Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 26
-
ItemMusic Therapy and the NDIS: Understanding music therapy as a reasonable and necessary support service for people with disability(Australian Music Therapy Association, 2016)This document results from the findings of a small scoping study conducted to develop a better understanding of the needs, perspectives, and goals of all stakeholders in the provision of music-based services within the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Interviews were conducted with 10 consenting participants (Registered Music Therapists, NDIS Plan Support Coordinators and a Parent of a Participant of the Scheme) with the content of these interviews forming the data used for analysis. With the study strongly highlighting a lack of community and sector understanding of music therapy, this document looks to stimulate discussion and solutions to broadening knowledge of the profession, particularly in relation to its existing implementation and future potential for people with disability under the NDIS, and as such is prepared on behalf of the Australian Music Therapy Association Inc. It is intended as a document of reference for the NDIA, Registered Music Therapists, Participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, their parents, carers and support workers.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableWorking with Families: Emerging Characteristics(Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016)
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableMusic in everyday life by parents with their children with autism(Taylor and Francis Group, 2016)Abstract of the 10th European Music Therapy Conference. Background: Music therapy has a long history in working with children with autism in both traditional settings and those which include working with the parents. Recent studies show that music therapy programs aimed at supporting parent–child interaction have resulted in significant gains in social communication skills of children with autism, and improved parental competency perception. 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. Objective: The Music in Everyday Life (MEL) assessment, developed by Gottfried and Thompson, was confirmed with evidences of validity to assess the use of music in everyday life by parents with their children with autism, and was used within a large multisite research project (TIME-A) in four countries. Discussion: This round table brings together four expert clinicians and researchers from four countries, who will present the research and clinical applications of the MEL assessment, focusing on Music-Oriented Counselling, Family-centred MT, MT-based DIR parent coaching, and using musical-play in parent counselling.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableMusic Therapy with Families: Therapeutic Approaches and Theoretical Perspectives(Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016-09-21)This comprehensive book describes well-defined models of music therapy for working with families in different clinical areas, ranging from families with special needs children or dying family members through to families in psychiatric or paediatric hospital settings.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableOptimising visual attention in children with autism spectrum disorder: a comparison of fixation distributions viewing singing and speech(Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, 2017-06-01)Purpose : Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk of social isolation and limited social development due to difficulties with gaze and visual attention to people. Studies have shown that children with ASD may prefer music to other stimuli. We hypothesised that a short video of a singer would elicit more attention to the performer, particularly to her face, than a video of her reading a story and that the child’s familiarity with the song and story would enhance attention. Methods : 16 children aged 7-10 (14 M, 2 F) with ASD took part. Stimuli were 4 videos 1 minute long. Content was a favourite song or story of the child, along with a song and story which were the same for all children. The performer, her clothing, lighting and sound level were the same across tasks. Props were a pair of drums for the songs and a storybook of similar size for the stories. Eye movements were recorded with an Eyelink 1000; areas of interest (AOIs) were defined for the face, prop and body. 3-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to examine the proportion of total dwell time, the proportion of total fixations and pupil area for each AOI in each trial. Results : For dwell time proportion, a significant interaction was found for familiarity*AOI (F=7.45, p=.004), with gaze time to the face being increased for familiar trials (Table 1). Similarly, medium*AOI was significant (F=6.01, p=.013), with increased gaze time to the face and body and decreased time to the prop for the songs (Table 2). The same patterns were seen for proportion of fixation counts to the AOIs (familiarity*AOI F=4.97, p =.016; medium*AOI F=10.33, p=.001). For the pupil, only familiarity and AOI were significant; pupils were larger for familiar stimuli (F=16.70, p=.001) and for the face and prop (F=6.8, p=.015), with the body eliciting less dilation. Conclusions : As hypothesised, the videos of singing attracted children's gaze to the performer more than did those of her reading a story. Familiarity with the material being performed also attracted more attention to her face. Familiarity and gaze to the face also increased arousal, as indexed by pupil dilation. Observation by children with ASD of a singer, particularly one performing their favourite songs, may be a useful intervention for improving their social engagement skills.
-
ItemThe impact of blended learning on professional identity formation for post-graduate music therapy students(Australian Music Therapy Association, 2018)The expansion of technology use in higher education creates new opportunities to access music therapy training for people living in the vast country of Australia. The emergence of the blended learning (BL) study modality (an integration of online digital media and intensive face-to-face teaching) at the University of Melbourne offers the Master of Music Therapy course to students living in rural and interstate locations. While BL study has existed in healthcare training and education for several years, there is a scarcity of literature exploring the benefits and challenges of this mode of training for music therapy. This study aimed to identify and examine the impact of the BL program on professional identity formation of new music therapy graduates. A comparative study design exploring differences between the experiences of BL and traditional on-campus (OC) alumni was conducted. Forty-two music therapy graduates from the University of Melbourne completed a survey examining the impact of their study experiences on early professional identity formation. Survey results indicate no statistically significant differences between BL and OC graduates in the formation of early professional identity. Recommendations for researchers and educators are provided regarding areas of focus in professional identity formation in the BL mode for music therapy students.
