THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING SOCIAL SKILLS IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Abstract

         This study aimed to examine music activity plans designed for children with autism and compare their social skills before and after implementing the plans at the Autistic Thai Foundation, Bangkok. The sample consisted of 6 autistic children, aged between 6-11 years old and drawn by their advisory teachers, using purposive sampling. The research instruments were 8 music activity plans and 40-item behavioral assessment forms.

         The findings showed that the 8 music activity plans helped the samples develop their social skills. The plans were geared towards the children with autism in 3 areas of the development; observation, recognition, and creativity by imitation. The music activities comprised 3 steps. The first step was an introductory part that drew the samples’ attention and rendered them relaxed and comfortable. The second step included learning and repetition which allowed them to imitate actions, gestures, pronunciation, and articulation, listen to different tones, and practice successively and repetitively. The last step included creative thinking and the end of the activities. This step allowed the children to express themselves freely by creating gestures and tapping musical instruments along the music, and reacting to each music activity. The findings also revealed that the levels of social skills in the children with autism after the implementation were all higher than those before the implementation at a significance level of .01.