Effect of a combined dance/movement and music therapy on young adults diagnosed with severe autism

• Literature is scarce on the effects of combined MT & DMT on adults diagnosed with severe autism.
• Our study was able to identify psychopathologic areas of effectiveness.
• Publications to date in the field of arts in therapies on the autistic population commonly explore the effects of shorter-term interventions.

Current literature is scarce on the potential effects of combined dance/movement and music therapy on adults diagnosed with severe autism, particularly in distinguishing these effects on different areas of psychopathological disorders. We set two goals: first, to assess the effectiveness based on the score the participants obtained from the Revised Clinical Scale for the Evaluation of Autistic Behavior (ECA-R) after a series of dance/movement and music therapeutic procedures on adults with severe autism; second, to contrast the differences in effectiveness in concrete areas defined by subscales of the ECA-R, especially in its defined 2 factors and 12 functions. An overall of 36 one-hour sessions were carried out during 17 weeks on a sample of 8 participants with severe autism (approximately 2 sessions per week). During the treatment 8 measurements were taken (1 every 3 weeks) from this sample and from a control sample, which was also comprised of 8 subjects who were equally monitored at the same care center by two independent psychologists. Our experimental study seems to suggest that combined dance/movement and music therapy could be effective if used regularly for the improvement of autistic symptoms in adults diagnosed with severe autism.