Family Approaches in Music Therapy Practice with Young Children

Family-based music therapy has developed as a specialist practice through the late twentieth century to the present time. A range of influence have contributed to the rise of the family as the focus of treatment and care including new models of social care and education for vulnerable families, and a greater recognition of the family unit as one of the most influential sources of support and growth for the infant and young child. As music therapists have developed and elaborated their skills they have published, researched, and disseminated their approaches to this work. This chapter provides an overview of some of these developments with reference to the clinical work of the author over many years.