Exploring the Influence of Music Intervention on Social and Communication Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Deficits in social and communication skills are known as core problems in autism spectrum disorder. To improve the core deficits, music has been used in therapeutic and educational contexts to facilitate social and communication developments in autism individuals. The review on reports of music intervention, music therapy and non-music therapy approaches, demonstrates that music seems to facilitate the developments in social interaction skill and, both, verbal and non-verbal communication skills. By analysing the outcomes of the interventions along with the evidences from psychology and neuroimaging literatures, the analysis in this article suggests that the improvements may be facilitated from the use of music as a medium for communication within the intervention and the characteristics of the music intervention.