Full Title: Effects of developmental music groups for parents and premature or typical infants under two years on parental responsiveness and infant social development.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of music therapy intervention on premature infants' and full term infants' developmental responses and parents' responsiveness. Subjects (n=56) were parent-infant dyads who attended developmental music groups or a control condition assessing responsiveness during toy play. All subjects were matched according to developmental age and were also matched by group for socioeconomic status and for maternal depression. Types of infant play and parent responsiveness were measured using observation of a standardized toy play for parent-infant dyads. Observations were coded with the number of seconds spent in each behavior using the SCRIBE observation program. Parents completed a questionnaire on the perception of their infant's general development, interpretations of their child's needs, the purpose of using music with their child, and their child's response to music. The infants attending the developmental music groups with their parents demonstrated significantly more social toy play (p < .05) during the standardized parent-infant toy play than infants who did not attend the music groups. While not significant, graphic analysis of parent responsiveness showed parents who attended the developmental music groups engaged in more positive and less negative play behaviors with their infants than parents who did not attend the music groups. This study demonstrates the first findings of positive effects of developmental music groups on social behaviors for both premature and full term infants under 2 years old.

J Music Ther. 2009 Spring;46(1):32-52. Walworth DD. The Florida State University, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of an Internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) approach to the treatment of child anxiety disorders. METHODS: Seventy-three children with anxiety disorders, aged 7-12 years, and their parents were randomly assigned to either an Internet-based CBT (NET) or wait-list (WL) condition. Clinical diagnostic assessment and parent and child questionnaires were completed before and after treatment. The NET condition was reassessed at 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: At posttreatment assessment, children in the NET condition showed small but significantly greater reductions in anxiety symptoms and increases in functioning than WL participants. These improvements were enhanced during the 6-month follow-up period, with 75% of NET children free of their primary diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Internet delivery of CBT for child anxiety offers promise as a way of increasing access to treatment for this population. Future research is needed to examine ways to increase treatment compliance and further enhance the impact of treatment.

J Pediatr Psychol. 2009 Jun;34(5):474-87. March S, Spence SH, Donovan CL. School of Psychology, University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia. s.march@psy.uq.edu.au