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| ICAN Home > Modules > Communication Interventions | ||||||
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How can music therapy be used to teach social skills? A common social goal for a child with ASD is to participate in turn taking activities with another person. Music therapy activities can be an effective way to teach this skill. Wimpory, Chadwich, and Nash (1995) conducted a case study with a young child with autism using Musical Interaction Therapy (MIT). MIT is a specific improvisational technique that involves the use of live music synchronized to adult-child interactions. The therapist accompanies the child’s movements by playing a musical instrument, matching pace, intensity and purpose of the child’s actions. MIT uses social games and imitation of the child’s behavior with the intent of developing the anticipation of their partner’s actions. Awareness and attention to a partner and anticipation of the partner’s actions are the building blocks of social turn taking. In the study, the results indicated that MIT therapy increased the child’s use of social acknowledgement, eye contact, and initiations of interactive involvement. These positive changes were sustained at a two-year follow up. Parents and teachers can become frustrated when the child with ASD violates one of the social norms of the family, classroom or society. Social norms are the unspoken or “understood” rules of behavior for a given situation. Examples might be: not interrupting someone when they are talking, chewing food with your mouth closed during meals, waiting your turn in the lunch line, walking down the hall without bumping into others, going up to someone and speaking to them in a quiet voice instead of yelling across the room. These social rules are often difficult for individuals with ASD to learn; yet they are critical skills needed to develop peer relationships and be accepted in a group. One of the challenges of learning what behavior is appropriate for the situation is that there are so many variables it is almost impossible to come up with a rule to make decisions. For instance, walking down the hall at school without bumping in to other people is a pretty well established expectation, however, anyone who has spent anytime in a middle school knows that bumping into each other has become a form of greeting among friends and perfectly acceptable. Another example is swearing at school. Of course it’s O.K. to swear at school, with your friends as long as it is done beyond the range of the teacher’s radar. One reason for this is that social norms are behaviors most people learn by watching what people are doing and “sizing up” the situation to determine what behaviors are appropriate and what are not. Reading social situations and determining appropriate behaviors for the situation is not something that comes easily for the individual with ASD. It is important for team members to give some thought to identifying goals for the student, by evaluating the “kid culture” of their peers. Specific social skills, including the conditions and exceptions must be explicitly taught and music may be an important avenue. One technique that even those of us with little musical skill can use is known as piggybacking. Piggybacking is simply coming up with new lyrics to a familiar song. Piggybacking is a simple technique that anyone can do. It does not require a lot of preparation and little music ability is needed. Children with ASD are often able to learn a skill more easily when it is taught to music and once learned, the music becomes a signal to use the skill. The use of the piggyback technique may help the child to both understand the skill being taught and remember it. The simple melodies and repetition of nursery rhymes and children’s songs are an effective means to highlight the message we want to teach. Piggybacking allows for personalization of lyrics to fit individual needs. Parents and educators can use this technique to reinforce desired behaviors, help the child reach closure, transition between activities and teach a specific social skill. Angie uses the tune “Hi Ho the Dairy O” to help her preschool daughter Heather tolerate running errands. The verses went like this.
