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

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• highly supportive teaching environment and generalization strategies;
• predictability and routine;
• use of functional approaches to problem behaviors;
• carefully planned transitions from preschool to school; and
• active family involvement.
Additionally, Anderson and Romanczyk, (1999) report that effective programs have
• Highly trained staff, specialized in autism
• Adequate resources
• Supervisory and review mechanisms
All programs emphasize the importance of starting interventions as early as possible, are
intensive in hours, and have a low staff-child ratio (i.e., 1:1 or 1:2) (National Research
Council, 2001).
Specialized therapies in these programs include speech language pathologists,
physical therapists, social workers, school psychologists, and occupational therapists. Only
one program (The Children’s Unit for Treatment and Evaluation, State University of New
York, SUNY) describes having art and music therapists on staff. Programs vary as to
whether specialized therapists are part of the regular staff. Research strongly suggests that
generalization is the most valuable effect of direct treatments for children with autism.
Therefore, most programs emphasize that the therapist’s role is one of consultant who assists
in embeding therapeutic goals in ongoing classroom routines. The Committee of Educational
Interventions for Children with Autism (National Research Council, 2001) states: “There is
little reason to believe that individual therapies carried out infrequently (e.g., once or twice a