Music therapy focuses on reaching non-musical goals through a musical approach. These goals can be determined by an IEP, expressed by parents, developed by the music therapist from in-session assessment, etc. 

Some of these goals can include: 

• Increasing social skills

• Increasing attention

• Cognitive function

• Behavioral goals (self-regulation, etc.) 

• Improve communication and self expression

The goal of music therapy is to eventually be able to fade and remove the musical cues from the session to encourage generalization of skills gained in music therapy and transferring them to other environments and situations the client may face.