Resources & references

Read a literature review exploring childhood cerebral visual impairment (CVI) and the ways that music therapy can be used to approach CVI-related goals.

This book highlights how music and music therapy can benefit children, showing how music therapists use music to support their physical and psychological well-being.

Review of current research supporting the use of music therapy and music-based interventions in pediatric neurorehabilitation. Results demonstrated measurable benefits of music therapy in multidisciplinary teams in three principle domains: gait rehabilitation, upper limb function, and speech recovery.

Learn more about what visual impairments are, and how they affect American children. Practice guidelines for music therapists working with blind/visually impaired children are also discussed.

This video shows examples of music therapy sessions and perspectives from music therapists and the Children's Hospital in Boston.

Board Certified music therapy program at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Funded by Children's Miracle Network - Herskey. By manipulating the elements of a song, music therapists help control a patient's pain and anxiety, ease adjustment to the hospital setting and promote rehabilitation.

Watch how certified music therapist  Amy Smith supports children in a pediatric hospital setting, with specific examples from neonatal intensive care (NICU) and rehabilitation.

Presentation by Tanya Lavoie, certified music therapist, working at the Montreal Children's Hospital.

Watch how music therapy is provided in a pediatric hospital setting to work on a variety of goals with children with diverse needs.

See how music therapy is used in a pediatric hospital setting. Goals discussed include tolerance of medical procedures, pain and anxiety management, and stabilization of vital signs.

Read a Cochrane review on the effects of music therapy for autistic people, updated in 2022. Results show with moderate certainty an increased chance of global improvement and quality of life for autistic individuals, as compared to placebo and standard care conditions. Notable limitations include the age of participants, with no results able to be drawn between autism and music therapy for individuals older than young adults. Long-term effects are also understudied. 

This research article evaluated how music therapy can help children, teenagers, and young adults with cancer and blood disorders. It determined that music therapy is highly beneficial to have in an interdisciplinary team to manage symptoms and provide psychosocial care.