What kind of music is best for autism? Music therapy for autistic people is often improvisational. This means the music is spontaneous and matches the temperament of the person playing. Music therapists say music with a strong beat, simple structure, and easy lyrics do best.
The results of 53 parent-reported questionnaires show that classical music (see also Bhatara & Quintin, 2013) and pop-rock are preferred genres in ASD compared to other genres (e.g., jazz or folk).
Many studies found that music helps those with autism to develop better social skills and generate confidence in them. Music therapists have shown that music can reduce the stress and anxiety levels of autistic children and adults. It can reduce distressed behaviors as well.
For Mozart, have a look at Symphony #40 in g minor, Beethoven's Fur Elise, and any of the Bach Preludes and Fugues. Scarlatti is also wonderful. Vivaldi is also great mathematically precise music.
Studies have also shown that simple classical tunes have the best effect in calming autistic kids, and eventually, through playing these in the background in their daily lives, they can improve their control on their own mood and temperament.
Autistic listener's felt responses to music is (statistically) normal. Of course there are a diversity of autism phenomena. But in what are called “high-functioning” cases of autism, the musical response, as measured by GSR, was not significantly different from the non-autistic control group.
Research has shown that music can reduce anxiety and stress in both typically developing children and children with ASD. It can also help increase positive emotions such as happiness and joy. Music for autism therapy can increase their social interaction. It encourages eye contact, turn-taking, and sharing.
1. Classical Music. Researchers have long claimed that listening to classical music can help people perform tasks more efficiently. This theory, which has been dubbed "the Mozart Effect," suggests that listening to classical composers can enhance brain activity and act as a catalyst for improving health and well-being.
Percussion instruments benefit kids with autism because these specific instruments need certain skills to play. Percussion instruments such as bells, drums, or xylophones, allow the player to have control when playing. Your child can decide how much weight to put behind, hit, or shake.
Autistic children typically have difficulties processing words and expressing how they feel. Music helps autistic children communicate better as it's non-verbal, and it eliminates verbal expression barriers. Thus, music allows autistic children to express themselves without the use of words.
Why does this happen? Making excessive noise can indicate auditory sensory-seeking tendencies. Usually children with a hyposensitive auditory system are unable to register sound until they have additional input.
Intense interests
Many autistic people have intense and highly-focused interests, often from a fairly young age. These can change over time or be lifelong. It can be art, music, gardening, animals, postcodes or numbers. For many younger children it's Thomas the Tank Engine, dinosaurs or particular cartoon characters.
Individuals with autism also show equal or superior abilities in pitch processing, labeling emotions in music, and musical preference compared to typically developing peers.
When the right song is played, music can lower energies and make children more attentive to instructions. It has the same effect when a child is having temper tantrums; slow and calm music distracts them from their behavior, calming them down enough for a conversation.
On an iPad, an autistic child can create a sentence or even story using a series of images. By doing so, the child can communicate with parents, caretakers, and instructors without frustration. Since the iPad is mobile, children with autism can take this communication tool wherever they go.
Bubble blowing is often successful, as are toys that move, squeak, vibrate, and otherwise DO something. Over time, therapists will work with the child to build reciprocal skills (sharing, turn-taking), imaginative skills (pretending to feed a toy animal, cook pretend skills) and even abstract thinking skills.
Autistic children often enjoy sensory toys because they help them feel calm and engage their senses in a positive way. Sensory toys can include weighted stuffed animals, fidget toys, and putty. When looking for a toy for an autistic child, keep in mind their interests and their developmental stage.
Researchers think the complexity of classical music is what primes the brain to solve spatial problems more quickly. So listening to classical music may have different effects on the brain than listening to other types of music.
For a while, researchers believed that classical music increased brain activity and made its listeners smarter, a phenomenon called the Mozart effect.
Individuals with higher intelligence test scores are more likely to prefer predominantly instrumental music styles. There you have it. All those Bach-listening, Kraftwerk-loving, ambient-adoring strange people in your life are actually the brainy ones. Are you ready for the twist? (No, not the song.):
During a meltdown: what to do
Give your child space, don't touch them, and keep other people away. Turn down lights and keep things quiet, or give your child noise-cancelling headphones. Let one person speak to your child, but don't say too much. Stay calm and wait.
Musical patterns (from strongly rhythmic to flexible and 'loose') can provide what an autistic person needs to help them to regulate their thoughts and brain processes, creating more coherent and adaptable responses to the world around them.
A mix of multisensory teaching techniques seems to work well. Tapping rhythms, clapping rhythms, using visual aids to teach note values, even moving around the room to "dance" quarter, half and eight note values can help.