Music and Social Skills for Young Children with Autism: A Survey of Early Childhood Educators

Abstract

Children with autism may have difficulties in communicating with others, developing social relationships and maintaining emotional reciprocity. Children's active involvement with musical activities may create the conditions for enhanced moments of learning and communication and it may promote children's sensory-motor abilities and their cognitive and emotional skills. The aim of this study was to investigate the views of early childhood educators on the use of music as a tool for enhancing students' with autism social skills. Participants were 94 early childhood educators, working at Greek public schools. The results were positive regarding the participants' views on the use of music as an important, instructional tool in the classroom that holds the potential to promote social and emotional growth of young children with autism. Implication of the study pinpoint to additional research on the topic and to professional development of early childhood educators on the use of music.

The integration of music and its influence on the inclusion of autistic children in educational activities of preschool institutions

“…This study shows that music is the key element that encourages children to explore words to create important events in their lives, to make friends, and to connect with their family members. (Archontopoulou & Vaiouli, 2020) Moreover, German researcher Wiseman (2015) has a similar thought with the one mentioned above about musical integration in autistic children's activities, saying that integrated music in activities tackles three fields: communication, socialisation, and behaviourism. Based on this study, using music does not require being qualified for this, because this task can be performed by each education professional.…”

“…Child development is an implication of social interaction in their early childhood in social environments, mainly from what is served to them in preschool institutions. (Archontopoulou & Vaiouli, 2020) It is hard to measure the impact of music therapy and music integration in educational activities, although Wiseman did an experiment where he measured four elements in a child's behaviour: voice and voiceless communication, eye contact, facial expressions, and noisy music communication. This research, as Wiseman mentioned, describes a raise in physical contact, eye contact, and a high level of emotional involvement.…”

“…Music represents a natural experience in increasing the levels of children's abilities and encourages showing these individual abilities using different activities. (Archontopoulou & Vaiouli, 2020) Based on the study of Archontopoulou and Vaiouli (2020), music plays a crucial role in the everyday lives of children and especially in institutions where daily activities are planned, where children can communicate and interact with their peers in their early childhood stage. This study shows that music is the key element that encourages children to explore words to create important events in their lives, to make friends, and to connect with their family members.…”

“…There are different perceptions and challenges of educators on using music in activities with preschoolers (0-6 years old), where studies show that in general, preschool teachers do not have much knowledge and information about the use of music as an educational tool in early childhood, and often they feel uncertain in using music in daily activities regardless of the field. (Archontopoulou & Vaiouli, 2020) According to Sharda (2018), evidence shows that musical integrationinteraction in educational activities has shown positive effects on ASD (autistic) children, in emotional engagement, social interactions, communication, children-parents relationships, peers relationship, suggesting that musical activities can lead to measurable changes in autistic children. This study has shown strong peaks in music integration in activities with autistic children such as extended musical abilities, improved memory, socialisation, more effective response, etc, describing deeper effects that music has caused to autistic children.…”

“…This study concludes that music strategies implemented in educational activities with autistic children in inclusive groups promoted the social and emotional development of these autistic children. (Archontopoulou & Vaiouli, 2020) It is hard to measure the effect of music as a specific intrusion on autistic children but much research has shown…”