The collaborative roles of music therapists and teachers in working with children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder : an integrative review of the literature

Abstract

Music therapists often work in collaboration with teachers or educators to promote the development of adaptive, cognitive, emotional, communication and social domains of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in schools. Collaboration between music therapists and teachers involve the performance of various roles such as providing direct interventions and consultancy services. It is understood from studies that defining roles of team members contribute to successful team work. Therefore, a deeper understanding of how these two team members work together could inform professional development and enhance collaborative work. Yet, there is a lack of a comprehensive overview of how these professionals work together to benefit children and adolescents with ASD. As a result, this integrative review investigated the collaborative roles that music therapists and teachers perform when working with children and adolescents with ASD. In addition, this review also explored the goals, music interventions and titles used for the interventions performed by music therapists and/or teachers to further understanding of the work associated with roles. A search was done with multiple databases, including ERIC, SCOPUS, and PubMed as well as journals such as Journal of Music Therapy, The Arts in Psychotherapy and Voices. This process resulted in the identification of 12 articles that described the collaboration of music therapists and teachers serving children and adolescents with ASD in schools. Analysis of the selected studies found that music therapists and teachers perform different and multiple roles during collaboration for various clinical and research purposes. The review also demonstrated that collaborative work targeted a range of goal domains, and a variety of interventions were utilised. Implications for future clinical practice as well as potential research directions were discussed.