Early childhood music therapy and autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Early childhood music therapy practice has experienced exponential growth in the 7 years since the publication of the first edition of Early Childhood Music Therapy and Autism Spectrum Disorders. In the second edition, Petra Kern and Marcia Humpal completely revised the presentation of important information to reflect the rapidly changing landscape of the treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the early childhood period (<5 years). Kern and Humpal brought back most of the same authors from the first edition, all of whom have expertise in early childhood music therapy, specific to autism spectrum concerns, to inform clinicians’ practice and research agenda. Each chapter has a specific, clearly defined focus. Chapters include icons to signal the chapter’s focus, graphics to clearly represent trends and relationships between important concepts, and tables to summarize information. The artwork was designed by Joel Anderson, an artist, musician, and international ambassador who has ASD. One of the difficulties with editing a book with multiple authors is managing writers’ styles and tone. Kern and Humpal set the tone for the book in the preface. The book is written in professional language with straight-forward sentence structure which may make the text accessible to non-native English readers. The chapters are strong enough to stand alone, increasing its utility as a text. Further, the chapters address topics that are covered in different academic classes which might serve the needs of a variety of courses: research, music therapy methods, and age/stage practicum experiences.