Proceedings, Oxford, UK (2002) - World Federation of Music Therapy

for example children with severe learning difficulties and elderly adults
with dementia/Alzheimer’s (Gaertner, ’99), though more recent work by
Ellis and van Leeuwen investigating the applications of vibroacoustic,
sound processing and Soundbeam technology with autistic children and
elderly people with depression (Ellis and Van Leeuwen, ’00,) has
suggested interesting directions for further investigations in the area of
affective dysfunction.
Table 55 John's autism symptoms and their change according to aspects which
allow us to observe behavioural change.
Aspects of
behaviour
Initial symptoms of
John's autism Changes
Movement control Extremely stiff gait
Attention span &
focus
Body movements are stiff
and clumsy
Patterns of breathing in
and out are extremely
unbalanced
Focus mainly self chosen;
Guided focus only
incidental and short
Episodes of relaxation
Episodes of smoother and
more integrated
movements
Periods of balanced
breathing
20 minutes (sometimes
longer) of focused
attention in the session
Guided attention
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