Systematic Review of CAM Treatments

There are countless complementary and alternative medical treatments (CAM) for children with autism – from nutritional supplements to oxygen treatments, there are numerous options for trying to alleviate or improve characteristics of ASD. With all the options out there, what should we say to the parent/administrator who asks about the use of CAM treatments for children with autism? A recent systematic review looked into novel and emerging treatments – with some good news for music therapy. 

Systematic reviews can help to determine what treatments are effective with a certain population. According to Cook et al. (2007), a systematic review involves a comprehensive search for articles that are all attempting to answer the same question. The author pre-defines inclusion criteria for the articles (such as study design), collects all potentially relevant articles, and then narrows-down to articles that they will review in a pre-defined and reproducible manner.  Research designs and outcomes are then compared and results are presented. Systematic reviews are helpful because they allow the practitioner to keep “up-to-date” with the current literature (Cook et al., 2007).

Recently a systematic review of emerging treatments for children with autism listed “music therapy” as a “Grade A” treatment, meaning that there was enough Randomized Control Trial evidence to be considered a “promising” treatment method (Rossignol, 2009). It should be noted that out of 20+ included CAM treatments only 4 received a “Grade A” rating. Music Therapy studies reviewed in this systematic analysis are listed at the bottom of this post.

The inclusion of music therapy with a high rating for potentiality is exciting; however “music therapy” is not defined further than the words “music therapy”.  Any professional or parent would need to look at the published studies to determine if they use similar methods, support functional non-musical outcomes, and/or meet the professional definition of music therapy.

In short, this is exciting, but we have a long way to go. What does this mean for clinical practice? Well, a clinician could state the findings of this study to support the use of music therapy with children who have autism. You’d need to look into the actual included studies (see below) for information regarding clinical practice.

References:

Rossignol, D.A. (2009). Novel and emerging treatments for autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review. Ann Clin Psychiatry, 21(4), 213-36. PMID: 19917212

Cook, D., Mulrow, C. & Haynes, B. (2007). Systematic reviews: Synthesis of best evidence for clinical decisions. Annals of Internal Medicine, 126(5), 376-380.

Music Therapy Articles included in Rossignol article:
Boso, M., Emanuele, E., Minazzi, V., Abbamonte, M., & Politi, P. (2009). Effect of long-term interactive music therapy on behavior profile and musical skills in young adults with severe autism. J Altern Complement Med, 13(7), 709-12. PMID: 17931062
Kern, P., & Aldridge, D. (2006). Using embedded music therapy interventions to support outdoor play of young children with autism in an inclusive community-based child care program. Journal of Music Therapy, 43, 270–294. PMID: 17348756
Kim, J., Wigram, T., & Gold, C. (2008). The effects of improvisational music therapy on joint attention behaviors in autistic children: A randomized controlled study. J Autism Dev Disord, 38(9), 1758-66. PMID: 18592368
Corbett, B.A., Shickman, K., & Ferrer, E. (2007). Brief report: The effects of Tomatis sound therapy on language in children with autism. J Autism Dev Disord, 38(3), 562-566. PMID: 17610057
Whipple, J. (2004). Music in intervention for children and adolescents with autism: A meta-analysis. J Music Ther, 41(2),90-106. PMID: 15307805
Gold, C., Wigram, T., & Elefant, C. (2006). Music therapy for autistic spectrum disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 19(2):CD004381.