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Background The impact of music therapy on the communicative behaviours of young people with profound intellectual and developmental disability has not yet been established. Method Four adolescents participated in individual music therapy (MT) and toy play sessions with the same therapist in a 6-month period. Sessions were video-recorded and analysed based on The Inventory of Potentially Communicative Acts (Sigafoos, J., Arthur-Kelly, M., & Butterfield, N. (2006). Enhancing everyday communication for children with disabilities. Baltimore, MA: Brookes) to compare the communicative behaviours within each condition. Results Both conditions successfully engaged the young people, with slightly more communicative behaviours observed in MT in response to singing, and more rejecting behaviours in toy play. MT was therefore considered equivalent to toy play in terms of quantity, but distinctive in eliciting more mutually enjoyable interpersonal encounters. Conclusion MT creates engaging and motivating conditions for interactions with others, which suggests the need for greater integration of music therapy into special education classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, the medical understanding of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) has dramatically improved, however, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the psychological adjustment of families coping with CF. We examined the utility of the Social Cognitive Processing (SCP) Model in understanding the interactions of parents and young people with CF. We also examined the relationship between social constraints, a key construct in the SCP model, sense of coherence (SOC) and other psychological adjustment indicators for young people with CF. Participants comprised 49 individuals with CF, aged 16-25, recruited through state-based CF organisations in Australia. The results indicated that participant ratings of difficulties with communication (social constraints) were positively associated with ratings of depression, anxiety, and stress and negatively related to ratings of positive affect and seeing life challenges as predictable, manageable and meaningful (SOC). Ratings of SOC were also positively related to ratings of positive affect and negatively related to ratings of depression, anxiety and stress. A significant mediating effect of SOC was also identified in the relationships between social constraints and positive affect and social constraints and stress. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]