Assisting persons with multiple disabilities to move through simple occupational activities with automatic prompting.
The present study assessed the possibility of assisting four persons with multiple disabilities to move through and perform simple occupational activities arranged within a room with the help of automatic prompting. The study involved two multiple probe designs across participants. The first multiple probe concerned the two participants with blindness or minimal vision and deafness, who received air blowing as a prompt. The second multiple probe concerned the two participants with blindness and typical hearing who received a voice calling as a prompt. Initially, all participants had baseline sessions. Then intervention started with the first participant of each dyad. When their performance was consolidated, new baseline and intervention occurred with the second participant of each dyad. Finally, all four participants were exposed to a second intervention phase, in which the number of activities per session doubled (i.e., from 8 to 16). Data showed that all four participants: (a) learned to move across and perform the activities available with the help of automatic prompting and (b) remained highly successful through the second intervention phase when the sessions were extended. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Lancioni
Giulio E
GE
Department of Psychology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. g.lancioni@psico.uniba.it
Singh
Nirbhay N
NN
O'Reilly
Mark F
MF
Sigafoos
Jeff
J
Oliva
Doretta
D
Campodonico
Francesca
F
Groeneweg
Jop
J
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D019989:Persons with Intellectual Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012057:Reinforcement, Verbal; D012984:Software; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*