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Drum Therapy for Autism | Autism Key

I read an article by Susan Moffitt, a mother of a (then) 15 year-old child diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a milder form of autism. Moffitt discussed how hitting a drum helped her child calm down from a tantrum instantly. In addition to helping her child cope with emotional meltdowns, Moffitt stated that drumming also helped his motor coordination skills and communication skills. In terms of motor coordination skills, drumming was beneficial to her son as it trained his vestibular movement and visual perception skills. In terms of communication skills, drumming was equally as beneficial as it was a task that involved turn taking, listening, problem solving, and following directions. I believe that this article was a testimony of how drumming could help those with autism. In the future, I want to be the one to use drumming as a tool to transform those with autism, similar to how drumming transformed Susan Moffitt’s son.

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Autistic Brains vs Non-Autistic Brains (psycom.net)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-018-0287-3

Sounds and the Spectrum: The Benefits of Music for Autistic Children – Percussion Play

The structure of the brain of someone with autism differs from that of someone without autism. Perhaps the most striking difference is that some regions of the autistic brain are not as strongly connected, causing those with autism to often struggle with tasks that require the simultaneous functioning of multiple parts of the brain (ie: communication.) A study shows that playing musical instruments helps strengthen those connections of the brain, which in turn can improve communication skills. I believe that the reason why drumming stimulates the connections within the brain is because drumming requires so many different skills, such as visual and auditory perception, following directions, and the coordination of the left and right hands.