health psychology report • volume 8(3), review article There is preliminary evidence that music therapy plays a beneficial role for preterm infants and their primary caregivers during the neonatal period; however, available research considers mostly cohorts from North and South Americas, Australia, Israel and certain western European countries, excluding Poland. Remembering that music, and therefore music therapy, is highly culturally dependent, there is no "perfect program package" that can be directly applied across all communities to achieve desired effects everywhere. The commencement of the multi-center international randomized controlled trial, Longitudinal Study of music Therapy's Effectiveness for Premature (LongSTEP) infants and their caregivers, has provided the impetus for Polish music therapists to begin offering music therapy services in neonatal intensive care units as a part of clinical research. Since research on music therapy dedicated to premature babies and their families is only beginning to emerge in Poland, there is a call to develop a culturally and contextbased approach that can be implemented in Polish neonatal settings. The objective of this perspective article is to present recommendations for clinical practice with premature babies and their families based on available international research and practical guidelines, as well as national experiences from the LongSTEP trial that make it culturally appropriate. This paper might be of great interest to readers interested in implementing music therapy interventions with local conditions and opportunities to improve outcomes for a "real-world" impact.
Autism is a developmental disorder which is difficult to recognize and diagnose. The present study examines the effectiveness of music therapy intervention based on improvisational techniques with the elements of Creative Music Therapy by Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins and improvisational techniques by Tony Wigram (such as imitating, frameworking, dialogues, holding) on developmentl of children with Autism (two boys diagnosed with autism - case 1. and case 2), especially in verbal and nonverbal communication, disturbance behavior patterns, cognitive and social-emotional areas. The results indicate a positive outcome in two music therapy observing tools: Scale I Child – Therapist Relationship in Coactive Musical Experience Rating Form and Scale II Musical Communicativeness Rating Form. The tables indicate the intensity of interaction between the therapist and the subject during the music therapy process (including communication skills, cognitive skills and behavior patterns). The results of case 1 are indicated in Scale I and Scale II and show a significant effect of improvisational music therapy. The important findings from the analysis of behavior in the sessions were Stability and confidence in interpersonal musical relationship, Activity relationship developing, (scale 1.). The results of the case 2. show small changes in musical behavior when it comes to Stability and confidence in interpersonal musical relationship, but in Activity relationship developing the indicators show a lot of changes between sessions. The results of the research indicate that music therapy intervention has a positive outcome and may be an effective method to increase functioning of children with autism.
Music therapy is an interdisciplinary branch of science and a form of therapy which enables establishing contact with every human being by means of an aesthetic sound message. The aim of this paper is to present the influence of music therapy procedures on communicative and social areas of the development of children with multiple disabilities, namely two boys. Moreover, the research activity is also concentrated on the ways music influences particular cases, namely which chosen music therapy strategies. The article presents individualizing research in a qualitative dimension. The outline of the research project is presented with its problem matters, research objectives, methods (of individual case study), and research techniques, as well as a detailed description of the research tool - The Individualized Music Therapy Assessment Profile (IMTAP) recommended by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). The results presented in a detailed description and observation schedule as well as data collected from interviews demonstrates and, at the same time, answers the research question that music therapy is a useful and effective form of therapy in the case of two boys with multiple disabilitities – to improve social and communicative functioning of the their development.
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