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.