Our position
February 2025
The Down Syndrome Australia Consortium (DSA Consortium) strongly supports art and music therapy as evidence-based therapies which improve functional capacity. We believe that both peer-reviewed research and evidence as well as personal stories demonstrate that it must continue to be funded at the current evidence-based therapy rate.
The Independent Review Terms of Reference state:
“For evidence-based therapy to be funded through the Scheme, there needs to be evidence that the therapy helps participants improve or maintain their functional capacity in areas such as language and communication, personal care, mobility and movement, interpersonal interactions, functioning, and community living.”
For our community of people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disability with a focus on chromosomal variation, art and music therapy is vitally important. There are a range of benefits to art and music therapy, including improved:
- Cognition, including memory and attention,
- Communication skills, including flow and volume of speech,
- Motor skills and coordination, including building gross motor skills through rhythm,
- Behaviour and self-regulation, including managing anxiety, emotional recognition and obsessive behaviours,
- Social skills, including working with others and relationship building,
- Skills in working with structure, pattern recognition and creativity.