Autism and Music Therapy

At FOCUS Center for Autism, we're using music as a part of our therapy. According to studies released in the 2004 music in interventions used with children and teens with ASD can improve social behaviors, increase focus and attention, increase communication attempts (vocalizations, verbalization, gestures, and vocabulary), reduce anxiety, and improve body awareness and coordination. The study was released by The Journal of Music Therapy. Marcela DeVivo, mother of a child with severe disabilities, an attorney and writer, wrote about this in an essay for the Autism Science Foundation. Her article cites several other studies.

Music encourages social interactions.
A 2009 study by Kim, Wigram, & Gold found that children with autism showed more emotional expression and social engagement during music therapy sessions than in play sessions without music. 

Music can improve behavior.
In a 2012 study of 41 children with autism over a ten-month period, See found that weekly music therapy sessions seemed to improve overall behavior, with the most improvement seen in inattentive behaviors

Music can improve communication.
Wan et. al. (2004) found music to improve the mapping of sounds to actions, by connecting the auditory and motor sections of the brain, which may help improve understanding of verbal commands. 

Music can reduce anxiety.
Children with autism are more sensitive to anxiety than the average child, as they are unable to filter out provoking stimuli. A small four-week study, conducted at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse in 2006, found preliminary success in reducing anxiety in patients with autism through music therapy.

As DeVivo points out, the most important aspect, music is fun! There's more on using music as therapy in a 2011 episode of Science Friday.http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/12/16/2011/treating-stress-speech-disorders-with-music.html