Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the contents of experimental research from 1975 – 2009 in the field of music therapy that involved school-aged children with varying exceptionalities. Sixty-four published and unpublished studies met criteria for inclusion and were catalogued and coded for the following characteristics: type of source, total number of participants, population, age range, research design, duration of study, presentation of music, non-musical objective, method of evaluation, intervention strategies used, and effectiveness. The content analysis revealed that 62.5% of the 64 included studies reported that music therapy was significantly effective in meeting non-musical objectives set for participants in the research studies. Almost all of these studies reported a level of significance better than .05. Another 14.3% of the studies reported that interventions were effective, but did not cite a level of significance; 6.3% were effective, though not significantly so; 3.2% reported effectiveness anecdotally, but did not offer statistical significance. Interventions that were not effective accounted for 14.3% of the total. There were no clear trends in interventions that produced significant results versus those that were found not to be effective. A wide variety of strategies were used, including background music, mood-inducing music, music as a mnemonic device or instructional tool, musical antecedents, and music used as a contingency or to facilitate structure. Musical activities included singing, playing instruments, moving to music, listening to music, songwriting, using sign language with music, and musical games. Results of this content analysis support the use of music therapy in schools to address the educational objectives of children and youth with special needs.
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