-
ItemWhose choice? Exploring multiple perspectives on music therapy access under the National Disability Insurance Scheme(Australian Music Therapy Association, 2018)The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a new national funding system for people with disabilities in Australia, which has been tested in some trial sites since 2013 and is now instigated across the Nation. Whilst music therapy and other music services are included on the list of recognised providers, inclusion of these services within individual case plans has been questioned at times by those with authority within NDIS trial sites. This research project aimed to build a collaborative relationship between the University of Melbourne, Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA), and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to better understand the needs and capacity for contribution of each organisation involved in the access of people to music therapy. To this end, interviews were conducted with three NDIA employees, five Registered Music Therapists (RMTs) who had experiences providing music therapy services as NDIS providers, and one parent of an eight-year old participant in the scheme who had accessed music therapy. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to identify gaps in knowledge and awareness between the different stakeholders. Fourteen emergent themes and three final themes revealed different perspectives on the matter, but all agreed that it is a significant time to promote music therapy and educate the NDIS planners, allied health professionals, the participants of the scheme and their families. In plain language:This research study investigates how different stakeholders perceived access to music therapy under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in the trial sites between 2013 and 2015. Nine people who had the lived experience of the matter such as NDIS planners, Registered Music Therapists (RMTs) and a parent of a boy with a disability were individually interviewed. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis reveals that everyone believed that music therapy was not fully understood or received well by everyone, and RMTs need to take more active roles in educating and promoting music therapy to staff in the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), allied health professionals, as well as parents of people with disabilities.
-
ItemFamilies with preschool aged children with autism spectrum disorder(Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016-09-21)Sigman, M. and Kasari, C. (1995) 'Joint Attention Across Contexts in Normal and Autistic Children. ... Thompson, G. (2014) 'A survey of parent's use of music in the home with their child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for building the capacity of families. ... 5 Music-Oriented Counselling Model for Parents of Childen with Autism FAMILIES WITH PRESCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH ASD 115.
-
Item"But I want to talk to you!" Perspectives on music therapy practice with highly verbal children on the autism spectrum(GRIEG ACADEMY, 2019-08-08)Introduction: This reflective paper offers a perspective on music therapy practice that explores how shared music experiences may provide opportunities for highly verbal children on the autism spectrum to expand their engagement in social play. Methods: Relevant literature from the fields of music therapy, child development, and the neurodiversity movement are discussed alongside the authors’ reflections on their work with children who bring verbal and gestural motifs into music therapy sessions. The case examples highlight moments where the music therapist transformed the child’s verbal and gestural material into interactive music-based games. Results: This paper proposes practice considerations for music therapists working with highly verbal children that centre around the therapist’s intention to support the child to interact with freedom and joy through musical play and foster relationships with others. These intersubjective moments within creative musical play experiences may create conditions for the child to explore different ways of being, interacting and communicating. Discussion: Musical games within the context of music therapy emphasise the relational value of a mutually created and shared world of meaning between the therapist and the child. The child’s verbal strengths are not simply acknowledged; they become the foundation for musical-play experiences that aim to expand their repertoire of social and relational experiences.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableMusic therapy teaming and learning: How transdisciplinary experience shapes practice in a specialist school for students with autism(Australian Music Therapy Association, 2019)Music therapists are often members of teams within multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary frameworks, and occasionally, also form discipline-specific teams. Whilst research literature on collaboration between music therapists and other professions is growing, there is a lack of understanding around the varied experiences of music therapists in transdisciplinary teams. It is vital that music therapists are aware of the challenges and benefits of collaborative practice to promote professional growth and develop practice alongside colleagues. This study is set at a transdisciplinary, specialist school for students with autism. To explore the lived experience of the music therapy team and the factors informing their practice, a qualitative, phenomenological approach was taken, with data collected through semi-structured interviews. Results revealed three professional issues for music therapists in transdisciplinary teams: 1) supporting students in non-music therapy programs, 2) building collaborative and trusting relationships with support staff, and 3) the benefits and challenges of working in both group and individual programs. Implications for transdisciplinary team leaders were: 1) the preferred styles of professional learning, 2) the importance of peer support in building resilience, and 3) the value of diversity and creativity in the collaborative team space. Viewing these themes through a systems theory lens revealed interactive, yearly practice cycles, highlighting the professional responsibilities of each group necessary to ensuring an innovative, collaborative and supportive team culture. The findings of this study begin to illuminate the experience of music therapy teaming and learning, and how music therapists may make positive contributions within a transdisciplinary school setting.