Parent-child nonverbal engagement during spoken versus sung book-sharing in preschoolers with and without autism

Abstract

Providing natural opportunities that scaffold interpersonal engagement is important for supporting social interactions for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Musical activities are often motivating, familiar, and predictable, and may support both children and their interaction partners by providing opportunities for shared social engagement. We assessed multiple facets of nonverbal social engagement—child and caregiver visual attention and interpersonal movement coordination—during musical (song) and non-musical (picture) book-sharing contexts in caregiver–child dyads of preschoolers with ( n = 13) and without ( n = 16) ASD. Overall, children with ASD demonstrated reduced visual attention during the book sharing activity, as well as reduced movement coordination with their caregivers, compared to children with typical development. Children in both diagnostic groups, as well as caregivers, demonstrated greater visual attention (gaze toward the activity and/or social partner) during song books compared to picture books. Visual attention behavior was correlated between children and caregivers in the ASD group but only in the song book condition. Findings highlight the importance of considering how musical contexts impact the behavior of both partners in the interaction. Musical activities may support social engagement by modulating the behavior of both children and caregivers.

Social interaction links active musical rhythm engagement and expressive communication in autistic toddlers

“…Such a causal approach is evident in recent work arguing that rhythm-related skills are a vulnerability in many neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by challenges with social, communication, and language skills (Lad anyi et al, 2020;Lense et al, 2021). In autism, difficulties in the rhythm and timing of interpersonal skills have long been observed across the lifespan (Lord et al, 2020) such as the coordination of eye contact, vocalizations, or smiling, as well as the synchronization of speech or movement behavior (Liu et al, 2022;Ochi et al, 2019;Wan et al, 2013;Zwaigenbaum et al, 2005). Autistic children and adolescents exhibit reduced interpersonal synchrony on rhythmic movement tasks such as reduced phase alignment when rocking in a rocking chair (preschoolers) or swinging a pendulum (adolescents) with another person (Fitzpatrick et al, 2016;Marsh et al, 2009Marsh et al, , 2013, with degree of synchrony associated with specific social skills during the school-aged period (Fitzpatrick et al, 2017;Romero et al, 2018).…”

“…Early childhood musical experiences, particularly those involving active participation such as joint caregiver‐child musical play (Cirelli et al, 2020; Politimou et al, 2018) or caregiver‐child music classes (Fancourt & Perkins, 2018; Lense et al, 2020; Perkins et al, 2018), are highly social interactions present in most young children's lives (Ilari, 2016; Lamont, 2008). Among nonautistic children ranging from young toddlers and preschoolers to school‐aged individuals, social musical engagement promotes children's prosocial behaviors (Beck & Rieser, 2022; Cirelli et al, 2014; Cirelli et al, 2020; Rabinowitch & Meltzoff, 2017), social attention (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010), empathy (Rabinowitch et al, 2013), and perceived similarity with others (Rabinowitch & Knafo‐Noam, 2015), as well as caregiver's positive social behaviors like smiling (Trehub et al, 2016) and gaze toward their child (Liu et al, 2022). Increased musical engagement between young children and caregivers is also associated with increased child communication and language skills in typical development (Franco et al, 2022; Papadimitriou et al, 2021; Politimou et al, 2019).…”

Early social communication through music: State of the art and future perspectives

“…Music therapy in the context of musical play between children and their caregivers has also been used in populations of older children with social interaction difficultiesparticularly in those with autismwith the aims of fostering healthier social development, emotion regulation, and parent-child bonding, as well as building connections with other families (Crawford et al, 2017;Lense, Liu, et al, 2022;Lense & Camarata, 2020). For example, during interactive book reading, although caregiver-toddler dyads involving children with ASD showed less visual attention and interpersonal coordination compared to dyads involving typically developing children, both groups showed greater inter-dyadic visual attention coordination when the stories were sung (musical) compared to spoken (nonmusical) (Liu et al, 2022). Thus, music can aid in coordination between caregivers and young children with ASD, although more research is needed to address heterogeneity of needs, interests, and competencies among dyads.…”

Integrated parent–child music classes for preschoolers with and without autism: Parent expectations and experiences

“…The predictability and repetition of musical activities can also serve as a support for child participation, especially for autistic children who benefit from predictable structures and routines 20 . Additionally, musical activities naturally support positive parenting practices, such as nonverbal responsiveness and shared attention, and can also provide a platform for teaching parenting skills and increasing parent competence 38,40–42 . These changes in parenting behaviors may in turn contribute to increased community participation 38, 40 …”

“…20 Additionally, musical activities naturally support positive parenting practices, such as nonverbal responsiveness and shared attention, and can also provide a platform for teaching parenting skills and increasing parent competence. 38,[40][41][42] These changes in parenting behaviors may in turn contribute to increased community participation. 38,40 Initial studies of therapeutic music groups primarily focused on the effects on the child or the parent-child relationship.…”