Music Therapy in Autistic Children
Lucas is around 4 years old, he likes twisting and following objects and frequently spends time running around or doing some physical activities. His current interaction level with his environment is minimal although several therapies were used to stimulate his curiosity and joint attention. As other children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Lucas' behavior is a painful reality due to the high self-center behavior which difficult his care and education. Lucas's parents tired of the situation decided to try with music therapy. During the first session with the therapist they started to see changes in Lucas. The sessions consisted at the beginning playing instruments; the therapist waited him until he got comfortable with the sounds. After that, the therapist started to imitated Lucas’ movements; gradually Lucas was aware that his actions had direct effects in the therapist actions. In the first session, Lucas changed his attention to another action that was not linked to him and did not answer with a stereotypical motor reaction for the first time. Subsequently several sessions of music therapy his behavior changed, he started to play with toys and instruments with his family. In addition, his emotional understanding grew up and also his curiosity and joint attention, that was an excellent result achieved by the academicals learning program. Lucas peer was displaced from himself to other meaningful interactions in his environment. Music therapy can improve social skills in autistic children and this is one example from some of the different dimensions of social skills which can be ameliorated in combination with the usual learning techniques for ASD children.
Being aware that autistic children rarely initiate social interactions; it is fundamental to focus treatment on teaching the kid emotional communication, ways to socialize and interpersonal support. All these areas of developing intervention are essential so...