Using a Music Therapy Collaborative Consultative Approach - World ...

Due to the actions that are part of the song intervention, Eric’s play and engagement with the
material in the Music Hut increased slightly (M= 63.3%). Eric’s tendency to return to well-
known playground activities, this as soon as fewer children participated in singing and
playing in the Music Hut, led to some modifications to how the song was presented. It was
hypothesized that he would stay engaged in playing with peers longer if more children were
engaged and more structure and predictability were given. Accordingly, Eric’s teacher took
his entire class to the Music Hut, his unique song was sung with a 6.5 minute sing along
recording, and a predictable sequence of the instruments used for the progression of the song
was followed. However, Eric still needed to be redirected by his teacher to facilitate
interactions with peers. Additionally, after the third session of the teacher-mediated
intervention phase, Eric was sick for two consecutive weeks. When he returned to school, he
seemed to be weak and unstable, and had great difficulty following familiar classroom
routines. This absence resulted in a temporary decrease in his positive peer interactions,
which increased immediately in the next session. After the sixth session, Eric’s positive peer
interaction dropped to a lower level for all remaining intervention sessions. As already
mentioned, the peer-mediated intervention was not implemented due to the classroom
teacher’s time commitment prior to the study.
Eric’s formally selected “peer-buddies,” Becky and Ron, learned the song prior to the
intervention and were able to sing it independently. Both children were highly motivated to
engage in the song intervention and interact with Eric for a total of four to five minutes at a
time. Subsequently, they wanted to go about their play and interact with other friends on the
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