Music Therapy and People with Severe Learning Difficulties who Exhibit Self-Injurious Behaviour

This chapter describes a study of the efficacy of music therapy for four people with severe learning difficulties who exhibit self-injurious behaviour (SIB). The intervention consisted of 15 sessions of therapist interaction, followed by 28 sessions of music therapy. The findings revealed that there was no reduction in self-injurious behaviour as a result of the music therapy, nor an increase in communication skills, but that variation in self-injurious behaviour was significantly associated with the functions that it served for each person. Generalisation data supported these findings and conclusions are discussed for the role of music therapy. Several issues were raised during the study which illustrate the difficulties of evaluating music therapy. The results of the study and the implications for further research in music therapy are discussed.