The Effectiveness of a Short-Term Group Music Therapy Intervention for Parents Who Have a Child with a Disability

Abstract

This study provides positive evidence for the effectiveness of group music therapy in promoting improved parental mental health, positive parenting and key child developmental areas.

Associations between early shared music activities in the home and later child outcomes: Findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

“…No other large-sample longitudinal study has investigated these associations in early childhood for the general population. The findings align with those that document relations between parentchild music therapy and improved social skills in early childhood for specialized populations (Nicholson et al, 2010 andWilliams et al, 2012), and those that link group music-making with improved empathy and prosociality in early (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010), and middle childhood (Rabinowitch, Cross, & Burnard, 2012). Early parent-child music activities such as singing (including action songs), dancing, and playing instruments might provide an important opportunity for children to practice imitation, shared intentionality, social interaction, cooperation, and mutual responsivity with a trusted caregiver (Pasiali, 2012 andRabinowitch et al, 2012).…”

“…Less is known about the role of shared book reading in supporting social-emotional development. Theoretically, shared home music activities might also yield developmental benefits for children, given the related efficacy evidence regarding music education and music therapy for particular populations (Moreno et al, 2011, Schellenberg, 2004, Winsler et al, 2011and Williams et al, 2012.…”

“…Parent-child music therapy efficacy studies indicate that joint active music participation is associated with improved parent-child interactions and enhanced impulse control or self-regulation skills (Pasiali, 2012), and social and communication skills for children (Mackenzie and Hamlett, 2005, Nicholson et al, 2008,Nicholson et al, 2010, Walworth, 2009and Williams et al, 2012. These correlational studies have largely been with small numbers of participants and with specialized populations deemed to require additional parenting and child development support.…”

Literature Review of Early Childhood Music Therapy Between 1990-2012

“…In this study, there seem to be several papers with a large number of participants. This was particularly evident in the Sing&Grow reports (Abad, 2007;Abad & Williams, 2006;Nicholson et al, 2008;Williams et al, 2012). Participants numbers were 850 (Nicholsson et al, 2010) and 635 families (Abad, 2007) (Kelly, 2011).…”

“…The program was funded for 2 years initially and then the funding was extended. In the findings of this review five Sing&Grow research papers were included (Abad, 2007;Abad & Williams, 2006;Nicholson et al, 2010;Nicholson et al, 2008;Williams et al, 2012) and one clinical evaluative paper (Williams & Abad, 2005). These have affected especially the analysis results of research articles.…”