Musical development of autistic children: a review proposal

The evaluation of young children’s musical development is quite complex because it involves not only musical issues, but also affective and social interrelationship. This complexity is further aggravated when we are dealing with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) due to their peculiar characteristics. Two years ago, in a research conducted during the final essay of a music undergraduate course, we investigated the benefits of musical education for  two autistic children, during a whole semester. For this study, a protocol was created  in order to evaluate these children’s musical development during that period. It’s been two years since the Musical Development Assessment Protocol for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was created, and  so this paper intends to clarify the criteria which were used in its conception, and the  most  adequate way for  its use. It is possible that this protocol may be useful by music educators interested in special music education for...