Abstract/Summary

Music has been shown to improve social interaction and attention to verbal stimuli in autism. We report a feasibility randomised controlled trial (RCT) of an online intervention using music-assisted programmes (MAP), compared with best practice treatment (SCIP-I: Social Communication Intervention for Pre-schoolers - Intensive) for language learning in preschool autistic children with minimal verbal language. Minimisation randomisation ensured comparability of groups before intervention. 91 people expressed interest in taking part; 27 met eligibility criteria and were randomised to receive either MAP or SCIP-I. Children and their parent received two 45-min sessions weekly, over 18 weeks, coached online by a speech and language therapist. A smartphone app was developed to support home-based practice between sessions. Over the study period, 20% of participants completed the intervention and assessments of outcome measures. At three months post-intervention follow-up, social responsiveness, understanding of words and phrases and number of words spoken, and parent-child interaction improved more in the MAP than the SCIP-I group. The results demonstrate the feasibility of recruiting this population into a RCT and the MAP had high perceived acceptability highlighted by parent interviews. A full clinical trial to establish MAP’s effectiveness in improving early vocabulary learning in autistic children is warranted.