Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) face many unique challenges, especially in terms of social communication skills. Music has been established as a therapeutic medium for enhancing social communication. Specifically, in improvisational music therapy, the therapist utilizes a dynamic approach, where the music production is continually attuned to the child’s attentional, behavioral, and emotional feedback. However, due to the lack of a standardized approach and quantitative measures in existing studies, the therapeutic value is unclear as of now. The objective of this scoping review is to examine the effects of improvisational and active music-making on the quality of life of children with ASD. This review included a search within the PubMed and Medline databases, utilizing search terms related to improvisational music therapy, active music-making, and ASD. A total of 11 publications met the inclusion criteria after a thorough quality assessment and are included in this review. Following an in-depth analysis of the existing literature, the efficacy of incorporating improvisational music therapy in children with ASD showed mixed results, with some studies citing significant improvements while others noted no significant differences. Though the premise of improvisational music interventions is to be highly individualized, the results of this scoping review suggest the need for a more standardized evidence-based protocol to limit variability between therapists. Future studies should focus on more quantitative data, account for the child’s baseline social and communication skills, and have larger sample sizes to improve generalizability of this modality.