The impact of a school-based musical contact intervention on prosocial attitudes, emotions and behaviours: A pilot trial with autistic and neurotypical children

Cook, Anna, Ogden, Jane and Winstone, Naomi (2018) The impact of a school-based musical contact intervention on prosocial attitudes, emotions and behaviours: A pilot trial with autistic and neurotypical children Autism.

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Abstract

Children with autism are more likely to be socially excluded than their neurotypical peers. Since the majority of children with autism attend mainstream schools, interventions are needed to improve the attitudes and behaviours of their peers. Many studies highlight the influence of contact on positive attitudes and reduced discrimination. Group music-making provides an ideal opportunity for positive contact to occur in the classroom. This study evaluated the impact of music-based contact with autistic peers on the attitudes, emotions and behaviours of neurotypical children. Changes in those with autism were also assessed. Neurotypical participants (n=55) aged 10-11 years took part in an eleven-week music programme designed to increase social interaction, which either did or did not include contact with autistic children (n=10). Measures of attitudes, emotions and behaviours were assessed at baseline and follow up. In response to a hypothetical scenario depicting social exclusion of a child with autism, neurotypical participants in the contact group showed a greater increase in prosocial emotions and a greater decrease in tendency to be a victim than those in the no-contact group. Participants with autism also showed a 19.7% decrease in victimisation. Implications of group music-making for tackling social exclusion of children with autism are discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions :	Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences > School of Psychology
Authors :	Name Email ORCID Cook, Anna a.h.cook@surrey.ac.uk Ogden, Jane J.Ogden@surrey.ac.uk Winstone, Naomi N.Winstone@surrey.ac.uk
Date :	3 August 2018
DOI :	10.1177/1362361318787793
Copyright Disclaimer :	Copyright 2018 SAGE publications
Depositing User :	Melanie Hughes
Date Deposited :	06 Jul 2018 09:29
Last Modified :	07 Nov 2018 14:32
URI:	http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/848665

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