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 In a small trial, music therapy had a positive effect on both verbal
and nonverbal communication between emotionally neglected children
and their parents. Parents participating in music therapy also
perceived their children as less stressful.
“For children experiencing emotional neglect, music therapy can
provide them with a chance to be heard and responded to in a safe,
fun, and non-threatening context,” said Kate Williams, a music
therapist and lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology in
Australia who was not involved in the study.
Music therapy generally involves the therapist, parent and child
playing instruments together, listening to and discussing music or
playing musical games.
Stine Jacobsen, who led the new study, told Reuters Health by email
that her team used interactive games in which parents and children
took turns following and leading each other and the therapist
provided, “a musical frame for the family to try and approach each
other nonverbally through the music.”
Jacobsen, who heads the music therapy program at Aalborg University,
and her colleagues recruited 18 families with children ages 5 to 12
from a residential family care center that acts as an alternative to
removing children from their parents.
All of the families showed signs of emotional neglect including
social dysfunction or delayed emotional development.
Nine parent-child pairs received the center’s usual treatment
program, while the other nine received six to 10 music therapy
sessions. The music therapists observed the parent-child interaction
and parents reported on their own stress and parental relationship
prior to treatment, and again four months later, in questionnaires.
After the series of sessions, parents involved in the music therapy
found it easier to talk to and understand their children, and to
communicate nonverbally, than parents who did not receive music
therapy.
The music therapy parents also reported being less stressed out by
their children's moods and feeling more empathetic toward them,
compared to the standard-treatment group, the researchers reported
in the Journal of Music Therapy.
Both groups of parents increased their positive responses to the
children and decreased their negative ones, and showed improvements
in parenting stress and stress in general. That suggests music
therapy may not be more effective, but neither was it less effective
than the standard care.
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“Engaging in music therapy with a trained therapist offers (parents)
the chance to learn new skills in responding to children, and
practice them in a live and real way,” Williams said.
Jacobsen’s team says the study results are preliminary and need to
be repeated with a larger group.
Williams also says it's not clear whether the results in therapy
will carry over into the home setting, though it is likely that the
benefits will continue beyond the sessions.
Jacobsen pointed out that musical skills are not required to
participate in music therapy and “the process is more important than
the product.”
Families can also get some of the benefits without attending formal
music therapy sessions, Williams said. Shared music experiences
between parent and child, such as listening to music together,
dancing and singing, are helpful for a child’s development and
likely good for parenting skills as well, she said.
Jacobsen recommends starting this musical bonding early. “Singing
together or singing for your infant or toddler can be a very
intimate bonding activity and comes naturally for some families. The
earlier you start interacting nonverbally with your child in a
meaningful way the more you might see or feel the benefit.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1wTeDSj
Journal of Music Therapy, Winter 2014.
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reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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