Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) possess many distinguishing characteristics. Besides communicative deficits, delayed developmental milestones, misunderstanding of appropriate behavior, and other neurodevelopmental weaknesses, many individuals with ASD display sensitivities to certain sensory systems such as sound, touch, taste, smell, and sight (Wheeler, Mayton, & Carter 2015). Possessing a sensitivity to sound may create challenges in instruction in the music classroom, and although individuals with ASD have unique circumstances, sound sensitivity should not prevent them from attending school and obtaining a musical education with students who do not have disabilities (Hammel & Hourigan, 2013). Additionally, music, along with physical education, art, library science, and computer technology, is specialized content that is beneficial and expected to be delivered to all, including individuals with ASD students (Hammel, et al. 2013).

In the music classroom, students are expected to play many instruments, use different registers of their voice in singing, and appropriately manage their bodies in movement activities (National Association for Music Education, 2017). The application of knowledge gained from other academic subjects such as reading, math, written expression, science, and history is also utilized to correctly analyze and perform music in the classroom (National Association for Music Education, 2017).

The unique environment of music has various effects on students, and class content is often misunderstood when negative behaviors, such as refusal, escape, or latency in initiation, emerge after receiving instruction in music (Hammel et al. 2013). Students with ASD are likely managing similar behaviors outside of the music classroom, and when inappropriate behaviors occur during or after music instruction, sensitivity to sound is commonly, and mistakenly, identified as environmental stimuli that triggers inappropriate behavior (Alberto & Troutman, 2013).

While instruction in music heavily utilizes sound, sounds that truly trigger negative behavior, such as sirens, horns, and other unpleasant sounds, should not be used in the music classroom. Oftentimes, inappropriate behavior is a result of a weakness in the behavioral intervention plan of the student, a lack of consistency in the delivery of reinforcements, or the wrong identification of the targeted behavior (Alberto, et al. 2013). Regardless, classifying sound sensitivity as improper behavior for students with ASD in the music classroom is an inaccurate and misguided correlation (Bhatra, et al. 2013).

Based on the need for additional evidence and reiteration, I propose to study the effect of music instruction on on-task and off-task behavior in individuals with ASD and a sensitivity to sound.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Multiple studies have been conducted studying the relationship between musical sound and individuals who have autism and auditory sensitivity. The function of behavior in individuals with ASD and sensitivity to sound may appear as escape or accessing another sensorial response in compensation because of differences in compositional features of the auditory system, yet researchers have determined musical sound does not instigate off-task behavior (Bhatra & Ouintin, 2013). After appropriate behavioral procedures have been taught, music instruction and integration has provided supplemental support in social communication, executive functioning, and academic performance (Hammel et al. 2013).

Bhatra and Quintin (2013) obtained such results by surveying individuals with ASD and accompanying families using Queen’s University Music Questionnaire and Salk and McGill Musical Inventory (SAMMI). The authors, while noticing a sensitivity to sound, found no evidence that musical ability, performance, working memory, creativity, and musical interests was compromised, when compared with typically developing individuals, due to a sensitivity of sound. Incidentally, auditory systems are similar between individuals with ASD and individuals without ASD: additional research has compared the auditory systems of individuals with ASD and typically functioning individuals via interviews, medical examinations, and sound tests, and found no differentiating characteristics (Stiegler & Davis, 2010).

Furthermore, studies demonstrate individuals with ASD can perform complex musical thinking, such as harmonically analyzing and aesthetically identifying major and minor tonalities, while navigating a sensitivity to sound (Heaton, Hermelin, & Pring, 1999; Bhatra, Quentin, Levy, & Bellugi, 2010). Researchers hypothesized that while individuals with ASD may become agitated in the presence of a specific sound, the responsive behavior was a result of an experience or memory toward the sound, and individuals were able to learn different behavior toward sound through Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) (Stiegler, et al. 2010).

Pasiali, LaGesse, and Penn (2014) observed the effects of Musical Attention Control Training (MACT) on a study observing the use of music in fostering attention skills of individuals with ASD by having participants perform a Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) (Paisiali, LaGesse, & Penn, 2014) before and after musical sessions, and the researchers generated positive trends and successful results. Supplementing music with instruction has also been shown to indicate communicative reactions in individuals with ASD, especially, when paired with other instructional techniques in special education such as Verbal Behavior Milestone Assessment Placement Programs (VB-MAPP) (Lim & Draper, 2011).

Researchers observed that individuals with ASD and echolalia, or imitative tendencies, better responded to VB-MAPP supplemented with music (Lim, et al. 2011). In addition, numerous researchers have examined the effects of sound-based interventions that attempt to desensitize and generalize the individual to certain sounds and music (Gee, Thompson, & John, 2014). By electronically modifying certain sounds or music, individuals with ASD and sound sensitivity can successfully participate in music-making (Gee, et al. 2014). Interestingly, certain sounds, which are more equated to noise, appear have debilitating effects. One study found that when paired with noise, such as the sound of traffic, individuals with ASD experienced compromised vestibular and proprioception senses (Edwards, 2015).

Interestingly, music therapy, which is extremely similar to music instruction, has been shown to increase successful results in teaching behavioral expectations to general students. (de Mers, Tincani, Van Norman, & Higgins, 2009). These expectations, based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), were given to younger children to teach alternative behaviors instead of inappropriate targeted behaviors, and supplemented with music therapy. Children participated in music therapy after a free play session, and researchers analyzed from results that music therapy significantly decreased targeted behavior (de Mers, et al. 2009)

Music education is based on three instructional methods: Orff, Dalcroze, and Kodaly are such evidence-based practices focused on creativity, expression, discovery, and music theory (National Association for Music Education, 2017). Besides academic benefits, the pedagogical musical approaches have shown to increase communication between the child with ASD and educator, social interaction between peers, and restrictive and repetitive targeted behaviors (Dezfoolian, Zarei, Ashayeri, & Looyeh, 2013).