Music therapy for young children with attachment challenges

Building knowledge of young children with attachment challenges in order to build high-quality assessments or meaningful therapeutic interventions can be difficult due to the wide range of behaviors they present. Three key areas affected by dysfunctional attachment are self-regulation, nonverbal communication, and social skills. Using Stern’s musical process of affect attunement in planned music therapy interventions can help the child (and help the family) to strengthen these skills and competences in order to develop positive attachments between family members in the home. With music therapy research on attachment challenges with young children being sparse, this chapter aims to provide an overview of what is available and how music therapy can be used to help the child and family function well.