Music as a social intervention for children with autism

This literature review focuses on the effectiveness of music-mediated interventions (MMIs) on improving social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). MMIs are activities that use music to target specific skills and include the use of songs, melodic intonation, and/or rhythm to support learning and change. The review of literature includes the application of MMI to the assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and documentation processes used by recreational therapists (RTs) in providing services. The literature review utilized university-accessed databases to identify peer-reviewed research published after 2004 to examine MMI and apply it to RT practice. The findings demonstrate that MMI is an evidence-based practice that could be implemented into recreational therapy for the development and improvement of social skills in children with ASD.