Universal Design for Learning in a Music Camp: Perspectives and Musical Self-Efficacy of Children With Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to evaluate a summer music camp, designed using principles of Universal Design for Learning, for children with disabilities. Data included one parent–child group interview, a children’s musical self-efficacy rating scale, children’s drawings, and children’s explanations of their drawings. Participants were elementary school children with disabilities (n = 4) and their mothers (n = 4). The children were all male, aged 5 to 8 years. Three children had Autism Spectrum Disorder; one had a diagnosis not specified by his mother. Three themes for children’s perceptions of the camp (social interaction/play, enjoyment of making music, and positive representation) and three themes for parents’ perceptions (camp structure, camp teachers, and benefits for the children) emerged. Musical self-efficacy ratings did not change, but the children’s explanations of the sources of musical self-efficacy indicated that two children may have experienced positive changes in musical self-efficacy.