Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Background and purpose: due to the fact that abused and neglected children due to environmental poverty and deprivations of educational space and inappropriate and dangerous life caused by family harms including addiction and delinquency and the harms of child sexual abuse and frequent insecurities especially in The early years of life can cause serious problems in their social adaptation because they have not had the opportunity to acquire adaptive skills in a favorable environment. As a result, it is assumed that the music of neurological therapy is effective due to its interactive nature and the creation of sensory, motor and group harmony. And the type of movements in the form of rhythmic games that cause The child is constantly in a cycle of mental and behavioral organization to understand the sequence, problem solving, mental rotation, flexibility, verbal memory and accuracy and concentration in performing activities with the order of thought which is one of the characteristics of executive action, in an enjoyable process that The possibility of continuing activity and constructive interaction that leads to greater social adaptation should be placed in the group of children. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of neurocognitive music therapy intervention on the social adjustment of 7 to 12-year-old abused and neglected children in Tehran.

 Research method: This study was of an experimental type with a pre-test, a post-test with follow-up. In two quasi-family centers in Tehran, 32 children aged 7 to 12 years of qualified volunteers were included in the study by random sampling method and randomly replaced with an equal number. , were placed in two control and experimental groups. Non-participation in other musical interventions, non-regular participation in educational classes and the presence of psychological disorders such as depression were considered as exclusion criteria. The intervention of music therapy was designed and after calculating the internal validity of the program by a music expert during 20 sessions of the music program every week, two sessions of 45 minutes were held for the experimental group during 3 months. Gresham and Elliott (1990) social skills questionnaire was used to evaluate social adjustment. In order to analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation as well as inferential statistics including analysis of variance with repeated measurements were performed through SPSS software version 25 and at a significance level of 0.05.

Findings: Variance analysis with repeated measurement showed that the intervention of neuropsychological therapy caused a significant change in the social adjustment of children (p<0.001). In other words, based on the findings of the social adjustment scale at the statistical level, F=12.29 with a probability value of P<0.002 indicates the significance of the effectiveness of the musical intervention, and also, According to the magnitude of the effect (0.25) in this subscale and based on Cohen's table, it can be said that the effect of musical intervention is in the small to medium range. In the scale of behavioral problems at the statistical level, F=0.14 with a probability value of P>0.708 shows the significance of the effectiveness of the musical intervention and also, according to the size of the intensity of the effect (0.25) in this subscale and based on Cohen's table can be said that the effectiveness of musical intervention is in the small to medium range.