In collaboration with researchers from the Université de Montréal, we conducted a randomized controlled-trial comparing a music-based intervention with a control intervention for school-aged autistic children. Parents of children in music group reported significant improvements in their children’s communication skills and family quality life over three months of intervention, beyond those reported for the control group. Moreover, there were improvements in brain connectivity in the music group, but not the control group. Find out more in our press release below.
We further examined video data from this intervention study to see what key processes differentiated music-based from play-based intervention, leading to better outcomes in the music group. We documented two “active ingredients” that were present to a higher degree in the music-based intervention than play-based intervention sessions: more joint engagement between child and adult around an activity, and more physical movement. Read more about them below.
https://mcgill.ca/neuro/article/research/advances-music-based-interventions-autistic-children/
We are examining whether music-based interventions may be especially well-adapted for facilitating communication in children on the autism spectrum with lower verbal abilities or those who are non-speaking.