Thursday, April 10, 2008

Cure For Autism: The Power Of Musical Therapy To Treat Autism

Though there is no known cure for autism at the moment, musical therapy as a relatively new treatment method for autism patients should not be overlooked when discussing cure for autism. Patients who receive musical therapy often showed great improvement in temperament and learning skills. Music connects to the non-verbal part of our brains, making it a perfect therapy for the treatment of autism since autism is one of the disorders in which the patient has trouble communicating. Research this innovative treatment method if you are looking for some help with autism treatment and haven’t had much luck in the past.

Musical therapy is effective because it can be used in conjunction with learning social skills. Music is a very non-threatening medium for patients, and many games can be played using music to help improve social and behavioral skills. By encouraging eye contact while singing or using instruments that need to get close to the face, musical therapy can help in teaching autistic individuals to break social barriers.

The number one way that musical therapy can help autism in babies, as well as an autistic adult, is by helping with the development of speech skills. Music is a way to connect the verbal and non-verbal functions in the brain. Autistic individuals may have various forms of speech problems. Some can only hum, grunt, or make other non-word noises, while others babble nonsensical phrases or cries. Still others gain the capability to put together phrases and sentences to communicate with the world, although these usually lack emotion. Autistic people are known for monotone voices. However, no matter how skilled the individual is with speech, he or she can participate in musical therapy by clapping rhythms, humming along, or doing simple echoing songs.

Autistic individuals are commonly found to be particularly good at music. Some, for instance, have perfect pitch. Others can play a particular instrument very well, with little instruction. Even if he or she shows no genius musical ability by normal standards, you may find that a particularly hard to deal with autistic person has abilities in music that exceed his or her other abilities. A musical therapist can use music as a way to link this kind of learning with other kinds of learning, not only as speech development and social behavioral development as previously discussed, but also as a way to communicate emotions and develop memory.

By using all of these techniques in conjunction with one another, musical therapy can work wonders with people who are autistic. Trained professionals, using autism teaching through music can teach autism children and others how to communicate in nonverbal ways, making it easier for autism patients to learn.

Research the musical therapy option to provide you or your autistic child with another choice when considering a cure for autism or treating autism.

For more tips and ideas on handling autistic situations in the family visit the Autism Today website.



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