Effectiveness of music therapy in children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Music therapy gives autistic kids a tiny nudge in social reactions—use it as a brief social primer, not a stand-alone treatment.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ke et al. (2022) pooled eight randomized trials of music therapy for autistic children. They looked for changes in social reactions, symptom severity, adaptive behavior, and speech.
What they found
Only social reactions showed a small, significant bump. Core autism symptoms, daily living skills, and language did not move. The gain is real but tiny.
How this fits with other research
Anonymous (2025) later surveyed the same trials and called the evidence 'mixed,' not positive. The newer review supersedes Ke et al. because it adds three years of extra data and lowers the confidence rating.
Zhou et al. (2025) ran a fresh 12-week RCT and found medium social-communication gains. Their larger effect may come from a tight group protocol, showing the meta-average can hide bigger wins under the right conditions.
Finnigan et al. (2010) foreshadowed this field: one preschooler with autism responded far better to music-based social games than to identical non-music games. The single-case result aligns with the small group trend Ke et al. later quantified.
Why it matters
If you already use music, keep it short and social—expect only a gentle boost, not a core-symptom fix. Pair songs with turn-taking or peer imitation to target the one area with solid evidence. Track social initiations during and right after sessions; if you see no uptick within two weeks, re-allocate time to stronger interventions.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open your next social-skills group with a two-minute call-and-response song, count peer eye contact before and after—keep the routine only if you see a jump.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study was to investigated the efficacy of music therapy (MT) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) via a meta-analysis that comprehensively evaluated data from all eligible research in this field. Systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic search of the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to October 2021 to identify studies that administered MT to children with ASD. Eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including 608 participants met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis showed that MT was associated with a significant increase in social reactions among children with ASD (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.03, 0.46], I2 = 0%, P = 0.03). However, MT did not elicit a significant increase in symptom severity (SMD = 0.17, 95% CI [−0.04,0.38], I2 = 0%,P = 0.12), social adaptive behavior (SMD = 0.02, 95% CI [−0.44,0.48], I2 = 0%,P = 0.93) or speech (SMD = 0.04, 95% CI [−0.39, 0.47], I2 = 0%, P = 0.86) in children with ASD. MT can improve social skills in children with ASD; however, there does not seem to be a consensus on the persistence of its effects. These findings can inform clinical practice. Promoting the use of MT in children with ASD and improving its symptoms are the ultimate goals.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022 · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.905113