Randomised Controlled Trial of Improvisational Music Therapy's Effectiveness for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (TIME-A), 2016

“Randomised Controlled Trial of Improvisational Music Therapy's Effectiveness for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (TIME-A), 2016” was part of TIME-A, an international project hosted by GAMUT - The Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre, Uni Research Health, and builds upon a collaboration of nine countries worldwide (Australia, Austria, Brazil, Israel, Italy, Korea, Norway, UK, and USA). The project researches how music therapy affects children with autism. Previous research has suggested that music therapy may facilitate skills in areas typically affected by autism spectrum disorders (ASD), such as social interaction and communication. However, generalisability of previous findings has been restricted, as studies were limited in either methodological accuracy or the clinical relevance of their approach. The aim of “Randomised Controlled Trial of Improvisational Music Therapy's Effectiveness for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (TIME-A), 2016” was to determine effects of improvisational music therapy on social communication skills of children with ASD. Additional aims were to examine if variation in dose of treatment (i.e., number of music therapy sessions per week) affected outcome of therapy, and to determine cost-effectiveness. Children aged 4 years to 6 years and 11 months diagnosed with ASD were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Parents of all participants received three sessions of parent counselling (at 0, 2, and 5 months). In addition, children randomised to the two intervention groups were offered individual, improvisational music therapy over a period of five months, either one (low-intensity) or three (high-intensity) sessions per week. Generalised effects of music therapy was measured using standardised scales completed by blinded assessors (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, ADOS ) and parents (Social Responsiveness Scale, SRS) before 2, 5, and 12 months after randomisation. Cost-effectiveness was calculated as man years. A group sequential design with first interim look at usable N = 235 (randomised N = 300) ensured sufficient power for a small to medium effect as well as efficiency. Responding to the need for more rigorously designed trials examining the effectiveness of music therapy in ASD, this pragmatic trial set out to generate findings that could be well generalizable to clinical practice. Addressing the issue of dose variation, this study's results also provided information on the relevance of session frequency for therapy outcome.

Data are freely available for downloading.