The Effectiveness of Mirroring- and Rhythm-Based Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Systematic Review

Morris, Phoebe; Hope, Edward; Foulsham, Tom; Mills, John P.

doi:10.1007/s40489-021-00236-z

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Intervention studies harnessing rhythmic coordination are gaining attention as avenues to facilitate language abilities, social abilities, and self-regulation skills in children with hearing loss, developmental disorders, and socioeconomic risk factors (Hidalgo et al, 2017; Morris et al, 2021; Williams & Berthelsen, 2019). The results presented here suggest that children may be more engaged with interventions that include familiar or preferred music.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tiny dancers: Effects of musical familiarity and tempo on children’s free dancing.

Kragness¹,

Ullah²,

Chan³

et al. 2022

Developmental Psychology

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Around the world, musical engagement frequently involves movement. Most adults easily clap or sway to a wide range of tempos, even without formal musical training. The link between movement and music emerges early-young infants move more rhythmically to music than speech, but do not reliably align their movements to the beat. Laboratory work encouraging specific motor patterns (e.g., drumming, tapping) demonstrates that toddlers and young children's movements are affected by music in a rudimentary way, such that they move faster to faster rhythms (tempo flexibility). In the present study, we developed and implemented a novel home recording method to investigate how musical familiarity and tempo affect children's naturalistic free-dance movements. Caregivers made home recordings of their children's responses to an experimenter-created playlist (N = 83, age range = 1.25 to 3.91 years, M age = 2.39 years, SD = .74 years; 41 girls, 42 boys; 75% of household incomes . $90 000 CAD). Children listened to 1-min excerpts of their favorite music and unfamiliar, genre-matched music, each played at 90, 120, and 150 bpm (pitch constant; order randomized). Children moved faster to faster music and demonstrated tempo flexibility for both favorite and unfamiliar music. Favorite music encouraged more smiling across tempo conditions than unfamiliar music, as well as more dancing in the slowest tempo condition. Results demonstrate that young children's self-selected movements are affected by musical tempo and familiarity. We also demonstrate the usefulness of a naturalistic home recording method for assessing early auditory-motor integration.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tiny dancers: Effects of musical familiarity and tempo on children’s free dancing.

Kragness¹,

Ullah²,

Chan³

et al. 2022

Developmental Psychology

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“…Rhythm refers to the use of a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound. Morris et al (2021) reviewed literature focusing on either mirroring or rhythm in studies that have reliable outcome measures assessing improvements in communication and social skills in ASD children. However, they did not find any study on the association of both.…”

Section: Could the ‘Similarity Hypothesis’ Be Useful To Improve Peers...mentioning

confidence: 99%

From child-peer similarity in imitative behavior to matched peer-mediated interventions in autism

2023

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Self-consciousness develops through a long process, from pre-reflexive consciousness relying on body perception, to “meta” self-awareness. It emerges from the imitative experience between children and their peers. This experience linked to the capacity to test structural similarities between oneself and others, is addressed according to the concept of interpersonal affordance. We hypothesize that the opportunity for co-actors to engage in a process of interpersonal coordination is underlined by their similarity in terms of morphological, behavioral and motor features. This experience can sustain the emergence of new affordances for objects for each co-actor, as well as new affordances in terms of joint actions. We apply this idea in the context of peer-mediated interventions (PMI) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We argue that, in PMI, an encounter between children with autism and similar peers would foster the opportunity to engage in a spontaneous process of interpersonal coordination. This process would enable the development of self-consciousness and the emergence of perception of interpersonal, self and other’s affordances for children with autism. We conclude that metrics to assess morphological, behavioral and motor similarity should then be defined and used in future studies to test our hypothesis in children with autism versus TD children or between children with autism.

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“…Importantly DMT has been observed to improve communication skills in young individuals diagnosed with ASD, with dance and movement therapists reporting promising results through the successful use of mirroring, synchronous movement interaction, and rhythm (Devereaux, 2012;Martin, 2014;Cozolino, 2014;Tortora, 2005;Field et al, 2001;Koch et al, 2015). The techniques of mirroring and rhythm have consistently been observed to improve communication skills and social development in autistic children (Morris et al, 2021). Both of these elements are found within dance-based exergames such as 'Just Dance' (Wii) which requires the player(s) to rhythmically mirror/copy the avatar on screen.…”

Section: Implications For Practice and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Non-Fitness-Related Benefits of Exergames for Young Individuals Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Morris¹,

Hope²,

Mills³

2021

Preprint

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Background. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition characterised by social-communication deficits and is often accompanied by an array of symptoms, including cognitive and motor differences. Research has begun to investigate the utility of exergames (virtual exercise games) for combating some of the functionally impairing facets of ASD. However, no review to date has investigated the positive effects of exergaming for young individuals diagnosed with ASD, exclusive of their effects on fitness-related/health-related outcomes. Methods. We systematically reviewed the literature for articles published between 1990 – 2020, which aimed to examine the effectiveness of exergames for targeting some of the symptoms observed in children diagnosed with ASD, exclusive of physical fitness-related outcomes. Results. Out of 193 relevant articles, 10 met the inclusion criteria. All studies showed beneficial effects of exergaming for executive function and motor skills, however more work is needed to examine the beneficial effects of exergaming for social development in young autistic individuals. Conclusion. The present review supports the use of exergaming to improve some functions in ASD and suggests future research is needed to expand on this for the enhancement of social-communication skills.

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The Effectiveness of Mirroring- and Rhythm-Based Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Systematic Review

Cited by 11 publications

References 86 publications

Tiny dancers: Effects of musical familiarity and tempo on children’s free dancing.

Tiny dancers: Effects of musical familiarity and tempo on children’s free dancing.

From child-peer similarity in imitative behavior to matched peer-mediated interventions in autism

The Non-Fitness-Related Benefits of Exergames for Young Individuals Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

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