Autism and the Power of Music: A New Approach to Help Your Child Connect and Communicate

  “Yasmine’s emphasis on social communication, emotional regulation, and supportive relationships embodies the most effective, cutting-edge approaches for supporting autistic individuals. Autism and The Power of Music is a much-needed resource for parents to connect with their children through music and will also be embraced by educators and clinicians who wish to infuse joyful learning experiences in their work.”

— Barry M. Prizant, CCC-SLP, Brown University and author of Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism

Music therapist Yasmine White shares the insights she’s developed after decades of working with children, teens and adults on the autism spectrum, both in private practice and as founder of Voices Together, a non-profit music therapy organization that brings her effective techniques to schools across North Carolina. The techniques featured in this book are designed to bring back the connection of joy, motivation, and understanding that everyone needs in order to truly grow.

As any parent of a child with autism understands, sometimes helping your child can feel overwhelmingly hard. Autism and the Power of Music helps find insightful, practical new ways for you and your child to connect through music, even when it feels difficult. Because music and language may be processed in the same hemisphere of the brain in children on the spectrum, the techniques in this book can help unlock language in an entirely new way. Music becomes a bridge to help children access language in ways other approaches cannot. 

As Dr. Terri L. Shelton says in her foreword, “To have an interaction that is affirming, fun, and successful, that builds on the child’s strengths and preferences and enhances their interest in engaging and ability to sustain that engagement increases the chance that all other encounters, whether with their friends, their families, or with therapists and teachers, will be successful.”

Yasmine White has been a board-certified music therapist for nearly three decades. She has devoted most of her career to working with children, teens, and adults with autism and their parents. She founded Voices Together in 2006 and serves as its CEO.

She developed the proprietary VOICSSâ (Vocal Interactive Communication and Social Strategies) program model, which is currently offered in school and community-based groups through Voices Together. Three research studies conducted in partnership with Duke University found that VOICSSâ resulted in significant improvement in the area of language, communication, and social/emotional learning. White is co-author of two published academic journal articles with Duke University that resulted from these studies.

Sonia Belasco has spent much of her professional life working with young people as a mentor, tutor, and therapist. She holds an M.S.W. from Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and an M.F.A. in Writing from California College of the Arts and loves fusing these two fields by generating accessible content themed around creativity, social-emotional learning, and therapy.