These two therapists both specialize in music therapy for people on the autism spectrum and combined their expertise in order to provide a 10 week series of music therapy groups for children on the autism spectrum. This Music Therapy Outreach Program is supported, in part, by a generous grant from Autism Speaks.

Today’s video focuses on ways in which music therapy can address anxiety. There are many ways in which anxiety is manifested. Some of the more obvious things we see are covering ears because of the fear of loud noises, aggressive behavior, self-stimulatory behaviors to self-soothe, and emotional outbursts like crying, screaming, refusing to get out of the car or enter a store.

Some of the more subtle ways in which we see anxiety manifested are sitting outside the group, leaving and coming back from an interaction, or even a cease in participation while remaining physically present.

One thing you can do is use a song to explain a situation. There’s construction on the way to your child’s session and you have to take a different route. You know this is stressful for your child, so you take a familiar song and change the words. For example, London Bridges becomes: We have to go a different way, different way, different way. We have to go a different way because of construction.

Another approach you can try is coaching your child in self-soothing:

Pick one of your child’s favorite songs and start to incorporate it into calm moments in your their life - like at bedtime, just after waking up from a nap, or even create special moments where you’re holding them and rocking them or swinging with them so that their body starts to automatically respond in the same way.

Get them to sing or hum along so they’re breathing more, try to match their heart rate and then get down to 60 beats per minute. Then start encouraging them to use this every time they need to calm down.

The song you choose doesn’t necessarily have to be a familiar song or nursery rhyme. It could be something you come up with on your own. We want the song to be slow and have some tension and release. Here’s an example of one I use with some of my clients.