Music Therapy for Autistic Children and Their Families: A Creative Spectrum

Abstract

A review of the literature shows that little has been published about music therapy for parents and children together, and Oldfield's recent article (Oldfield et al. 2003) describes this work as ‘fairly uncommon’. This paper uses three clinical examples to illustrate a range of approaches to working with children with autism and their parents: a group for children with autism and their parents in a mainstream primary school, short-term work with a 4-year-old autistic girl and her mother, and work with a mother and her two young sons, one of whom has Asperger's Syndrome. Music therapy can help children with autism to communicate and interact and can build their self-confidence. It can also play an important role for parents of children with autism, who may be under great stress, by fostering relationships, developing positive interactions and helping them to feel contained and supported.