Effects of Music Therapy on Selective Attention of Children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder

The aim of this research was to study the impacts of music therapy on selective attention of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Shiraz.

This was an experimental design, study. Thirty male elementary students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder were diagnosed based on DSM-IV criteria and selected. The participants were assigned randomly to case and control groups. A series of musical activity interventions (including a music therapy program based on Orff-Schulwerk’s theory) were performed on the students of the case group. This study was performed for twelve sessions, ninety minutes per session. To assess the selective attention, both groups underwent a selective attention test (Stroop), which was available as software, before and after the interventions. The multi variable variance analysis and dependent t-test were used for data analysis.

The results demonstrated improvement in the post-intervention scores (the intervention score and the time of reaction) was more significant in the study group. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the time of matched intervention (P<0.01), the time of non-matched intervention (P<0.01) and the intervention score (P<0.007).

The results suggested a positive impact of music therapy on the selective attention of children with attention deficit-hyper activity disorder.