Between 2011-2016 primary investigator in an international RCT research on Autism and music therapy, The research (TIME-A) investigated the effect and intensity of music therapy intervention on symptom severity among children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The included 350 children, the largest RCT ever to take place in music therapy. Funded by the Norwegian Research Council for the sum of 2,000,000Euro. 

Research collaboration with Prof. Arnon, at the neonatal department at Meir hospital in Kfar Saba on: The efficacy of music therapy for preterm infants and their parents: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. We have a PhD student from Aalborg University and a master student from University of Haifa who are collecting data. We received seed funding for this project by the Faculty of Social Health and Welfare Sciences.

 The collaboration with Meir hospital has brought us to a new and large international collaboration which university of Haifa and Meir hospital were invited to participate in. This large international RCT study called: “Longitudinal study of music therapy’s effectiveness for premature infants and their caregivers: International randomized trial (LongSTEP)” was recently funded by the Norwegian Health and Research Council for the sum of 3 million US dollars and data will be collected during 2018- 2022. 

Anothertion began in 2019 with Australia, Denmark and Ariel University. We received funding of 126,000USD from the competitive HeArt research grant in Neuro-Habilitation. Rett Syndrome Assoc. USA to investigate the Implementation of  Telehealth support to increase physical activity in girls and women with Rett syndrome.

BOOKS:

Stige, B., Ansdell, G., Elefant, C., & Pavlicevic, M. (2010). Where Music Helps. Community Music Therapy in Action and Reflection. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate pp. 440.

Amir, D. and Elefant, C. (2012), (Eds.). Listen to my voice: New research in music therapy (Hebrew). Ach Publisher pp. 375.

ARTICLES:

Elefant, C. & Lotan, M. (2011). Organizing the Sensory System of Individuals with Rett Syndrome through Music. Journal Functional Neurology, Rehabilitation and Ergonomics, 1(4):561-570. 

 Elefant, C., Baker, F., Lotan, M. & Skeie, G.O. (2012). The effect of music therapy on facial expression in individuals with Parkinson's disease: A pilot    study. Musicae Scientia, 16, 392-400.)

 Elefant, C., Baker, F., Lotan, M., Lagersen, S. and Skeie, G.O. (2012). The Effect   of group music therapy on vocal ability and singing in individuals with        Parkinson's disease - A feasibility research. Journal of Music Therapy, 49(3),  278–302 

Geretsegger, M., Elefant, C ., Gold, C., & Mossler, K. (2014). Music therapy for  autistic spectrum disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004381.pub3 pp. 18  

Lotan, M. , Elefant, C. & and Merrick, J. (2014). Identifying undiagnosed adults  with Rett syndrome: Procedure and clinical implications. International Journal  of Child Health & Human Development, 7(2):125-133 

Yakobson, D. (#) & Elefant, C. (2015). Music in Everyday Life: The Voice of  Adults Patients in the Mental Health System in Israel. Israel Studies in Language and Society, (1-2)7, 237-256 .

Geretsegger, M., Holck, U., Carpente, J.A., Elefant, C., Kim, J. & Gold, C. (2015). Common characteristics of improvisational approaches in music therapy          for children with autism spectrum disorder: Developing treatment guidelines.    Journal of Music Therapy, 52(2), 258-281.

 Lotan M, Elefant C, Merrick J. (2016). Pain in people with intellectual and developmental disability: Focus on children. Journal of Pain Management, 9(2), 183-194. (SJR IF = 0.107, Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, .

 Bieleninik, L., Geretsegger, M., Mossler, K., Assmus, J., Thompson, G., Gattino, G., Elefant, C., Gottfried, T., Igliozzi, R., Muratori, F., Suvini, F., Kim, J., Crawford, M.J., Odell-Miller, H., Oldfield, A., Casey, O., Finnemann, J., Carpente, J., Park, A., Grossi, E., & Gold, C. (2017). Effects of Improvisational Music Therapy vs Enhanced Standard Care on Symptom Severity Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The TIME-A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA, 318(6), 525-535. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.9478.

 Bieleninik, L., Posserud, M-B., Gerersegger, M., Thompson G., Elefant, C., & Gold, C. (2017). Tracing the temporal stability of autism spectrum diagnosis and severity using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule: a systematic review and meta0analysis. PloS ONE, 12(9), e0183160. (IF = 2.766, R= 15/64 in Multidisciplinary Science,

Gottfried, T. (#), Thompson, G., Elefant, C. & Gold, C. (2018). Reliability of the Music in Everyday Life (MEL) Scale: A Parent-Report Assessment for Children  on the Autism Spectrum. Journal of Music Therapy, 7;55(2), 133-155. doi: 10.1093/jmt/thy002. 

Oren, R.,(#) Orkibi, H., Elefant, C., & Salomon-Gimmon, M (#). (2018). Arts-                       based psychiatric rehabilitation programs in the community: Perceptions of       healthcare professionals. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. Advance online   publication. doi: 10.1037/prj0000325.  

Elefant, C. & Roginsky, E. (2018). A tribute to Chava Sekeles. Approaches: An Interdisciplinary journal for Music Therapy, 10 (1),1-5. 

Simhon, V., (#) Elefant, C., Orkibi, H. (2018). Associations between music and  the sensory system: integrative review for child therapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy.

Salomon-Gimmon, M. (#) & Elefant, C. (2018). Development of vocal communication in children with autism spectrum disorder during        improvisational music therapy. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 28(3), 174–192.                                                                         

Thompson, G. & Elefant, C. (2019). “But I want to talk to   you!” Perspectives on music therapy practice with highly verbal children on the autism spectrum. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. 28(4) 347-359.   

Roginsky, E. (#) & Elefant, C. (2019). Communicative-   musicality and music as transformative modalities in the lives of parents and their children with profound CP. Approaches: An Interdisciplinary journal for Music Therapy (20 pp)

Salomon-Gimmon, M. (#), Orkibi, H. & Elefant, C. (2019). Process and Outcomes Evaluation of a Pre-Academic Arts Program for Individuals with Mental Health Conditions: A Mixed Methods Study Protocol. BMJopen.(29 pp.) 

Epstein, S (#), Elefant, C., Thompson, G. (2019). Music therapists’ perceptions of music’s role in working with children on the autism spectrum with verbal language skills: A qualitative analysis. Journal of Music Therapy (27 pp), https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/thz017