A Pilot Study on the Efficacy of Melodic Based Communication Therapy for Eliciting Speech in Nonverbal Children with Autism

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of Melodic Based Communication Therapy (MBCT) to traditional speech and language therapy for eliciting speech in nonverbal children with autism. Participants were 12 nonverbal children with autism ages 5 through 7 randomly assigned to either treatment group. Both groups made significant progress after treatment. The MBCT group progressed significantly in number of verbal attempts after weeks 1 through 4 and number of correct words after weeks 1 and 3, while the traditional group progressed significantly after weeks 4 and 5. No significant differences in number of verbal attempts or number of correct words were noted between groups following treatment. A significant number of new words were heard in the home environment for the MBCT group (p = .04). Participants in the MBCT group had more imitative attempts (p = .03). MBCT appears to be a valid form of intervention for children with autism.