Music is the best medicine
| 1 April, 2011 | Cathryn Denney |
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My overriding memories of music lessons in school are of a teacher making us hold our breath and ‘deflate like a popped balloon’ every time we were about to sing. Needless to say, it wasn’t my favorite lesson of the day, but then I have never been very musically adept. Thankfully, the use of music therapy in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has a much more promising outcome.
Tomorrow is the fourth annual World Autism Awareness Day; a day on which Autism organizations around the world hold events for fundraising and to raise awareness of the condition, which affects an estimated half million people in the UK alone. Tying in nicely with this is work presented by Dr Dorita Berger of The Music Therapy Clinic, Norwalk, CT, USA who investigates the use of tempo-based music treatment to obtain ‘functionally adaptive’ behaviors in those suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Due to erroneous sensory processing children with ASD often resort to behaviors such as repetitive pacing and evasive movements to cope with stress; essentially they are fear-driven responses.
“Music is a whole-brain event,” Berger explains. During 45 minute individual sessions, she engages participants in rhythmic clapping and drumming, and paced marching and recorder blowing, all with set tempos. “Music does not require semantic interpretation – meaning that with or without language abilities, music yields responses!” The responses do indeed seem promising as after eight weeks with six children on the autism spectrum, progress was noted over a number of areas including: redirection of repetitive behaviors, reduced anxiety and increased motor coordination. A heart rate vest worn by participants further suggested a level of entrainment and regulation was occurring. Inadvertently, Berger also noted a correlation between difficulty in controlling breathing when using the recorder and limited expressive speech ability.
Berger’s work, which has been recently presented at the New York Academy of Science’s ‘Music, Science & Medicine’ meeting, essentially shows the benefits of tempo-based music in organizing an otherwise disorganized system. It is a treatment that can not only be used to support occupational and speech therapies but holds its own benefits ”because it’s fun, [and] multi-sensory stimulating”, explains the scientist, who uses her blog The Music Effect to facilitate discussion with others interested in the field of study.
Moving forward, Berger is interested in the longevity of the treatment, and understanding how much and for how long the tempo-based treatment is needed for the improvements to become permanent. Berger concludes, “I have never met a person on the Spectrum that did not like, and enjoy music! It is a completely non-threatening treatment modality.”
I may just be a convert!
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Yeah it’s True that Music is best for everyone because it can change your mind whenever you are feeling bore, Music is the only way to Decrease your anger control your blood pressure keep you happy, so keep listening and be happy.
Congratulations to Dr. Dorita Berger for her intensive work in the field of music therapy. Music has always been a common language all over the world. However, music and the arts have been financially “bashed” by politicians who do not comprehend the career diversity. Music is more than entertainment and the skilled professionals who continually work hard to build their careers are exhibiting a dedication to this talent . Athletes entertain and earn high salaries and adulation. Musicians and artists provide so much more to the history of civilization. They should be rewarded and recognized accordingly. Thank you for this article.
Way to go Dory!
This tempo based treatment sound like it is having some miraculous results. I know someone who has dementia and many of the behaviors reported about the autistic children seem seem similar.
I have noticed how children’s educational games such as shape matching and word to picture association can spark up this ladies awareness for the rest of the day. I wonder how much this music therapy can be extended to other brain issues?
The notce about similarities between Autism and senior adult ailments is on target. Sensory issues that most often cause erratic behaviors and chaotic movements have no age limit. Alzheimer’s and Dementias indicate many sensory malfunctions, but in my clinical work I have seen that paced, highly rhythmic activites have the ability to reorganize movements, even if in the moment.
Thank you all for your kind comments. The book, “Rhythms Of The Brain” (Buzsaki) helps to understand how rhythm in physiologic function can work.
It’s not an accident that we tap our feet to Jazz.
I’ve been studying how Music effects the body’s electricity, and I’m finding that Music is a wonderful common language between the thinking mind, the feeling heart and the body’s electromagnetic field, which seems to have a consciousness of its own. The EM field dances to the beat of audible music, regardless of heart rate or level of mental focus. As a musician/performer, I find it very empowering to know that actual electromagnetic communication is taking place between me and my audience. The connection that one feels with the audience is actually an electrical phase conjugation at a distance. I would imagine that the potential clinical applications of this would be astounding.