Clinical Case Studies

 

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Clinical Case Studies, Vol. 7, No. 3, 238-249 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1534650107307478
© 2008 SAGE Publications

A Girl With Multiple Disabilities Increases Object Manipulation and Reduces Hand Mouthing Through a Microswitch-Based Program

Giulio E. Lancioni

University of Bari, Italy, g.lancioni{at}psico.uniba.it

Nirbhay N. Singh

ONE Research Institute, Midlothian, Virginia

Mark F. O'Reilly

University of Texas at Austin

Jeff Sigafoos

University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

Robert Didden

Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Doretta Oliva

Lega F. D'Oro Research Center, Osimo, Italy

Eleonora Cingolani

Lega F. D'Oro Research Center, Osimo, Italy

The study was an effort to help a girl with multiple disabilities increase object manipulation responses and reduce hand mouthing, carried out according to an ABAB sequence (in which A represented baseline phases; B, treatment phases) and including a 3-month follow-up. During the baseline phases, a microswitch cluster (i.e., a combination of microswitches) was used to monitor the girl's object manipulation responses and hand mouthing. Indices of happiness were also recorded. During the treatment phases and follow-up, the microswitch cluster was combined with the use of preferred stimuli for object manipulation responses. The stimuli lasted an 8-s period at each response if the girl remained free from hand mouthing through that period, but were interrupted if hand mouthing appeared. The results show that the girl increased object manipulation responses, learned to refrain from hand mouthing for most of the session time, maintained this performance over time, and showed an increase in indices of happiness.

Key Words: microswitch cluster • object manipulation • hand mouthing • multiple disabilities • indices of happiness


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