Building Musical Lives

: The role of musical play in promoting interaction, creativity and social development for autistic children and their families

Abstract

Musical environments have been observed to be highly engaging for autistic children, ameliorating barriers often experienced in everyday communication and interaction. Musical play provides an ideal space in which to support and encourage engagement with caregivers and peers, as well as self-expression for this group. Over 12 months, 25 families with autistic children between the ages of three and eight years participated in an innovative home-based musical programme based on the Sounds of Intent in the Early Years framework of musical development, which was designed to encourage parents to help their children engage in musical play in everyday life. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, including the qualitative analysis of interviews and diaries, alongside observations of musical play and quantitative behavioural measures that explored the role of musical spaces for supporting interaction, creativity and development in autistic children. The findings showed that music was widely used as a tool by parents to orientate their children in their home environments, scaffolding routines, enhancing communication, and supporting emotional regulation. Significant changes in musical and interactive behaviours were observed over the course of the intervention, alongside significant improvements in social communication, highlighting possible interactions between musical play and wider development. More broadly music was found to facilitate shared enjoyment and emotional regulation. Crucially, the strategies were those that parents themselves could undertake with their children. There is a growing need to recognise and develop safe spaces to support autistic children and their families. This research highlights how a music programme using an accessible model can be implemented across community and informal educational settings.

Date of Award	11 Apr 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Roehampton
Sponsors	Economic and Social Research Council
Supervisor	Adam Ockelford (Director of Studies) & Wolfgang Mann (Co-Supervisor)