The room is a mess

Exploring the co-creation of space for attunement dynamics between an autistic child and a non-autistic music therapist

Bibliographic Data

ID4724734
AuthorsKarin Mössler (0000-0002-7458-952X), Jill Halstead (0000-0002-9913-2569), Maren Metell (0000-0003-1082-9640), Katja Gottschewski, Wolfgang Schmid (0000-0001-8496-8200)
Year2023
Volume32
Issue4
Pages321-340
Publication date2023-08-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNordisk Tidsskrift for Musikkterapi (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0803-9828 • E-ISSN: 1944-8260
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08098131.2022.2145346
OpenAlexW4313478138
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited34

Introduction Music therapy practice and research in the field of autism has often followed medical narratives that reinforce neurotypical normalcy by locating the difficulties of social interaction in the autistic person. By exploring the relational phenomenon of attunement, this paper focuses on the social and material ecology of interactions. The authors try to unpack circumstances that can support or hinder attunement dynamics between autistic and non-autistic people.Method A video-vignette from music therapy with an autistic boy, who explores the sound of building blocks formed the point of departure for this research. The vignette was self-identified by the music therapist as an apparently failed attunement experience. Based on this vignette, we conducted an interview with the therapist and focus groups with parents of autistic children and colleagues from different professions, one of whom is autistic. We used an interpretative hermeneutical methodology for crystallisation of perspectives.Results We uncovered four spaces that impacted on the mutuality and co-creation of attunement dynamics. The room (physical space), the school context (professional space), and the material (sensory space) afford the interaction (relational space) between the child and the therapist in enabling and disabling ways. Listening to the child's sound making with the building blocks was identified as the autistic child's way of knowing and sounding that needs to be listened to carefully, rather than being questioned or disregarded.Discussion Findings of this research might encourage therapists to foster an understanding of social interaction that is mutually co-constituted and enactive, and that contradicts the mainstream pathologisation of autism

Active listening · Attunement · Autism · Context (archaeology · Developmental psychology · Music therapy · Psychotherapist · Vignette · Autism Spectrum Disorder Research · Family and Disability Support Research · Medicine · Music Therapy and Health · Psychology · Social Psychology

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