A response to Blauth and Oldfield's "Research into increasing resilience in children with autism through music therapy: Statistical analysis of video data"

This letter is an offering for discussion about the relationships between music
therapy research and neurodiversity-affirming practice. We are a collective of neuro- divergent, allistic, disabled and/or chronically ill music therapists writing in reference to the article, Research into increasing resilience in children with autism through music therapy: Statistical analysis of video data (Blauth & Oldfield, 2022). Based on our understanding of neurodiversity-affirming practices (Roberts, 2021), we perceive incongruence in the ways the article situates resilience as a neurodiversity-affirming outcome measure without clear realization of this worldview throughout the clinical research process (for an example of neurodiversity-affirming research, please refer to: Gardner, 2017; Nicolaidis et al., 2015). We noted that several of the “behaviors of resilience” that the researchers coded seemed to value masking behaviors (e.g. look, smile) and pathologize autistic-coping behaviors (e.g. fidget; Price, 2022). Recently, Scrine (2021) introduced concerns regarding the concept of resilience as a form of oppression within music therapy, wherein resilience often requires client assimilation to and within dominant systems. Our primary aim in this letter is to amplify the labor put forth by autistic folx, many of whom highlight the critical need for neurodiversity- affirming practices in therapy, research, and beyond.