Abstract

With broad individual variability in social communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorders and increasing focus on interventions targeting social communication of this population, there is a need for systematic analysis of how social communication outcomes are measured. This study aimed to systematically analyze the measurement tools used in the music therapy interventions for improving social communication of children with ASD. Electronic databases and music therapy journals were searched for controlled studies published between 1980 and 2015. A total of 21 studies were included for the analysis. The results demonstrated that direct observation of behaviors was the most frequently used and the combination of targeted social communication areas and specific measurements used for a specific skill varied among the studies. In addition, 90.4% of studies reported interrater reliability. These results indicate that there has been a diversity in approaches to measure social communication skills despite increasing attempts for systematic measurements. In consideration of the nature of social communication development in children with ASD, multifaceted strategy to understand and assess the target skills in terms of specific behavior acquisition, social functioning in general, and social cognition was recommended.

Full Text
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