How might IMT influence the way parents play with their children? Development of a scale to measure the use of Music in Everyday Life (MEL)

The use of music therapy to assist children with autism to develop social communication skills has a long history, with promising evidence of its effectiveness emerging. Both clinical and research evidence has noted the improvements in the children’s ability to interact socially within music therapy sessions. Recent research has also shown that musical interventions aimed at supporting the parent-child relationship have resulted in significant gains in the social communication skills of children with autism. Music therapy that is inclusive of the family and provides guidance and support for parents is a growing approach, and is at the center of the PhD projects of both Grace Thompson and Tali Gottfried. However, little is known about the amount or type of musical play that parents engage in with their child with autism, or whether parents use music as a facilitator in certain daily situations.
Understanding how parents and children use music in everyday life will assist music therapists to learn whether the use of music in the home increases if the child is receiving music therapy, resulting in providing relevant and effective music therapy programs to families. In addition, the data may also help researchers to understand why some children have better outcomes than others.
This paper will present the “Music in Everyday Life” questionnaire; describing the process of formulating the questions and the rationale. Preliminary data from Israel and Australia collected as part of the TIME-A research project will also be presented.