Music Therapists and Speech Pathologists Collaborating to Support Autistic Children

Autistic children can experience challenges communicating their wants and needs and advocating for themselves, which can impact their social and emotional development. Speech pathologists and music therapists are two professions that can support autistic children’s communication development. Collaboration between these two professions can offer a more comprehensive approach to support autistic children’s communication development from a neurodivergent affirming perspective.

Neurodivergent Affirming Perspective

A neurodivergent affirming perspective recognizes neurodiversity as a natural and valuable part of human diversity (Brownlow et al., 2018). It acknowledges that autistic children may communicate differently from non-autistic children and embraces those differences rather than trying to “normalize” or “fix” them. This approach respects the individual strengths and challenges of each autistic child and seeks to provide support that is tailored to their unique needs (Milton, 2018). Such an approach can be empowering for autistic children and can help them develop positive self-esteem and self-advocacy skills.

Collaborative Approach

Collaboration between speech pathologists and music therapists can offer a more comprehensive approach to support autistic children’s communication development. Speech pathologists typically focus on verbal and non-verbal communication skills, while music therapists use music to support communication and social skills. Combining their expertise can enhance the effectiveness of their interventions (Gadberry et al., 2020).

Speech pathologists can help autistic children develop their verbal and non-verbal communication skills, such as learning how to use eye contact, facial expressions, and body language to express themselves. They can also help develop their speech, language, and literacy skills, which are essential for communicating effectively (Hendricks et al., 2018).

Music therapists, on the other hand, use music to facilitate communication and social skills. They can help autistic children develop their social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing, and cooperation, through musical activities (Kern et al., 2018). Music can also help autistic children develop their auditory processing skills, which are important for language development (Lim & Draper-Rodi, 2019). The very nature of music also makes it an effective tool for non-verbal communication. Being a special interest area for many Autistic people, music is a great motivator for communication, be it verbal or through the use of augmentative and alternate communication, according to the person’s preferred method of interacting with the world.

Collaboration between speech pathologists and music therapists can also help autistic children develop their emotional regulation skills. Autistic children often struggle with emotional regulation, which can impact their ability to communicate effectively. Music therapy can help them learn how to express their emotions in a safe and healthy way (Geretsegger et al., 2018). Speech pathologists can help them learn how to use language to communicate their emotions effectively (Kim & Wigram, 2018).

Interventions

Collaboration between speech pathologists and music therapists can result in a range of interventions that are tailored to the unique needs of each autistic child. Some examples of such interventions include:

1. Songwriting: Songwriting can be a powerful tool for autistic children to express themselves. Music therapists can work with them to create songs that reflect their experiences and emotions. Speech pathologists can help them learn how to use language to convey their ideas effectively (Dellacherie et al., 2019).
2. Music-based social interactions: Music therapists can use musical activities to help autistic children to interact with the people around them, when they want or need to. For example, they can use musical games that involve turn-taking, sharing, and cooperation. Speech pathologists can provide feedback and support to help autistic children develop their communication skills during these activities (Lim & Draper-Rodi, 2019).
3. Musical cueing: Musical cueing can be used to support verbal and non-verbal communication. For example, music therapists can use a specific melody or rhythm to cue an autistic child to initiate a conversation. Speech pathologists can help autistic children learn how to respond to these cues effectively (Geretsegger et al., 2018).
4. Rhythm-based speech therapy: Music therapists and speech pathologists can collaborate to use rhythm-based speech therapy to improve the speech production and articulation of autistic children. For example, they can use rhythm patterns to help children produce certain sounds or words (Alghamdi et al., 2018).