{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T05:51:41Z","timestamp":1791525101848,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791504000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Music-based interventions, including music therapy, are widely used to support autistic children, but reductions on autism-related scales do not fully represent communication, participation, quality of life, or autonomy. We retained clinically interpretable outcomes while using a neurodiversity-informed framework to organize intervention goals and interpretation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Wiley Online Library, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to August 5, 2026. Randomized, quasi-randomized, crossover, and controlled studies involving autistic participants younger than 18 years were eligible. Outcomes were grouped as social communication\/interaction, language, adaptive function\/participation, quality of life\/well-being, and autism-related characteristics and support needs. Positive Hedges\u2019 g values favored the music-based condition. Random-effects models used restricted maximum likelihood estimation and modified Hartung-Knapp inference. Comparator intensity, technique, duration, and parent involvement were examined as exploratory moderators.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Thirty-three independent studies, representing 1,880 participants in the selected quantitative comparisons, were included and contributed at least one outcome. Social communication\/interaction showed a significant pooled effect (k = 10, g = 0.64, 95% CI 0.25 to 1.03, p = 0.0046; I\u00b2 = 59.6%); the primary evidence layer also remained significant (k = 7, g = 0.57, 95% CI 0.02 to 1.12, p = 0.043). Language showed a significant small pooled effect (k = 11, g = 0.32, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.54, p = 0.009; I\u00b2 = 0%), whereas the primary evidence layer yielded g = 0.19 (95% CI -0.17 to 0.55). Autism-related scale outcomes showed a significant pooled effect (k = 16, g = 1.23, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.53, p &amp;lt; 0.001; I\u00b2 = 77.0%) and remained significant among studies reporting a reproducible randomization method (k = 6, g = 0.95, 95% CI 0.29 to 1.61). Adaptive function and quality-of-life estimates did not reach statistical significance. No between-group moderator test was significant. Duration was not associated with effect size (\u03b2 = -0.034 per month, p = 0.552), and Egger\u2019s regression did not detect funnel-plot asymmetry (p = 0.591).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Music-based support produced favorable average effects on social communication\/interaction, language, and autism-related scale outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1806096","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T05:30:28Z","timestamp":1791523828000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Music therapy and music-based support for autistic children: a neurodiversity-informed systematic review and meta-analysis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Shanshan","family":"Lu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Xuzhou Kindergarten Teachers College","place":["Xuzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huimin","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Education Science, Jiangsu Normal University","place":["Xuzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhidan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Education Science, Jiangsu Normal University","place":["Xuzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1037\/a0028353","article-title":"Deficit, difference, or both? 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