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 Researchers found that children with ASD in nine countries scored
similarly on a test of their social skills whether or not they had
received the music therapy.
"Music therapy - like many other interventions that have been
suggested - does not improve autism symptoms," said senior author
Christian Gold, of the Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Center
and Uni Research Health in Bergen, Norway.
ASDs are developmental disorders that can lead to social,
communication and behavioral challenges. The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 68 children in
the U.S. has been diagnosed with an ASD.
The anecdotal link between music and ASD goes back many years, Gold
and colleagues write in JAMA. During music therapy, a person helps a
child spontaneously make music through singing, playing and
movement.
There are about 7,000 music therapists in the United States and
about 6,000 in Europe, the researchers write.
For the new study, the researchers recruited 364 children ages 4 to
7 years from 10 treatment centers between 2011 and 2015. The centers
were in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Israel, Italy, Korea, Norway,
the UK and the U.S.
All of the children received the usual care a child with ASD would
receive in their region, but half of the children were randomly
assigned to also get music therapy.
Usual care could range from early intensive behavioral
interventions, to speech and language therapy, to sensory-motor
therapies and medications, Gold told Reuters Health by email.
"Music therapy is also among the interventions that have been
recommended when it is available," he said. "Some parents who are
frustrated with behavioral interventions may experience it as
bringing back the joy of being with their child in a natural way."
After five months of therapy, the researchers did not find a
difference between the two groups of children on a measure of social
skills.
Gold said parents should continue to pursue music therapy if they
feel it's a good match for their children, but don't expect it to be
a so-called treatment.
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"Since the very first descriptions of autism in the 1940s, it has
been noted that many people with autism have a special interest in
music," he said. "Music therapists can help them to pursue that
interest. If they also learn something about social communication
through that, even better. But the pursuit of music or music therapy
should not be guided primarily by the hope to reduce core symptoms
of autism, because that may not be the result."
The researchers also point out that the new results conflict with a
review of previous studies that was published in the respected
Cochrane Library. The review found a benefit from music therapy, but
the studies included in that analysis were smaller and were rated as
only of low to moderate quality.
There is still room for additional research to see if music therapy
may lead to benefit among some children, said Dr. Sarabeth
Broder-Fingert, of the Boston University School of Medicine.
"Although the study taken as a whole makes it look like music
therapy is not effective, if you pull out certain sub-populations it
may work," said Broder-Fingert, lead author of an editorial
accompanying the new study.
She said parents who are considering music therapy should consider
the new study's findings.
"As a parent, you also have to think of the outcome that matters to
you," Broder-Fingert said.
Gold added that more research is warranted.
"Efforts are already underway to improve music therapy, for example
by improving their specific skills or by involving parents more
actively," he said. "We should not assume that what music therapists
are doing already is working well, but should try to continuously
develop it further and test it."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2umc3jc and http://bit.ly/2umRwuV JAMA, online
August 8, 2017.
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