Music education is a curriculum entitlement for every child, including autistic young people, across all four nations of the UK. Research indicates that music builds confidence and wellbeing and can be both a tool for communication and a means of building communication skills for autistic young people. But currently, many don’t get the same access to music in school as their peers. This is a social justice issue – and we‘ve developed the evidence and tools to address it.
We’ve spent four years working alongside autistic musicians, educators and pupils to find out what works – the final year a period of formal participatory action research in collaboration with the University of South Wales funded by the AHRC Hub for Public Engagement with Music Research at the University of Southampton.
The result is a free, open-access guide and a series of policy briefings for Wales, Northern Ireland and England. The guide is designed for anyone working with autistic young people, whatever their musical background or budget. It is neurodiversity-affirming, grounded in the social model of disability, and advocates for a strength-based understanding of autism.
