Supporting coordination of children with ASD using neurological music therapy: A pilot randomized control trial comparing an elastic touch-display with tambourines.
Neurologic Music Therapy boosts coordination in young children with ASD, with elastic touch-displays outperforming tambourines.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with the children with autism, .
Half tapped on a stretchy touch screen that played music. Half tapped real tambourines.
Both groups had 30-minute Neurologic Music Therapy twice a week for eight weeks.
The study measured balance, jumping, and daily motor skills with the DCDQ parent form.
What they found
Both groups got better at moving and balancing.
The touch-screen group improved more on the parent checklist than the tambourine group.
Kids in both groups had fun and stayed in the study.
How this fits with other research
Bonney et al. (2017) also compared two movement tools—Wii games versus task training—in teens with motor delays. Like Bellon-Harn et al. (2020), both tools helped, but one did not beat the other.
Griffith et al. (2012) showed that daily Taekwondo classes helped kids with DCD balance better. Bellon-Harn et al. (2020) now shows that short music sessions can give similar gains to kids with autism.
Bart et al. (2010) used medicine to boost motor skills. Only one-third of kids improved enough to matter. Bellon-Harn et al. (2020) shows that music therapy can match or beat that success rate without pills.
Why it matters
You can add Neurologic Music Therapy to your toolbox today. Use a tablet with stretchy screen apps or simple tambourines. Either works, but the touch screen may give faster parent-reported gains. Try it for kids who struggle with balance and daily motor tasks.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) using a traditional and a technological intervention (elastic touch-display) in improving the coordination of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as a primary outcome, and the timing and strength control of their movements as secondary outcomes. METHODS: Twenty-two children with ASD completed 8 NMT sessions, as a part of a 2-month intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to either use an elastic touch-display (experimental group) or tambourines (control group). We conducted pre- and post- assessment evaluations, including the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) and motor assessments related to the control of strength and timing of movements. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: All participants improved their coordination, according to the DCDQ scores, and exhibited better control of their movements according to the strength and timing assessments after the intervention. Participants who used the elastic touch-display scored higher on the DCDQ. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: NMT is an efficacious treatment to improve the coordination skills of children with ASD. Elastic touch-displays provide more benefits than the use of tambourines.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103741