Beneficial effect of Music for Autism therapy

The definition of autism according to Indonesian psychologists is Supratiknya (1995) which states that persons with autism have characteristics that people with solitude and being cold since childhood or infant, for example by not responding (smiling, and so on), given food and so on, as well as not paying attention to the surrounding environment, not willing or very little talk, just want to say yes or no, or utterances that are not clear, not like the stimuli auditory (listening to the voices of parents cried), happy to do self-stimulation, banging the head or other strange movements, sometimes skillfully manipulate objects, but difficult to catch.

Specialist music therapy, Nordoff Robbins in Holmes magazine claims that children with autism, the energy will increase when certain music is played.

Music therapy uses music interventions to help clients learn and improve developmental skills such as speech/communication, motor, behavioral and social skills.

The benefits of music therapy for people with Autism : 

1.     Improve behavior   

      Music therapy stimulates brain activity in understanding and recognizing processes that occur around the child and captivating music is used to help a child sustain attention during an activity. 

2.   Improve communication 

      Musical activities are used to increase the use of verbal language. Wan et. al. (2004) found music to improve the mapping of sounds to actions, by connecting the auditory and motor sections of the brain, which may help improve understanding of verbal commands.   

      By pairing music with actions, and with repetitive training, the brain pathways needed to speak can be reinforced and improved. 

3.   Reduce anxiety and stress 

Classical music or music with a steady rhythm is thought to be the best for alleviating anxiety in children with autism due to the predictability of the beat.

4.    Fun and encourages social interactions 

Autistic child considers fun musical instrument as a medium, due to the shape and sound. That is why, music equipment could be a mediator in establishing a relationship between an autistic child with others. During individual sessions and music therapy groups, clients practice greetings, turn taking, eye contact, requesting, collaboration, etc., through musical activities. 

In therapy sessions music therapy will be designed, executed, and evaluated according to the needs of each child. During therapy the child will be involved in several activities such as:  

• Listen to music or musical creation

• Playing a musical instrument

• Moving to the music

• Singing

Music therapy can be given when the child is sleeping, wake up, and do activities with the volume slowly. Music therapy can be given when the child is sleeping, wake up, and do activities with the volume slowly enough sleep and heard people around him while he was doing activity.

So, by using this music therapy, are expected to provide vibration waves that will affect the membrane surface of the brain which affects physiological conditions and expectations auditory function is active and stimulating speech.