Many children on the autism spectrum have difficulty developing prelinguistic skills such as joint attention, purposeful vocalization, and gesture, which are strongly related to later expressive and r..
Many children on the autism spectrum have difficulty developing prelinguistic skills such as joint attention, purposeful vocalization, and gesture, which are strongly related to later expressive and receptive language development. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of music-based interventions in supporting the development of these foundational prelinguistic skills in young children on the autism spectrum. Five databases were searched, yielding a total of 332 results. Five articles ultimately met criteria for inclusion. Results of these studies were mixed, with studies in which the intervention was delivered by a professional rather than a caregiver yielding more positive results. Additional research with larger, more representative samples and more robust experimental designs is needed before strong conclusions about the effectiveness of music-based interventions can be drawn.
