Individual Music-Centered Assessment Profile for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IMCAP-ND): New Developments in Music-Centered Evaluation

In Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy (NRMT) the client's musical responses, pertaining to his/her process of playing and relating, are the primary source of data (Bruscia, 1987). To that end, Nordoff and Robbins developed a series of assess- ment tools and methods focused on evaluating the quality of the client's musical processes within the context of musi- cal engagement and relationship (Bruscia, 1987; Nordoff & Robbins, 2007). In more recent times, however, there have been additional assessment tools created by Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapists including the Music Therapy Communication and Social Interaction Scale (MTCSI) (Hummel-Rossi, Turry, et. al., 2008; Guerrero & Turry, 2012), and the most recently published, Individual Music-Centered Assessment Profile for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IMCAP-ND): A Clinical Manual (Carpente, 2013). Both, the MTCSI and IMCAP-ND are concerned with assessing the client's ability to relate and communicate in active music making.BackgroundDating back to the early 1960s, based on their clinical work, Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins developed several assess- ment tools dealing with evaluating clinical-musical processes as well as the quality of the client and therapist relationship. These assessment tools included indexing, Tempo-Dynamic Schema, Thirteen Categories of Response, and three assess- ment scales (Bruscia, 1987).Indexing is a form of microanalysis in which the therapist carefully reviews and records all client responses and thera- pist's interventions in each session, as well as transcribing clini- cally pertinent music. Descriptions of musical and non-musical responses are correlated to the time in which they occurred (Bruscia, 1987). The Tempo-Dynamics Schema was designed to correlate or associate pathology to musical expression specific to the client's ability to engage in musical-play with regard to tempo and dynamic range (Bruscia, 1987; Nordoff & Robbins, 2007). In addition, Thirteen Categories of Response deal with understanding how clients relate musically and interpersonally (e.g., facial expressions, gestures, etc.) to the therapist's improvi- sations while playing drum, piano, and/or voice.Finally, Nordoff and Robbins developed three evaluation scales. Scale I: Client-Therapist Relationship in Musical Activity was designed to describe the quality of the client-therapist relation- ship during musical activity; Scale II: Musical Communicativeness was developed to assess the client's ability to musically communi- cate via instrument, vocal, and movement; and Scale III: Musical Response was created to provide classifications for how and what the client plays (instrumentally) and vocalizes with regard to the quality of engagement specific to rhythmic and melodic forms (Nordoff & Robbins, 2007; Brusica, 1987).In 2008, the Music Therapy Communication and Social Interaction scale (MTCSI) was created by an interdisciplinary team consisting of Nordoff-Robbins music therapists and psy- chologists. The MTCSI was developed to assess communica- tion and social interactive behaviors of children during music therapy (Guerrero & Turry, 2012; Hummel-Rossi et. al., 2008). Attaining high inter-rater reliability as well as strong support for its content validity, (2012) the MTCI assessment process involves coding video recorded sessions in one-minute inter- vals while observing the child's ability to engage in instrument play, vocalization, movement, as well as display social-emo- tional behaviors e.g., gestures, eye contact, joint attention, etc. (Guerrero & Turry, 2012). The tool is intended for use in a wide range of disciplines that include creative arts therapists, psy- chologists, educators, and speech, occupational, and physical therapists (Hummel-Rossi et. al., 2008).IMCAP-NDIn 2013, The Individual Music-Centered Assessment Profile for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IMCAP-ND) was designed to assess musical-play interactions with individu- als with neurodevelopmental disorders (Carpente, 2013). …