Litteraturöversikt om musikalisk kommunikation på tidig utvecklingsnivå

Linn Johnels, musikterapeut och doktorand i specialpedagogik vid Stockholms universitet, har publicerat en artikel som redogör för resultaten av en litteraturöversikt om musikterapi och musikalisk kommunikation med personer på tidig utvecklingsnivå. Huvudresultat av översikten är att musikterapi i flertalet studier beskrivs som en lovande och viktig insats, men att fler och större studier behövs.

Artikeln finns tillgänglig online, genom att söka på dess titel eller författare. Här nedan återges Abstract:

”Musical interaction with children and young people with severe or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: a scoping review” Linn Johnels, Simo Vehmas and Jenny Wilder. Department of Special Education, Stockholm University. (2021).

This scoping review addresses peer-reviewed research on musical interaction with children and young people with severe/profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (S/PIMD). Twenty-five articles published between the years 2000 and 2020 met the inclusion criteria. A narrative synthesis was used to summarise and evaluate different features, including participant characteristics, study design and methods, type of musical interaction, the abilities and behaviours in focus, reported benefits, promising components of musical interaction, and quality appraisal of the studies. The results revealed a variation in participant characteristics and study designs, where small-sample descriptive case studies were most common. In terms of the type of musical interaction, active music therapy was the most commonly used approach, followed by technology-mediated and multisensory musical activities. In terms of abilities and behaviours, a large majority of the studies focused on social interaction and communication, followed by engagement, attention and affect. Six categories were identified as promising components of musical interaction: the responsivity of the interaction partner, singing songs, structure and predictability in the activities, long-term interventions, technology-mediated and multisensory musical activities, and a therapeutic alliance between interaction partners. Based on this review, we discuss future research and practical implications for musical interaction and music therapy for children and young people with S/PIMD.

Keywords: Music therapy; musical interaction; PIMD