Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine teachers,’ administrators,’ and parents’ perceptions of music therapy in schools and its effectiveness with various disabilities and age groups. Perceptions of music therapy were examined in relation to participants’: (a) previous knowledge of music therapy and (b) belief that music therapy will be beneficial to students with disabilities and address their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals. Parents, teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals from an elementary and a middle school in the Southeastern United States served as participants. Participants completed a 14-item questionnaire that addressed the three research questions and included items related to participants’ demographic information, previous knowledge of music therapy, perceptions of music therapy effectiveness, and disabilities and age groups with which music therapy is perceived to be effective. Results indicated that 65% of participants had heard of music therapy, and 60% had seen a music therapy group with children. The behavioral approach to music therapy was most familiar to participants but some participants had also heard of neurologic music therapy, psychodynamic music therapy, and Orff-Schulwerk. Eighty-seven percent of the participants agreed that music therapy was beneficial for students with disabilities, and participants felt music therapy was most effective in addressing the emotional and social goals of students with disabilities. Participants’ rank order for disability groups that would benefit from music therapy was: (1) speech/language impairment, (2) specific learning disability, (3) emotional disturbance, and (4) autism. Participants’ rank order for age groups that would benefit from music therapy was: (1) 0-5 years old, (2) 6-10 years old, (3) 11-15 years old, and (4) 16-18 years old. These findings indicate that parents, teachers, and administrators perceive music therapy to be effective with school-age students who have various disabilities, particularly younger children. Additionally, results from this study corroborate previous research regarding the perceived effectiveness of music therapy with other populations. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
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