Music Therapy breaking out of the Isolation of Autism

Many people with autism use music a lot.  Yet, most of the time they use music in isolation.  They put on their headphones and listen to music for hours and do not interact with anyone.  Or they watch the same youtube video over and over again.

For these individuals, music therapy is great at bringing them out of their isolation by using music as a way to interact with someone.  They sing with someone.  They play music in the same rhythm as someone, follow the directions of the music and learn how to use music to connect with someone.

I work with a young man with autism who is beginning to break out of using music in isolation.  He smiles when he notices that we are playing in the same rhythm and is beginning to sing with me.  The last song we use to sing good bye to each other.  I first sing using their name.  Then they get a chance to sing good bye to me using my name.  He has sung good bye to himself since the beginning.  But this time he looked at me and sang, "Good bye Matthew."  It was so exciting.