<p> The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of listening to music as an intervention to improve disruptive behavior in middle school age children with emotional/behavioral disabilities. Five middle-school students participated in a single-subject design, which involved a multiple baseline across subjects and settings. Students listened to an eight-minute recording of classical music on an iPod before engaging in an independent math or reading assignment while seated at their desk. The researcher used fixed rate recording to collect data over a five-minute session. No significant differences were found between pre-treatment and post-treatment for the targeted behaviors observed during the study. The small sample size of the study is cited as the possible reason for the negative results. Limitations as well as directions for future research are also discussed.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of timbre and pitch-pattern difficulty on perceptions of same-difference between paired pitch patterns, altered and unaltered by timbre and pattern difficulty, among elementary-aged users of cochlear implants. Three null hypotheses were tested to determine the significant effects of these variables and their interaction on the pitch perceptions of children aged five through twelve, who used cochlear implants (p &le; .05). Secondary purposes of the study included the examination of the relationships, if any, among age, age at implantation, and pitch perceptions, and of significant differences between participants' speech processor and pitch perceptions (p &le; .05). </p><p> The Adapted Musical Background Questionnaire was completed by each participant/parent/guardian and used to collect information about each participant's hearing history and musical experiences. The Pitch Discrimination Test (PDT) was a researcher-developed, 36-item data collection instrument used to measure pitch perceptions of participants. Three timbres were used as stimuli, including the soprano voice, piano, and violin. Thirteen participant responses to the PDT were recorded individually. Results were analyzed using IBM^&copy; SPSS^&copy; Statistics Version 22. </p><p> Results of the study revealed no effect of timbre (p = .511), or pitch-pattern difficulty (p = .971) on pitch perceptions. A significant interaction between timbre and pitch-pattern difficulty, however, was found (p = .046). Additional analyses revealed that there were significant differences between mean scores of PDT test items presented by violin and soprano voice for difficult patterns (p = .041), and items presented by soprano and piano for patterns with moderate difficulty (p = .041). The participants discriminated difficult patterns more accurately when the PDT items were presented by soprano voice than piano, but participants discriminated moderate patterns more accurately when the PDT items were presented piano than by soprano voice. </p><p> There were no significant positive or negative correlations between age or age at implantation and PDT scores (p > .05). Additionally, there were no significant differences between participant scores on the PDT and the type of speech processor used (p > .05). Participants who used Cochlear&trade; devices, however, had higher average scores than participants who used MED-EL&reg; devices. Recommendations were suggested for future research and instruction of children who use cochlear implants in elementary general music classrooms. </p>

<p> As researchers learn more about the human mind, educators adapt their curriculum to accommodate those findings. As these changes take place, school districts are offering different types of classes to help more students find success in their classes. One of the ways that music educators can contribute to these changes is to offer music classes other than the traditional band, choir and orchestra class. By adding a guitar class to the music curriculum, music teachers are opening the doors for more students to be able to learn about music and learn to play an instrument. Particularly, a guitar class is an effective way to include students with special needs in a music program. </p><p> This thesis will investigate adaptations designed for three students with special needs in a high school guitar class. Student A has been diagnosed as Autistic, Student B has been diagnosed with Asperger's disorder and also has behavioral issues and Student C has been diagnosed with a specific learning disability as evidenced in the areas of auditory processing and expression. The case studies provide an example of how accommodations and adaptations can easily be implemented within a guitar class curriculum for students with these types of learning disabilities.</p>

