Orchestrating parent-child engagement by embracing innovations in digital technology: Impacts on future music therapy practice for children with hearing loss.
Tracks
Stream Three
| Friday, October 17, 2025 |
| 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM |
| Terrace Room 1&2 |
Overview
Dr Vicky Abad & Thomas Hockey
Speaker
Dr Vicky Abad
Music Beat Australia
Orchestrating parent-child engagement by embracing innovations in digital technology: Impacts on future music therapy practice for children with hearing loss.
Abstract
Parents have interacted musically with their children for millennia and these experiences are invaluable for children with hearing loss (Looi et al. 2019).
While the changing ways that families experience music digitally raises some parental concerns, it also provides opportunities for innovative musical engagements to unfold. Integrating these changes with traditional music therapy methodology can advance flexibility when working with children with hearing loss.
This study explores how digital technology increases the quality of family music encounters through access to creative and improvisatory techniques for children with hearing loss, and increases parent confidence to facilitate digital music experiences with their child.
Methods: Parent-child dyads recruited from a music therapy private practice participated in four workshops at a university digital lab. Engagement during digital music creation was recorded and analysed through two complementary frameworks. The Sociology of Childhood framework (Corsaro, 2015) assisted in analysing children's music experiences from their perspectives, and understanding how children experienced their agency while engaging in these musical activities. The Affordances Theory (Scarantino, 2003) enabled the exploration of the elements involved in children's music interactions, including the roles of parents, the context of these interactions, the digital technologies involved and the complementary relations across these elements.
Results: Children showed their ability to engage in digital music experiences and explored new opportunities for family music encounters. Parents had opportunities to learn new strategies to continue supporting their children at home.
Discussion: Digital technologies afforded new opportunities for children and families to engage in music experiences. The music therapy design along with access to various instruments through tablet devices, allowed sessions to be personally tailored and made outcomes transferable to the real world. This study unveiled new opportunities for inclusivity in future music therapy practice and equipped families to continue their engagement in music experiences in the home.
While the changing ways that families experience music digitally raises some parental concerns, it also provides opportunities for innovative musical engagements to unfold. Integrating these changes with traditional music therapy methodology can advance flexibility when working with children with hearing loss.
This study explores how digital technology increases the quality of family music encounters through access to creative and improvisatory techniques for children with hearing loss, and increases parent confidence to facilitate digital music experiences with their child.
Methods: Parent-child dyads recruited from a music therapy private practice participated in four workshops at a university digital lab. Engagement during digital music creation was recorded and analysed through two complementary frameworks. The Sociology of Childhood framework (Corsaro, 2015) assisted in analysing children's music experiences from their perspectives, and understanding how children experienced their agency while engaging in these musical activities. The Affordances Theory (Scarantino, 2003) enabled the exploration of the elements involved in children's music interactions, including the roles of parents, the context of these interactions, the digital technologies involved and the complementary relations across these elements.
Results: Children showed their ability to engage in digital music experiences and explored new opportunities for family music encounters. Parents had opportunities to learn new strategies to continue supporting their children at home.
Discussion: Digital technologies afforded new opportunities for children and families to engage in music experiences. The music therapy design along with access to various instruments through tablet devices, allowed sessions to be personally tailored and made outcomes transferable to the real world. This study unveiled new opportunities for inclusivity in future music therapy practice and equipped families to continue their engagement in music experiences in the home.
Biography
Vicky Abad is a music therapist, business owner and researcher. She has extensive clinical and research experience working with families and has presented and published internationally.
Thomas Hockey
Assistive Solutions Team Leader, Registered Music Therapist
Music Beat Therapy Services
Orchestrating parent-child engagement by embracing innovations in digital technology: Impacts on future music therapy practice for children with hearing loss
Biography
Tom is a Registered Music Therapist who works primarily with adults in the areas of disability and mental health. He is passionate about exploring the ways in which music technology and adaptive equipment can support people of all capacities to engage in meaningful music-making.
