{
  "abstract": "Background: Music-based interventions, including music therapy, are widely used to support autistic children, but reductions on autism-related scales do not fully represent communication, participation, quality of life, or autonomy. We retained clinically interpretable outcomes while using a neurodiversity-informed framework to organize intervention goals and interpretation.\n\nMethods: Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Wiley Online Library, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to August 5, 2026. Randomized, quasi-randomized, crossover, and controlled studies involving autistic participants younger than 18 years were eligible. Outcomes were grouped as social communication/interaction, language, adaptive function/participation, quality of life/well-being, and autism-related characteristics and support needs. Positive Hedges’ g values favored the music-based condition. Random-effects models used restricted maximum likelihood estimation and modified Hartung-Knapp inference. Comparator intensity, technique, duration, and parent involvement were examined as exploratory moderators.\n\nResults: Thirty-three independent studies, representing 1,880 participants in the selected quantitative comparisons, were included and contributed at least one outcome. Social communication/interaction showed a significant pooled effect (k = 10, g = 0.64, 95% CI 0.25 to 1.03, p = 0.0046; I² = 59.6%); the primary evidence layer also remained significant (k = 7, g = 0.57, 95% CI 0.02 to 1.12, p = 0.043). Language showed a significant small pooled effect (k = 11, g = 0.32, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.54, p = 0.009; I² = 0%), whereas the primary evidence layer yielded g = 0.19 (95% CI -0.17 to 0.55). Autism-related scale outcomes showed a significant pooled effect (k = 16, g = 1.23, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.53, p < 0.001; I² = 77.0%) and remained significant among studies reporting a reproducible randomization method (k = 6, g = 0.95, 95% CI 0.29 to 1.61). Adaptive function and quality-of-life estimates did not reach statistical significance. No between-group moderator test was significant. Duration was not associated with effect size (β = -0.034 per month, p = 0.552), and Egger’s regression did not detect funnel-plot asymmetry (p = 0.591).\n\nConclusions: Music-based support produced favorable average effects on social communication/interaction, language, and autism-related scale outcomes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Xuzhou Kindergarten Teachers College , ,",
    "School of Education Science, Jiangsu Normal University , ,"
  ],
  "article_type": "systematic review",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shanshan Lu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Huimin Feng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zhidan Wang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e3jrvxgg2jh8k.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1806096",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13690717/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "e3jrvxgg2jh8k",
  "issns": [
    "1664-0640"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13690717",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3207|Music Therapy and Health"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221196500",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13690717/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13690717",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-09",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e3jrvxgg2jh8k.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:59Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13690717",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13690717"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:18Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1806096",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1806096/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:1664-0640",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Music therapy and music-based support for autistic children: a neurodiversity-informed systematic review and meta-analysis",
  "title_text": "Music therapy and music-based support for autistic children: a neurodiversity-informed systematic review and meta-analysis",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:18Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e3jrvxgg2jh8k",
  "venue": "Frontiers in psychiatry",
  "versions": []
}