Abstract

Reading facial expressions is one of the non-verbal communication skills and is considered as being essential for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in terms of having effective communication and social interaction with others. Information from relevant literature indicates that musical activities can be used for teaching skills to this population. Therefore, it can be used for teaching the skill of reading expressions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of musical activities on teaching the skill of reading facial expressions to a child with ASD using musical activities. The study was conducted with a 5- year-old boy diagnosed with ASD attending a Special Education and Rehabilitation Center in Turkey. One-to-one music sessions were carried out once a week for 3 months. Interventions focusing on the emotion sadness consisted of a variety of musical activities. A descriptive analysis was used for all videotaped sessions. After 12 sessions, he showed success in the targetted behaviors. These results suggest that the therapeutic use of musical activities can be considered as an acceptable treatment option for teaching non-verbal communication skills to children with ASD.

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