Music therapy clinical trial will prove positive intervention for autistic children

April 11, 2015

Josh Jennings

Dr Grace Thompson has had a successful career helping people with autism through music therapy.

Music therapist Dr Grace Thompson says the ground-breaking connections she's forged with special-needs children throughout her 20-year music therapy career typify the general experience of music therapists.

Thompson, who specialises in assisting special-needs children to interact with their families and communities through music-making, says she'll often gently play her guitar to capture the attention of children who are otherwise displaying no interest in engaging with the people around them.

Once she has their attention, she is able to engage them in music-making to help develop their communication skills.

"I think this is what most music therapists experience almost daily in their work," says Thompson. "No matter the condition or the age, often when we meet people, they're quite isolated or unwell or vulnerable. To see how music makes a connection with people, I think, is the most special thing."

Thompson is a lecturer in the master of music therapy and researcher at the University of Melbourne, where she conducts research into autism spectrum disorder and family-centred practices.

Presently, she's the Australian site manager for a major international clinical trial that investigates the use of improvisation in music therapy to help young people with autism.

"It's actually going to be the largest study of an intervention for autism in the world," says Thompson. "That's any type of intervention – not just music therapy. So we're pretty excited about that."

Before her current role, Thompson was employed by the Broad Insight Group for a decade, working exclusively in early childhood intervention with autistic preschool-aged children and their families.

Today, she is also president of the Australian Music Therapy Association.

She says music therapists work in a variety of environments including hospitals, community and private practice. Presently, there are about 500 music therapists in Australia. At Melbourne University, however, Thompson adds there will be more graduates in the master of music therapy course in the next one to three years than there were in the previous seven years.

"What they're learning through these courses are the skills they need to be a qualified music therapist," says Thompson. "When we audition people for the course and take their applications, we really want to see that they want to practice as a music therapist." Thompson's goals in the next year are to graduate a confident and work-ready cohort of students and release research results to raise awareness of how music therapy is helpful for children with autism.

"It's quite an exciting time," says Thompson. "We're going to have a boost of numbers (of music therapists) from Melbourne University and that will be great." 

sOURCE: http://www.smh.com.au/business/music-therapy-clinical-trial-will-prove-positive-intervention-for-autistic-children-20150405-1meuem#ixzz3k70UM959