

Music therapists working with families address relationship and interpersonal communication issues; this research documents how music therapy supports mutuality and reciprocity in parent-child interactions.
 

This article provides a rationale as to why musical interaction supported by a qualified music therapist can offer a potential pathway for improved attachment between the parent and infant. Two strong trends are revealed: the international breadth of the developing work by music therapists within family-centred contexts of practice, especially work with infants and their parents in the early years; and the use of theoretical principles of communicative musicality (Malloch & Trevarthen, 2008) combined with knowledge of early musical skills.

This article is available in French full-text translation.