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

play, along with the variety of play opportunities compared to indoor play and the chance to
meet and play with friends or siblings enrolled in other classrooms, makes the playground a
more challenging environment to implement structured peer-mediated activities.
A potential implication of this study is that shorter periods of peer-mediated
interventions and stronger managing and fading reinforcement systems should be used to
maximize the positive effects. Experiment III is limited with regard to maintenance and
generalization. Although teachers reported some maintenance and generalization, no
measures have been applied. Based on this study it cannot be said, whether or not peers
maintain playing with the target children once the intervention is no longer in place. Future
research should evaluate maintenance and skill generalization, and examine the effects of a
variety of peer-mediated strategies with children with autism (e.g., DiSalvo & Oswald, 2002)
on playgrounds.
A sixth finding is that, the song interventions provided a valuable step towards
inclusion, for both the children and their families. Inclusion is facilitated on at least three
levels: (a) among classroom peers, (b) among parents of peers, and (c) among the
participating children’s extended families through sharing of the songs and social
experiences from school. The social value of the interventions and music itself is evident
through comments and reports made by the teachers, the target children’s parents, and the
parents of peers, and is consistent with reports made by other music therapists (e.g.,
Aasgaard, 1999; Ricciarelli, 2003). Additionally, the classroom peers changed their attitudes
toward the target children. This replicates the results of earlier studies with school-aged and
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