The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a music therapy program on the mother-child attachment behavior of children with autistic disorder. The subjects of this study consisted of 3 pairs of mother and autistic child. The childr...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a music therapy program on the mother-child attachment behavior of children with autistic disorder. The subjects of this study consisted of 3 pairs of mother and autistic child. The children were aged 4. The intervention program consisted of music activity centered mother-child interactions. Music activities of 30 minutes each were designed and administered two times a week during two months to reach to a total of thirteen sessions. In order to ascertain the mother-child attachment behavior before and after participation of music activities, a pre/post test was undertaken using the Mother-child Attachment Behavior Scale developed by Im, Sook Bin(1997).
The results showed that the attachment behavior of the mother-child was significantly improved(p<.05). In addition, the scores for attachment behavior that demonstrated proximity, mutuality and affection increased significantly, although there was no significant change for those for synchrony (p<.05).
In conclusion, music therapy program is an effective intervention that promotes attachment between autistic children and their mothers.