Whether it's time management skills, boosting the immune system or relieving the symptoms of depressive disorders, advocates for music education have long recognized music's benefits beyond the classroom. In a recent Oxford University Press blog, Dr. Sheila Scott took a moment to expound on how music education can benefit children on the autism spectrum.
Scott asserts that music education provides a series of "extra-musical benefits" in three areas: social interaction, sense of self and psychomotor facility. She connects these three aspects with their potential for encouraging developmental progress in children with severe developmental disorders and those living with autism spectrum disorders.
Speaking more broadly to the beneficial effects of music therapy and education, Dr. Laurel Young, also writing for the OUP online blog, says, "[Music] has the capacity to address the diverse complexities of the human condition in unique and transformative ways."
With a view toward the proposed changes to the federal budget, including the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, it is more important than ever to remember the collective positive impact of music, music therapy and music education.
