Does Music Help Kids with ADHD Focus? What the Research Shows

By ABC Academy of Music teaching team · Updated August 2026

“Will music lessons actually help my son focus?” A parent asked us this exact question last month. It comes up often. Most articles on music and the brain are not written with ADHD in mind at all. So we went looking for studies that test music with kids who have attention or hyperactivity challenges. We also found a few strong studies on focus and self-control in kids without ADHD. Those are close enough to matter too. Here is what we found, sorted honestly by how directly each study applies.

The Study Built Specifically Around ADHD

A 2015 study from Brazil is the most directly relevant piece of research we found. Researchers at a university in São Paulo worked with 36 children, ages 6 to 14. The children were split into three groups. One group had ADHD and took no medication. One group had ADHD and took medication. One group had no ADHD.

Every child did short listening tasks. They judged how long a sound or piece of music lasted. Children with ADHD were less accurate on very short sounds. But children in all three groups did reasonably well on most of the musical tasks. The research team suggested music may help calm or redirect attention in the moment. They framed this as something alongside standard ADHD care, not instead of it.

This was a small study. It measured sound-timing tasks in a lab, not real music lessons over months. It does not prove that guitar or piano lessons will change ADHD symptoms at school. But it is one of the only studies that tested children with a formal ADHD diagnosis using music directly. That makes it worth taking seriously.

What Happens to ADHD Behaviour During an Actual Music Lesson

A 2022 study from the United Kingdom took a different approach. It was published in the journal Psychology of Music. Researchers Eva Wilde and Graham Welch followed two boys with a formal ADHD diagnosis. One was in primary school. One was in secondary school. The team watched both boys closely across several school terms.

They watched the boys in music lessons. They also watched them in ordinary classroom settings. Then they compared the two. The pattern held steady. ADHD-linked behaviours, like fidgeting or losing focus, showed up before and after active music-making. During the music-making itself, those behaviours were far less noticeable. This held true for both boys, across multiple settings.

This was a case study of two children, not a large trial. It cannot tell us how common this pattern is. But it matches what many music teachers say they see in their own studios. A hands-on, structured, rewarding task like playing an instrument seems to hold restlessness at bay while a child is actually engaged in it.

The Bigger Studies: Focus and Self-Control in Typical Kids

Few studies test music with diagnosed ADHD groups. So it helps to also look at research on focus and self-control in children generally. Weak self-control and poor focus are core parts of ADHD. Two studies stand out here.

The first is a 2019 study from Italy. Researchers gave 113 children, ages 8 to 10, either three months of orchestral training or no music training. The music group improved significantly on a standard self-control test. Kids in the non-music group also became more hyperactive by their own report over that same period. The music group’s hyperactivity ratings stayed flat.

The second is a 2018 study from Japan. Researchers gave 40 children, ages 6 to 8, either six weeks of keyboard harmonica lessons or no lessons. The music group showed a real gain on a working-memory task. The task, called digit span backward, asks a child to repeat a string of numbers in reverse order.

Neither study recruited children with an ADHD diagnosis. Both measured skills that are commonly weaker in kids with ADHD: self-control and working memory. That is a real connection, but an indirect one. There is a real difference between “this skill is often hard for ADHD kids” and “this study proves music helps ADHD kids.” We want to be upfront about that difference.

What the Honest Answer Looks Like

No study we found says music lessons treat or replace ADHD care. That claim goes past what the evidence supports. The real research is more modest, and still genuinely hopeful. One Brazilian study found kids with ADHD engage reasonably well with musical tasks. It suggested music may help settle attention symptoms in the moment. One UK case study found ADHD behaviours dropped away during active music-making, in two boys. Two larger studies in typically developing children found real gains in self-control and working memory. Those are the exact skills that tend to be hardest for kids with ADHD. Put together, this is a genuine reason for cautious hope. It is not a guarantee.

Music Lessons at ABC Academy of Music

We will not promise that lessons fix attention challenges. The research does not support that promise. What we can offer is a structured, hands-on lesson where a child with ADHD gets a teacher’s full attention for the whole hour, in drums, piano, guitar, or voice. Want to talk through what might fit your child before enrolling? Browse our class schedule or see our rates and payment page for current pricing at our Toronto-area studios.

For more on how music training connects to focus, self-control, and behaviour, see our related articles on music lessons and discipline, music lessons and motor skills, and the lifelong brain benefits of music.