The use of music therapy to support speech and expressive language development for pre-school children with special needs : an exegesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Therapy at New Zealand School of Music, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2011
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
Client-centred music therapy with individual pre-school children, involving playful but
focused songs, behaviours and instrumental play, can enhance their speech and expressive
language development. Four constructs were inductively created using the principles of
grounded theory to represent how music therapy was used to support speech and expressive
language development for pre-school children with special needs. Secondary analysis was
undertaken of qualitative data drawn from usual clinical practice including clinical notes,
reflective journal, audiovisual recordings, and notes from communications regarding two
children from a student music therapist’s caseload at a specialist centre in New Zealand. A
case vignette is presented to illustrate these four meaningful constructs of individual music
therapy and concepts that constitute each are presented, along with sample quotations from
the data, and are theoretically integrated within wider music therapy literature. A tree model
was used to capture these findings, which further suggested ‘playfulness’ may be a central
aspect of the work. Implications for my developing and future clinical practice of music
therapy are discussed, along with directions indicated for future research.
Description
Keywords
Music therapy for children, Developmentally disabled children, Preschool children with special needs, Speech, Language development, New Zealand