A joint behavioral and emotive analysis of synchrony in music therapy of children with autism spectrum disorders

Background: Synchrony is an essential component of interactive exchanges. In mother-infant interaction, synchrony underlies reciprocity and emotive regulation (Harrist & Waugh, 2002). A severe lack of synchrony is indeed a core issue within the communication and interaction deficit that characterizes Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Based on emerging indication that music therapy can improve the communication and regulation ability in children with ASD, we aim to verify quantitatively if: 1) ASD children improve synchrony with their therapist during music therapy sessions, and 2) this ability persists in different structured contexts. Participants and Procedure: 25 children, aged from 4 to 6 years (M= 53,5 mo), with ASD diagnosis based on DSM IV and ADOS. An observational tool for coding behaviors and emotive states of synchrony (CBEC and ABEC, Venuti & Bentenuto, 2013) was applied in video recorded sessions of music therapy for the subject-therapist pair. For each subject, we considered the 20 central minutes of the first, tenth and twentieth session of music therapy. To verify the persistence of effect in a different context with a different adult, we administered and coded the interactive ADOS section (anticipation of a routine with objects) applied after session 20 of therapy. Results: Along the music therapy cycle, the amount of synchronic activity increases, with a significant difference from Session 1 to Session 20 in behavioral synchrony and emotional attunement. Further, the increase of synchrony is confirmed at the end of the therapy cycle as measured by an interactive ADOS section.. Conclusion: Synchrony is an effective indicator of efficacy for music therapy in ASD children, in particular to evaluate the expansion of positive emotive exchanges.