A Systematic Review of Scientific Studies on the Effects of Music Therapy on Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

People with autism are subjected to peer rejection and social isolation from peer groups in their first three years of life due to the adverse effect autism has on everyday social and communication skills. In addition to affecting academic performance, occupational success, and mood/anxiety setbacks, social and communication deficits can negatively impact mental health, making it imperative to intervene early on to mitigate factors that could negatively affect interpersonal skills and cognitive problem-solving abilities. This review examined Music Therapy adopted to foster the quality of life among persons with autism spectrum disorder. There are 782 academic papers found in the search of relevant databases. Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria for an in-depth analysis of Music Therapy studies on people with autism spectrum disorder. Results show that five types of interventions used were traditional Music Therapy, Papageno Music Therapy Program (PMTP), Elastic touch-display, Melodyne software and Instrumental play, all positively affected persons with autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, music therapy improves four areas of development in people with autism spectrum disorders: (a) social skills and interaction, (b) movement and coordination, (c) verbal behaviour and (d) Intelligence. Based on this review, MT was moderately effective. However, it may not apply to educational settings, social skills, interaction, movement, verbal behaviour and intelligence of people with autism. A larger sample size will be necessary to draw generalisable conclusions in future studies.