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

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playgrounds. Studies are also needed to investigate which components of the music therapy
intervention result in the positive outcome.
Maintenance and generalization will be important features of future investigations.
From this study, we do not know whether or not peers maintain and generalize playing with
their classmates with autism. A major research question is how many trained peers are
necessary to sustain the intervention and which managing and fading reinforcement systems
works best on playgrounds. Future research should evaluate the effects of a variety of peer-
mediated strategies (e.g., DiSalvo & Oswald, 2002) on playgrounds, and examine the target
children’s skill generalization in different natural environments.
In the study at hand, continuing collaborative consultation was necessary. It is not
know, whether the teachers’ accurate implementation of the interventions will continue or if
it will decrease with lack of supervision. It is also unknown if implementation of the
intervention by a trained music therapist increase the participant’s acquisition of independent
functioning. More research illustrating the benefits of the collaborative consultative model
of service delivery in early intervention/early childhood special education is needed with
specific emphasis on music therapy.