Music therapy, cognition and communication: creative improvisation in a single case of a child with unspecified intellectual developmental disorder

Abstract

Musical improvisation is addressed in different types of disciplines and one of them is music therapy, where under certain conditions it has been seen to have positive effect on the improvement of cognitive functions and communication. The aim of this project was to use creative improvisation with a six-year-old boy with an unspecified neurodevelopment disorder for three months for the improvement of cognitive functions and communication. The sessions are divided into two parts; a rhythmic part to work on attention and concentration with premeditated and improvised rhythms and a melodic part in which communication is worked on through words known to the child to create a musical dialogue between the music therapist and the patient. After the data analysis, it was observed that after eleven sessions of rhythmic-musical work through creative improvisation, the data obtained were positive, having achieved all the objetives proposed for the project.