Music May Help Treat ADHD

A study out of San Diego’s Museum School is working to determine whether learning to play musical instruments could help treat ADHD in children. The study, which has been going on for over a year now, is based on the fact that students who have musical training have better processing skills and do better in school.

“We know from multiple studies that children who have musical training do better at school… What we’re interested in from a scientific perspective is why that occurs. What neural mechanisms are being driven by musical experience and how do they interact with other abilities,” said Paula Tallal of Rutgers University.

This study comes at a time when fewer and fewer schools are offering music programs due to budget cuts. If musical training does prove to be an effective non-medicated treatment—and a potential cure—for ADHD, those programs will have an even more devastating effect than we currently understand.

Students who have been participating in the study have been learning Gamelan, which is an Indonesian percussion style ensemble that has a strong emphasis on synchronicity. The precision of students’ rhythm and beat are monitored, and an algorithm is produced to show their overall accuracy. Those results are then compared with cognitive and behavioral tests.

“So far, we’ve found a correlation between their ability to synchronize and their performance on cognitive tests,” said Alexander Khalil, who is head of the Gamelan Project. “What this could mean is that learning to time in a group setting with other people musically could improve your ability to focus attention.”

Khalil believes that as students continue to improve musical ability, their ability to focus their attention also improved. About ten percent of children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD, which means they have trouble paying attention and may become hyperactive.

So far, the study looks promising and presents many exciting possibilities moving forward. But it could take up to five years to see the true results, as many of the implications could be fairly far reaching as the children continue to grow and develop.