See the browse file to answer the questions. answer should be in essay format. I need 250 words

Introduction

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, is a condition that is characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and non-verbal communication, it has been identified to have unique strengths and differences (www. Autism speaks). There isn’t one type of Autism, it is caused by different combinations of genetic and environment influences. Autism is somewhat prevalent condition in our society as 1 in 68 children are born with it (CDC 2014). Research has shown that there are only a few ways to help treat this condition. The most effect way to help people with Autism is to use a treatment that will affect their behavioral, neurological and cognition. Our general topic of interest is children who have Autism and how music therapy helps them with their cognitive, physical, psychological, and learning disabilities.

Autism speaks is a website that primarily looks at Autism and its effects. The University of New Hampshire has done work on the healing benefits of music therapy. Clinical application and research has been done on how music assist in helping people with disabilities with their social and how to build relationships. We also show how overtime some of the behaviors have changed as a result of music therapy. We also show how communication improves as a result of music therapy.

In all the articles that are available to us for research on this subject, there is a limited amount on gender and ethnicity with people who have Autism, and how music therapy may or may no effect this group of individuals. The question that remains is will all ethnicity groups regardless of gender who has Autism will have the same results with music therapy.

METHOD

The idea of music therapy is to enable patients, who are unable to talk, to use musical activities to express their emotions in songwriting, dancing, singing and playing the musical instruments. To administer music therapy, we require an approved therapist to assess the children to determine their therapeutic needs. The Population of interest are children with autism. The sampled subjects are autistic children between the ages 3-5 years, they were recruited through observations in a school environment. The conditions were a classroom setting with a music teacher being introduced to the classroom once a week. These subjects were assigned to these conditions by observing the teacher presenting a stimulus and how children were able to reciprocate it back. The subjects included were children of both genders and of different ethnicities. The way in which they were eligible for the study is if they fell in the spectrum. Those excluded were children in regular class settings that did not fall in the spectrum. The average age of children were 3-5 years old. Subject one is a boy which ethnicity is Caribbean and language is Creole. Subject two is a boy which ethnicity is Caucasian and language is English. Subject three is a Girl which ethnicity Hispanic/Latino and language English. Subject four is a girl which ethnicity is Hispanic/Latino and language was Spanish. The subjects were motivated by praise and rein enforcement in form of a reward system. Music teacher, students, instruments (tambourine, maracas, etc.) and stickers. Our stimuli are a music teacher brought into a classroom of children with autism where we observe their behavior in accordance to the music. The stimuli were presented on a scheduled day. We created a questionnaire based off observations of their behavior and how they responded to the music. We created a questionnaire which created the contrast amongst the children that were observed. The subjects weren’t asked not to do anything. There was no explanation given to the subjects to avoid altering the observation. The data was collected through a questionnaire.

What to Expect with Music Therapy in children with ASD

Music therapy will benefit children with autism since the sessions involve a vital communication building exercise as well as relaxing motivation and playtime (Hardy, 2013). The music therapists give time for every skill they teach to children with ASD to develop and flower with its activity. The therapists will introduce one skill at a time whether it is singing, listening, dancing, or even playing their sounds of the instrument. The general atmosphere for each class or session is a safe learning environment with children.

Result

There were two groups measured for comparing and contrasting. The recorded data is from a formatted questionnaire that rates function of the two different groups. The control group presented in Table 1 shows the function in 2 individuals that do not have any music therapy. The experimental group presented in Table 2 shows the function in 2 individuals after the music therapy. The ten questions address different areas of diagnosis for the autism spectrum based on the Mayo Clinic site. The individuals in the control group had lower scores on average compared to the experimental group with exception with some questions that have similar averages. The questions were #1, #3 and #6 which addressed class participation, nonverbal communication and attention. There were two individuals per group, a boy and a girl at around the same age. They are at the same level of autism all requiring support.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the outcome of this review based on the emerging evidence comprising the effects of music therapy for children with ASD. Amongst the evidence base, a sufficient conclusive evidence comes out on reporting the impressive result to group music therapy as a reliable intervention for children with ASD. The impressive results have been reported to the respect of how frequent the verbal communication and social interaction were observed. Our research has proven that music therapy is a good treatment with those with Autism. It has also been proven that Gender and Ethnicity don’t play a role in this form of treatment of Autism.

References

www.universityofNewhampshire.com

https://www.musictherapy.org

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20352928

Wigram, T., & Gold, C. (2006). Music therapy in the assessment and treatment of autistic spectrum disorder: clinical application and research evidence. Child: Care, Health & Development, 32(5), 535-542. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2006.00615.

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