ABSTRACT
There is an increased awareness of the importance of a good parent–child relationship in the development of communication skills in both children with typical development (Edwards, 2011) and children with ASD (Moore, 2009). The goal in working with young children with ASD has been underlined by Prizant, Wetherby and Rydell (2000) as giving the children the opportunity to experience ongoing social interactions with family members and friends as successful and emotionally fulfilling. This ecological framework perceives the child’s development in relation with the family’s system of relationships (Winnicott, 1952; Bronfenbrenner, 1975).
The Music-Oriented Parent Counselling (MOPC) features a new clinical model in music therapy, combining separate but parallel treatment of the child and the parents, using music therapy techniques. This evidence-based model (Gottfried, 2016) provides good indications for decreasing level of parental stress, increasing quality of life perception, and increasing the use of music in everyday life between the parents and their children with autism.
This chapter describes the unique features of Music-Oriented Counselling for parents, embracing the therapeutic understandings gathered through the clinical and research evidences in music therapy and autism. It includes descriptions of the theoretical background, the therapeutic approach and a clinical vignette.
