Effectiveness of Music Therapy in Social Skill Intervention for Children With ASD/ID

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental impairment characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interactions. The prevalence figures have increased rapidly in recent years due to the expansion of diagnostic criteria and increased public awareness. The clinical presentations of ASD vary to a large extent, and approximately 56% of children with ASD possess below average intellectual ability (IQ \< 85). The intellectual, verbal, and social ability in this population may greatly influence intervention outcomes. The social development of children with ASD and comorbid intellectual disability (ID) is not well understood, and how children with ASD/ID respond to social skill interventions remains to be investigated. Musical elements are a part of various behavioral interventions for ASD, however, the effects of music as interventions for ASD individuals have not been comprehensively examined in Hong Kong. The proposed study will address limited research evidence on music therapy as an intervention for social functioning in children with ASD with mild to borderline ID. Music therapy is a systematic process of intervention, wherein a therapist helps clients promote their health by using musical experience and relationships that develop through them. In particular, the investigators will examine whether using music therapy in social skill intervention provides additional benefits relative to non-musical intervention in a 12-week randomized controlled trial. Pre-treatment neural response of electroencephalograms (EEG) to social scenes will be used to predict the outcomes of social skill interventions, whereas EEG responses to music will be used to predict the effectiveness of musical social skill intervention. If correlation is found, then the long-term goal is to develop individualized intervention based on pre-treatment markers to maximize treatment efficacy. Aims and hypotheses: 1. Is social skill intervention using music therapy more effective in enhancing social interaction than non-musical social skill training for children with ASD and co-occurring mild/borderline ID? 2. Participants with enhanced neural response to social scenes relative to baseline would be more responsive to social skill interventions. 3. Participants with enhanced neural response to preferred music relative to baseline would be more responsive to music therapy targeting social skill intervention.