As you can see, this song could be adapted to any errand they had to do. Angie wisely allowed Heather some choices (for example one treat at the store, a stop at the park, choice of activity at home) which were also incorporated into the song. Chrissy taught her students the names of their peers and the skill of giving and taking of objects by piggybacking on the tune “Farmer in the Dell”. She wrote a new song named “Shake the Jar”. Chrissy put “Cosmic Shooters”, which are small plastic balls that flicker on impact (available at Target), in a clear plastic jar with the lid tightly closed. The children were taught to take the jar when it was offered to them, shake it, and then give it to the next child when cued by lyrics in the song. Shake the Jar (“Farmer
in the Dell”) This is a simple song and a seemly simple activity; however consider the variety and sequence of social skills involved. In addition to the skills noted above, the children learn to anticipate and wait for their turn, watch their peers, actively participate, and start and stop their turn on cue. These skills are challenges for children with ASD, yet critical for living in a social world. The rhythm, simple melody and repetition of verse used in this activity supported the learning and made it very enjoyable for the children. Alan, a 3 year old with ASD was having difficulty with toilet training. Tangible rewards such as stickers for urinating on the toilet were ineffective for Alan however he loved music and singing. His teacher Deanine rewrote the lyrics to the tune “If you’re Happy and You Know it” which was used successfully to toilet train Alan. A visual support was used to show Alan what he was supposed to do. The card read “First (drawing of urinating on toilet) Then (drawing of singing)”. Upon entering the bathroom the card was shown to Alan. Deanine and Alan read the card together. When Alan urinated on the toilet, Deanine sang the song to him. It did not take long before Alan was using the toilet successfully and joining in the celebration song. I Went Potty on the Toilet
(If you’re Happy and You Know It”) Of course one needs to consider the age appropriateness of the songs chosen when using the piggyback technique. You would not use a preschool song for a 10 year old. For older students, folk songs, T.V. theme songs, raps or chants might be used. Students who are able to internalize the language of the song can be taught to play the music in their minds rather than singing aloud. Mark was a 5th grader with ASD. He would become very anxious about transitioning to the cafeteria. He would frequently run down the hall bumping into others and if he saw someone he knew would first yell their name, then run up to them and begin talking about Harry Potter. His teacher, Mitzi came up with this chant for Mark. Going to Lunch Mitzi wrote the chant for Mark and talked with him about using the chant to help him remember how to walk to the cafeteria and greet people along the way. First they practiced reading it together right before lunch. Mark soon memorized the chant and with a reminder from Mitzi, could repeat it to himself as he walked down the hall to the cafeteria. Mark’s behavior changed significantly in a short period of time. On days when Mark was highly anxious, a simple verbal reminder to “Just say Hi and walk on by” helped him remember what to do. Social Stories, a strategy developed by Carol Gray have been effective in teaching social skills to individuals with ASD (Click here to learn more about Social Stories). Social stories are written for an individual to provide information on social situations and teach a specific social skill. They are comprised of statements, which clearly describe the issue being addressed, include statements that provide the student with the perspective of others, and a statement offering an alternative behavior (Gray 1998). Pasiali (2002) developed a technique incorporating the elements of social stories with music using the piggybacking technique. Families were interviewed to determine the skill to be taught and identify favorite songs of the child with ASD. A social story was written to teach the skill. Skills selected by the families involved included; using a quiet voice during meals, watching videotape to completion and asking permission to get a snack. The results of the case studies indicated promising results in increasing the desired behavior both during the intervention period and follow up. This section has identified just a few of the ways music therapy techniques can be used to teach social skills. An evaluation and services by a music therapist can determine appropriate musical interventions for an individual. However, music therapy services may not be available to all who it would benefit. Don’t be afraid to try using music activities with your child or students. If they are learning and you are both enjoying the experience, you are doing something right! |
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Social interaction is a process that begins at birth, or perhaps even
before. It involves the coordination of a variety of modalities: movement,
touch, seeing, hearing. By definition, social interaction involves two
or more people. A defining characteristic of individuals with ASD is
a qualitative impairment in reciprocal social interaction. An apparent
lack of interest in and development of playful interactions with others
is evident in early childhood and persists into adulthood. The early
social games parents’ plays with their infants are the basis for
learning how to communicate and interact with others. Attending to faces
and shifting attention between people and objects are critical skills
babies establish in order to learn how to learn from other people. Typically
developing infants seem to learn this so effortlessly! Individuals with
ASD do not seem to know what to pay attention to or how to get the information
from the verbal and non-verbal communication of others in order to learn
about the world. They seem to be determined to follow their own path
and often end up missing this important information from others. The
needs of individuals with ASD in the area of social skills are broad
and diverse ranging from simply recognizing the presence of another
person to following rules of social etiquette in our society. Music
Therapy may be an intervention to consider addressing the range of social
goals for an individual with ASD.