Click here to view this session:
Music Therapy Enhances the Development of Individuals with Autism Spectrum DisorderThis workshop will focus on interventions used by music therapists with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Music therapy is an evidence-based profession that uses music to achieve non-musical goals related to cognitive, physical, social, and emotional functioning. Music therapists work with a wide range of individuals from pre-natal to hospice care in a variety of settings. Music therapy has been found to be an effective intervention when working with children with ASD to develop these functionalities. For example, one of the key characteristics exhibited by someone with ASD is a lack of or limitations in verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Since music is a social language that everyone innately responds to, music therapists utilize music to positively influence a child’s social and communicative development. Neurologically, music is processed in both hemispheres of the brain making it the perfect tool to enhance the development of individuals with ASD.
