Over the past fifty years, many have noticed that some people with autism seem to respond very positively to music. Hundreds of articles have been published on this topic and studies have been designed to show how music helps children with autism. Unfortunately, none of these studies has shown any kind of reliable results, until September 2011, with the publication of Auditory-Motor Mapping Training as an Intervention to Facilitate Speech Output in Non-Verbal Children with Autism: A Proof of Concept Study

Finally, a protocol has been designed that actually tests a way to use music to help older, non-verbal children to acquire simple words. The technique, Auditory-motor-Mapping Training (AMMT), was originally designed to help stroke victims regain speech after a stroke. Testing this technique on non-verbal children with autism is an intriguing idea! It is refreshing to read that these researchers state that their first study is purely a proof of concept study and that more research is necessary. It is very rare, and much welcomed, to hear this kind of statement from researchers in the field of autism research.

If you are the parent of a non-verbal child, this area of research is worth following. Although the study’s sample size is very small (6 children) and the experiment compared the children’s baseline scores to their results after the treatment (with no separate control group), the results were so strong that this deserves to be replicated with a larger sample and a well-controlled design.

What I find very exciting is that these researchers 1) understand the limitations of the first study, and 2) have just received a grant to do another study which will hopefully include more children, and use a better experimental design without the limitations of the original proof of concept study.

I can’t wait to see the results of the next study! I’ll keep you posted.

Tags: music, therapy