Music Therapy Effects Autistic Minds Page |1

MUSIC THERAPY EFFECTS AUTISTIC MINDS

Literature Review

Sania Saeed

Nust Business School (BS Eco)

Sabeeh Yunus

Nust Business School (BS Eco)

Submitted To: Iram Abrar

Nust Business School

Psychology Teacher

Literature Review Made by: Sania Saeed and Sabeeh

Yunus
Music Therapy Effects Autistic Minds Page |2

MUSIC THERAPY EFFECTS AUTISTIC MINDS

Saeed, Sania

NBS, BS Eco

Yunus, Sabeeh

NBS, BS Eco

Introduction:

Music / Music Therapy

By definition, music is the art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a

continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony,
rhythm, and timbre. Music therapy is a field in scientific research that correlates the
process of clinical therapy to bio-musicology, musical acoustics, music theory etc.
Trained music therapist use music to help clients to improve or maintain their health
through the use of various facets such as physical, emotional, mental, etc. Music
therapists use different music experiences i.e. singing, song writing, dancing and
listening to music, to help clients improve life in various domain, e.g. emotional and
social skills, cognitive functioning etc. Music therapists are found practicing in much
developmental work, mostly for people with special needs. It is counted as one of the
expressive therapies.

Autism and Autistic Behaviour

KANNER, in 1943, was the first to describe and label autistic disorder (American
Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). “Autism is a disability that interferes with the
normal development of the human brain in the areas of reasoning, social interaction
and communication skills, typically appearing during the child's first three years
(“What is Autism?” the Autism pages 2004, from the Autism society of America).
Autism is one of those rare diseases that not only affect the sufferer but also those
around him, especially parents. Parents of autistic children suffer as they find it

Literature Review Made by: Sania Saeed and Sabeeh

Yunus
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difficult to love a child with weak communication skills and no emotions. Parents
struggle everyday to support such children and help them to communicate with other
people so that do not become socially alienated. They are normal in all other
matters, but at times extra-ordinarily intelligent, such as Albert Einstein and Keanu
Reaves. When such serious emotion and communication based problems aroused,
scientists (and psychologists) conducted research-based therapies to help people
suffering from autism. Many of the therapies conducted failed, yet music therapy
proved to be quite successful. It has positive effects on the autistic people as it
improves socio-emotional development as it helps them communicate with other
people.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Music is considered a universal language. It is a language that everybody, of

whatever nation, creed, colour, race or speech shall understand. Music is enjoyable,
promotes relatedness, relaxation, learning, and self-expression. It addresses multiple
developmental issues simultaneously such as Autism. Music can help autistic mind
to socially interact with other in the form of music as music may calm and soothe
their otherwise violent non-social minds. Music captures mind and maintains
attention of the autistic minds and help improve problematic issues.

“Individuals suffering from autism may display “qualitative impairments in social

interaction and communication” and often manifest “restricted repetitive and
stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities.” Usually before the age of
3, delays and/or abnormal functioning occur and may also be noticed by a hindrance
in imaginative play” (Diagnostic Statistical Manual-IV, pp. 70-71). According to the
manual, music therapy can be very helpful in addressing typical autistic
characteristic such as qualitative impairments in social interaction and
communication. Music acts as a non-violent bridge between individuals suffering
from autism and communicative interaction with the surroundings and people
around. It involves the individual and maintains his concentration level toward the
therapy. It keeps the individual relaxed and calm and more focused towards the
objective of the therapy and also suppresses negative thoughts. Music is processed

Literature Review Made by: Sania Saeed and Sabeeh

Yunus
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in both hemispheres which would cause development of cognitive functioning and

can be used for speech/language therapy.