<p> Alternative education students face many interacting challenges that put them at significant risk of dropping out of school (Carver &amp; Lewis, 2010), as well as deleterious health and psychological outcomes, and intergenerational cycles of sociopolitical disadvantage (Laird, Kienzel, Debell &amp; Chapman, 2007). Despite the persistent national epidemic of school dropout, few studies have investigated treatments for alternative education students, often characterized as &ldquo;difficult to reach&rdquo; given the chronic substance abuse, low motivation, and poor attendance typical of this population (Rumberger &amp; Lim, 2008). </p><p> This study investigated the effectiveness of a novel music therapy intervention, Recorded Music Expressive Arts (RMEA), with alternative education students. The purpose of RMEA in this context was to engage students in a potentially motivating, culturally relevant treatment that satisfies identified provisions to ameliorate dropout (Kim &amp; Taylor, 2008). RMEA employs narrative therapy concepts as a framework for treatment, and integrates songwriting, music production, and recording into psychotherapy. Through the song-creation process, participants were encouraged to &ldquo;tell their story&rdquo; to re-author problem-saturated personal narratives and discover more self-affirming ways of being (White &amp; Epston, 1990). </p><p> Participants were 10 adolescent boys, age 14&ndash;18, attending an alternative education school in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ten 60-minute individual RMEA sessions were delivered twice weekly over 7&ndash;19 weeks. Pre/post data was analyzed using Vargha-Delaney&rsquo;s <i>A</i>. Large effect sizes were found for a) coping (problem focused engagement, cognitive restructuring, problem solving, and emotional expression); b) substance misuse (decreased marijuana use) and co-occurring psychological disturbances (decreased school and behavior problems); c) increased contemplation and action readiness to respond to intervention; d) behavior (decreased internalizing, behavior, learning problems, and suspension rates); and e) attendance (increased attendance for RMEA sessions and days on which RMEA was delivered). Overall, the results indicate that RMEA is a viable and effective treatment for alternative education high school students. Analysis of participant interviews and song content further support results, as well as RMEAs proposed therapeutic mechanisms of action, including narrative therapy concepts. Findings highlight the need for replication studies with larger sample sizes, inclusion of adolescent girls, and other alternative education school settings.</p><p>

<p> Students with special needs are required by law to have an individualized education plan based on their unique educational needs. Special education teachers understand these needs and provide students with instructional strategies that allow them to succeed. Music has often been used to provide students with disabilities alternative ways to learn new content; however, the use of music integration therapy in the special education setting as well as its impact on the engagement behaviors on students with special needs is not widely documented in current educational research. A collective case study was used to explore how special education teachers use music integration therapy as an instructional tool for students with special needs. Four special education teachers in a large school district in a western state who have used music therapy in their interactions with students with special needs participated in the study. Each had different motivations for their use of music therapy in the classroom. The data gathered from interviews and observations revealed that each educator viewed progress for students on an individualized basis. The implications of the results of the study and their relationship to the literature are discussed. In addition, recommendations for future research are presented.</p><p>

<p> Elementary music teachers often have students who are hard-of-hearing participating in their classes. Teachers need to be aware of what hearing impairments are and how these hard-of-hearing students have entered the music classroom. The present text explores assistive hearing technology, general music education for students with hearing loss, adaptations for the general music classroom, instrumental music for students with hearing loss and a brief explanation of song signing. The author attempts to better understand which strategies can be used to improve the music education of hard-of-hearing students. </p><p>

