ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of music therapy on the appropriate social interactions of elementary aged children with peers who have special needs. Ten subjects from an inclusion kindergarten classroom were placed in either the experimental (n=5) or control group (n=5). The experimental group participated in music therapy sessions that focused on tolerance, caring, and acceptance. The control group did not receive any music therapy sessions. All subjects were pre- and post-tested using the student picture data form, the student data response form, and a questionnaire that were created by the experimenter. The questionnaire required the students to point out children in their class in response to the five questions presented by the experimenter based on the topic of perceptions of others in the class. Music therapy sessions took place two times a week for five weeks for approximately thirty minutes per session. The Mann Whitney U was used to analyze the data. Results showed that there were no significant differences in the pre-test scores between the experimental and control groups. The results also showed that there were no significant differences in the post-test scores of the experimental and control groups.
