Harmonic Bridges: Enhancing Social Functioning in Children with Autism through Musical Scaffolding

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of Musical Scaffolding in enhancing Social Functioning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Social Functioning, a core human skill involving meeting & greeting, empathy etc., can be targeted through Music-based interventions. It was hypothesized that Musical Scaffolding would improve overall SF, particularly in sub-domains like Communication & Cognition, Emotional Control, within the experimental group as compared to the control group. A pre-post assessment design was employed, involving N=100 children (already diagnosed) with ASD. Divided equally, 50 children participated in the experimental group receiving bi-weekly 40-minute MT sessions for eight weeks. Music therapy incorporated rhythm and melody/swar-based activities. Tool used to measure SF is Social Responsiveness Scale, 2nd edition (SRS-2; Constantino & Gruber, 2012). Results demonstrated significant improvement in the experimental group’s SF, with better post-intervention scores indicating reduced dysfunctionality. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference in EF between the control and experimental groups.