A study by Myles, B. S., Carlson, J., K, & Orr, T., J. named as “The Impact of
Rhythmic Entertainment on a Person with Autism” conducted a research on Melanie,
an 11 year old girl, who met the criteria for autism, according to Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (4 th ed.; American Psychiatric Association,
1994). She had some expressive language skills but others had difficulty to
understand her. She often behaved inappropriately and sometimes pulled her hair,
screamed or scratched during social interaction. They investigated the effect of
rhythmic entrainment on inconsistent classroom behaviours on Melanie. The study
occurred in self contained class-room for children and youth with autism. The
classroom contained 4 students, 1 certified teacher and 3 paraprofessionals. The
intervention was successful, the Melanie’s negative behaviours decreased. The
student received one-on-one instruction; group instruction; speech language, music,
art and physical adaptive education; and occupational therapy. The set up Rhythmic
Entertainment involved the use of music to aid relaxation (reduction of screaming
and excessive movements) by introducing externally rhythmic patterns that were
designed specifically to adjust the body to its natural rhythmic patterns. The study
concluded that rhythmic entertain helped in reducing problematic classroom
behaviour.

Another study by Boso, M., Emanuele, E., Politi, P., Abbamonte, M., & Minazzi, V.
under the name “Effect of Long-Term Interactive Music Therapy on Behavior Profile
and Musical Skills in Young Adults with Severe Autism” conducted a research on
young adults with severe (Childhood Autism Rating Scale >30) autism. The autistics
took part in 52 weekly active music therapy sessions of 60 minutes. Each session
consisted of a wide range of different musical activities including singing, piano
playing, and drumming. Two rating scales, i.e. Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale
and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) were included on which different
music skills were rated on a scale of 5 ranging from “completely/entirely absent” to
“completely/entirely present.” This research resulted in significant improvement in
both scales along with an improvement in autistic symptoms and music skills.

Literature Review Made by: Sania Saeed and Sabeeh

Yunus
Music Therapy Effects Autistic Minds Page |5

In a study by Gold C, Wigram T, Elefant C. named as “Music therapy for autistic

spectrum disorder” opines that music therapy helps overcome the usual symptoms
of autism, i.e. problems in communication and social interaction. Participants (of any
age) were chosen for the study and were diagnosed with pervasive developmental
disorder. This includes childhood autism, atypical Autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and
pervasive developmental disorder. Regular sessions of music therapy (one to one
session) included free and structural improvisation, songs and listening to music.
Music therapy was delivered by a professional and compared with either “placebo” or
music therapy added to standard care compared with standard care (with or without
“placebo”). As a result, music therapy was superior to “placebo” in gestural
communicative skills and verbal communicative skills as they both showed a
significant effect in favour of music therapy. Although the effect on behavioural
outcome was small as data available was limited. Effects were not significant and
further research was required in this skill.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this literature review is to find out the relation between effects of
music therapy and autism and justify the hypothesis with the help of valid and
reliable research articles.

Hypothesis: (H0) Music therapy effects on autistic minds.

(H1) Music therapy aids autistic minds improve social skills.

It can be concluded that music therapy has positive effects on the autistic minds and
helps them develop better communication and social interaction levels. Although it
should also be noted that further investigation and thorough study is required to
figure out complete benefits and drawback of music therapy on autistic minds.

Literature Review Made by: Sania Saeed and Sabeeh

Yunus
Music Therapy Effects Autistic Minds Page |6

Contribution:
Sania Saeed: Read articles, summarization, and compilation

Sabeeh Yunus: Read articles and formatting

Citations and references

 American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994
 Diagnostic Statistical Manual-IV, pp. 70-71
 American Psychiatric Association, 1994, 4th Ed.
 Boso, M., Emanuele, E., Politi, P., Abbamonte, M., & Minazzi, V. (2007,
January 13). Effect of Long-Term Interactive Music Therapy on Behavior
Profile and Musical Skills in Young Adults with Severe Autism. [Editorial]. The
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 709-712.
 Gold C, Wigram T, Elefant C. Music therapy for autistic spectrum disorder.
2006, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Issue 2. Art. No.:
CD004381. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004381.pub2.
 Myles, B. S., Carlson, J., K, & Orr, T., J. (1998, January 13). The Impact of
Rhythmic Entrainment on a Person with Autism. [Editorial]. Focus on Autism
and Other Developmental Disabilities, 163-166.

Literature Review Made by: Sania Saeed and Sabeeh

Yunus