Resources & references

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.

Watch how music therapist Belinda Burns works with Hudson, a young boy with developmental delays. 

This video features twin brothers diagnosed with autism and cerebral palsy who received individual music therapy sessions. Watch as they play instruments and sing to strengthen their communication, expression, and collaboration, and hear insights from their mother and music therapist in interviews.

Discover the history of the Nordoff Robbins music therapy method for disabled children and watch early sessions, featuring both Clive Robbins and Paul Nordoff (Part 2).  Note: these images were published on YouTube in 2008, but they date from an older time period (circa. 1993).

Click here to view part 1 of this video.

Discover the history of the Nordoff Robbins music therapy method for disabled children and watch early sessions, featuring both Clive Robbins and Paul Nordoff (Part 1). Note: these images were published on YouTube in 2008, but they date from an older time period (circa. 1993).

Click here to view part 2 of this video.

Read a study exploring the perspectives of parents of autistic children in Hong Kong on family-centered music therapy for their children in both telehealth and in-person formats. Benefits and challenges of both formats are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

This case study explores a music therapy assessment of an autistic child in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It presents the stages of the assessment, assessment tools, and assessment findings.

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.

Discover a playlist of 22 music videos created by certified music therapist, Tiana Malone to target various speech sounds for children. The videos are designed to be accessible to low-vision children.

Click here to read an article on speech and language development among children pertinent to music therapy.