In order to further investigate the efficacy of interactive musical toys developed by students in the course DM2799 at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, we conducted a user study. The intended users of the toys are primary school children with special needs. The trials were held at the Rullen Dibber special needs school in Solna, Sweden. The study was conducted in order to be able to further develop the instruments and to better understand the needs and wants of the intended users. In order to do this, we studied the emergence of positive behaviors linked to musical expression. The study concluded that although the instruments did not result in any significant change in togetherness and nonverbal communication in the children during playing with the instruments, they were observed to be an effective tool in music therapy. / För att närmare undersöka inverkan av interaktiva musikaliska leksaker utvecklade av studenter i kursen DM2799 på KTH så har vi utfört en utförlig användarstudie. Den avsedda användaren av leksakerna är primärt barn i skolålder med funktionsvariationer. Försöken utfördes på Rullen Dibber särskola i Solna. Studien utfördes för att vidareutveckla instrumenten och att bättre förstå behoven hos den avsedda användaren. För att göra detta undersökte vi framväxten av positiva beteende kopplade till musikaliskt uttryck. Studien visar att trots att instrumenten inte påvisar någon ökad gemenskap bland barnen är de effektiva verktyg för musikterapi.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:46:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5816.pdf: 1335248 bytes, checksum: 9e68f729b189d35b57a4be21519d9392 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-10 / Music education is seen as a well organized pedagogical procedure of literacy and awareness, giving to individuals with special needs or not the possibility to deal with their difficulties and limitations and discover their limits and skills. Despite of the growth of the researches in the music education field investigating people with special needs, the researches that focus on Williams syndrome is reduced, and most of this researches are found in international works. In Brazil, only one research was found that associates the improve to hold attention in a child with Williams Syndrome (WS) and the musicalization process. Thus, the theme of this research is to analyze the impact of music education on social skills development in individuals with WS. The general goal of this study is to verify the results of a Music Education Program for teenagers with WS. As specific goals, this work aims to: 1) elaborate, apply and evaluate a music education program for individuals with WS, related to promote social skills; 2) note and analyze if it could identify indications of better social insertion that could be assign to music education dynamics that involves auditory and rhythm perception, pulsation, visual and auditory memory, among others, as part of the musical learning process. This is a field research with a qualitative and quantitative approach. Two teenagers with WS participate in this research. The data collection instruments used were: 1) Social Skills Form, Problematic behavior and academic competence (SSRS-BR) for parents and WS people, performed at three time points (pre-, mid- and post-intervention); 2) Musical skills evaluation for teenagers with WS performed before and after the intervention; 3) Field diary, that includes records made by the researcher at the end of each intervention. The program lasted for 13 weeks for one teenager and 9 weeks for the other, with a weekly class of approximately 30 minutes each. The Music Education Program was developed in the fields that the researcher considered relevant to music learning. Data analysis was done by comparing the answers given by Social Skills Form, Problematic Behavior and Academic Competence (SSRS-BR), the Music Evaluations, the review of the filming made during interventions and field diary notes. / A educação musical é vista como um procedimento pedagógico bem organizado de alfabetização e sensibilização, dando a possibilidade às pessoas com necessidades especiais ou não, de lidarem com suas dificuldades e limitações e descobrirem suas capacidades e limites. Apesar do número crescente de pesquisas na área da educação musical, com pessoas com necessidades especiais, em se tratando de pessoas com Síndrome de Williams é constatado um número reduzido de pesquisas, sendo encontradas em trabalhos internacionais. No Brasil, somente uma pesquisa foi encontrada, associando a melhora na fixação de atenção de uma criança com SW com o processo de musicalização. Nesse sentido, o tema desta pesquisa visa à análise do impacto da educação musical nas habilidades sociais de pessoas com Síndrome de Williams. O presente estudo tem por objetivo geral verificar os resultados de um programa de educação musical para pessoas com Síndrome de Williams. Como objetivos específicos, ele propõe: 1) Elaborar, aplicar e avaliar um programa de educação musical para pessoas com SW, em relação à promoção de habilidades sociais; 2) observar e analisar se podem ser identificados indícios de facilitação de melhor inserção desse indivíduo na sociedade que possam ser atribuídos às dinâmicas de educação musical abordando percepção auditiva e rítmica, pulsação, memória visual e auditiva, entre outras, como parte de um processo de aprendizagem musical. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de campo com uma abordagem quali-quantitativa. Participaram da pesquisa dois adolescentes com Síndrome de Williams. Como instrumentos de coleta de dados foram utilizados: 1) Formulário de Habilidades Sociais, Comportamentos Problemáticos e Competência Acadêmica (SSRS-BR) para os pais e pessoas com SW, realizadas em três momentos (pré, meio e pós intervenção); 2) Avaliação de Habilidades Musicais para os adolescentes com SW, realizadas antes e pós intervenção; 3) Diário de campo, que compreendeu registros feitos pela pesquisadora ao final de cada intervenção. O Programa teve duração de 13 semanas para um dos participantes e 9 semanas para o outro participante, com uma aula semanal de aproximadamente 30 minutos cada. O Programa de Educação Musical foi elaborado nas áreas que a pesquisadora considerou relevantes para o aprendizado musical. A análise dos dados foi feita através de comparação das respostas fornecidas pelo Formulário de Habilidades Sociais, Comportamentos Problemáticos e Competência Acadêmica (SSRS-BR), pelas Avaliações Musicais, pelo exame das filmagens realizadas nas intervenções e anotações no diário de campo.