Improvised Music to Enhance Intensive Interaction version 3
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Preliminary study: Improvised music to enhance the effectiveness of Intensive Interaction in developing interpersonal communication of profoundly intellectually disabled children, version 3.
IRAS ID
234669
Contact name
John B A Strange
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Beacon Hill Academy
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 8 days
Research summary
This is a small study preliminary to a projected larger study (see A12 for explanation of 'preliminary'). It investigates whether the established effectiveness of an intervention to support the development of communication, known as Intensive Interaction (see Intensive Interaction.docx, attached) can be further enhanced by a specialised form of input from a music therapist (see Improvisation Manual.docx, attached). In this approach the music therapist closely observes the interaction between child and Intensive Interaction practitioner and improvises in response on a keyboard, whilst abstaining from non-musical social interaction with either party.
Six children at a single special school research site requiring support to acquire communication skills will be allocated randomly to experimental and control groups. The experimental group will receive 16 sessions of Intensive Interaction, with improvised music in sessions 5-16. The control group will receive 16 sessions of Intensive Interaction only. A profile of each child’s level of communication before the intervention will be obtained by means of Pre-verbal Communication Schedule (PVCS) (see the pvcs.pdf and Pre Verbal Communication Schedule[4789].pdf, attached) administered to carers familiar with the child’s day to day behaviour. After the intervention the PVCS will be re-administered to detect changes in levels of communication in various domains. By comparing the effects of Intensive Interaction plus improvised music with the effects of Intensive Interaction alone (the ‘standard care’ routinely provided at the research site to pupils with similar needs) it is hoped to isolate effects attributable specifically to the music.
It is hoped that, as well as positive effects on the children's communication, the skills of non-professional support workers will also have been permanently enhanced, making the time-limited application of professional music therapy a cost-efficient deployment of the special education workforce.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0418
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion