Music as an intervention for children with learning difficulties: systematic literature

Children are a population that benefits from music as a resource that has multiple effects on the body from psychological to physiological. This article aimed to carry out a systematic review of literature on empirical studies about the effects of music on children with learning difficulties. The research period was 2008-2018 in the databases Pubmed, Medline, and Scopus using the descriptors music therapy, music education, children, learning difficulties, in languages in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Eleven intervention research articles were selected, and the effects were improvements in social performance and self-expression, on phonological awareness and on executive functions. The studies pointed out that music and/or sound was a strategy used as a way to improve indexes in reading skills, cognitive and emotional aspects for children who have learning difficulties, but without diagnosis.