Hearing parents’ voices: experiences of Music-Oriented Counseling for parents of children with autism

Abstract

Background: Working in music therapy with parents of children with autism had expanded over the last two decades, and different approaches have been developed. With the aim to facilitate the parents to cope better with their child’s evasive diagnosis, different ways of using music are presented. While the focus was mainly on the child’s communicative responses and on improving parent–child interaction, little was directed to investigate the parents’ experiences in these types of work.Objective: This presentation will describe the parents’ experiences within a Music-Oriented Counseling model, focusing on the qualitative findings of my PhD study.Method: Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of the intervention period, thematically analyzed within a phenomenological approach, concluding in three main themes: Learning experience; Enabling space; and Music in everyday life.Discussion: The themes are examined in the light of the contribution of cooperating therapeutically with parents, i...