Persons with multiple disabilities accessing stimulation and requesting social contact via microswitch and VOCA devices: new research evaluation and social validation.
The first of these two studies assessed whether 11 participants with multiple disabilities of 5.3-18.2 (M=10.7) years of age would succeed in combining a microswitch for accessing preferred environmental stimuli and a Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA) for requesting social contact. The second study conducted a social validation assessment of the aforementioned microswitch-VOCA combination. Data showed that all participants learned to use the microswitch and the VOCA. Moreover, the 10 participants, who received a 1-month post-intervention check, largely maintained their responding. The social validation assessment indicated that the raters (i.e., 110 university psychology students) favored the combination of microswitch and VOCA over the microswitch or the VOCA alone, and hypothetical combinations of microswitches or VOCAs.
Department of Psychology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. g.lancioni@psico.uniba.it
Giulio E
GE
Lancioni
Mark F
MF
O'Reilly
Nirbhay N
NN
Singh
Jeff
J
Sigafoos
Robert
R
Didden
Doretta
D
Oliva
Francesca
F
Campodonico
Claudia
C
de Pace
Claudia
C
Chiapparino
Jop
J
Groeneweg
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D049250:Speech Recognition Software; D014831:Voice; D055815:Young Adult