Introduction: Observable dementia symptoms are hardly studied in people with severe/profound intellectual (and multiple) disabilities (SPI(M)D). Insight in symptomatology is needed for timely signaling/diagnosis. This study aimed to identify practice-based observations of dementia symptoms in this population. Methods: Care professionals and family…

Background: New technologies could broaden activities for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). This study compared watching television with a newly-developed interactive ball. Method: The ball responded with sounds, lights, and wiggling to the player's voice and movements. Five control sessions (watching television)…

The purpose of this study was to determine how a family communication partner (usually the mother IS primarily responsible for communication with a youth with a communication disability) could be trained to use an iPad and communication software for increasing appropriate communication and decreasing inappropriate behavior of youth with…

Two studies were conducted to examine parameters of social attention in contingency awareness training using switch activation with individuals who had multiple profound disabilities. Study 1 compared leisure devices and social attention as reinforcing stimuli with 5 individuals. Results indicated the reinforcing qualities of social attention over…

A simple and effective program for the reduction or elimination of ruminative behavior in four school-aged students with multiple handicaps used a combination of peanut butter, reduced fluid consumption at meals, and fading. In each of the cases, the ruminative behavior was significantly reduced or eliminated. (Author/CL)

Ten individuals with profound multiple impairments were given novel tests for learning and preference with adaptive switches and leisure-oriented devices, such as audio tape players. Typically, tests for learning include a baseline or extinction component in which the adaptive switch and device are not connected as a control for incidental or…

Three retarded epileptic individuals (17 to 22 years old) with a variety of seizure disorders were provided with 8 to 12 Hz occipital EEG biofeedback training. While seizures were not totally eliminated in any of the Ss, the results of the study indicated that all Ss exhibited decreases in some aspect of their seizure activity. (Author)

Aversive tickling was successfully used with two blind, retarded, adolescent girls as a punishment procedure to reduce frequency of self-destructive head banging in one case and a variety of attention-getting behaviors in the other. (Author/KW)

A cold bath was used as the aversive consequence in the therapeutic modification of nocturnal enuresis in two male siblings (one multiply handicapped, one normal). (KW)

Evaluation results of a program (Infant School Program at New York University Medical Center) serving 40 multihandicapped preschool children over a 3-year period are given. Originally presented with accompanying slides, the paper lists goals of early childhood education and describes methods of data collection and program procedures. Ss were…

Proceedings of a workshop (Pineville, Louisiana, July 13-14, 1970) on behavior modification programs for deaf-blind children are presented. James Lent discusses the principles of behavior modification and the habilitation of deaf blind children while Pat Aycock utilized case histories to consider shaping behavior of multiply handicapped crib…

A multiple baseline-across behaviors design was employed to assess the efficacy of a self-control procedure in eliminating three stereotypic behaviors of a 15-year-old behaviorally disordered, deaf, institutionalized student. The self-control procedure eliminated two of the three target behaviors and significantly reduced the rate of the third.…

The use of a trained paraprofessional in a response reduction procedure with a self-stimulating severely/multiply disabled 12 year old resulted in a decrease in self-stimulation and an increase in socially relevant behavior. (CL)

A new approach to behavioral control with individuals having both visual impairments and multiple disabilities stresses the use of positive intervention strategies, bases treatment on functional assessments of challenging responses, and emphasizes broad changes in the lifestyles of individuals. Case examples illustrate applications. (Author/DB)