Discovering indices of contingency awareness in adults with multiple profound disabilities
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Patricia Dowden; Richard R. Saunders; Estelle R. Klasner; Lesley B. Olswang; Abbie L. Munce; Brittany Struve; Muriel D. Saunders
- Source
- American journal of mental retardation : AJMR. 112(4)
- Subject
- Adult
Male
Contingency awareness
Multiple disabilities
media_common.quotation_subject
Vision Disorders
Social attention
Blindness
Quadriplegia
Severity of Illness Index
Education
Developmental psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Humans
Learning
Abnormalities, Multiple
Reinforcement
Social Behavior
media_common
Teaching
Rehabilitation
Behavior change
Awareness
Middle Aged
Preference
Clinical Practice
General Health Professions
Aptitude
Female
Psychology
Reinforcement, Psychology
- Language
- ISSN
- 0895-8017
We conducted two studies to examine parameters of social attention in contingency awareness training using switch activation with individuals who had multiple profound disabilities. In Study 1 we compared leisure devices and social attention as reinforcing stimuli with 5 individuals. Results indicated the reinforcing qualities of social attention over leisure devices with 2 individuals and documented the importance of session length in training. In Study 2 we investigated idiosyncratic behaviors as indicators of responsiveness with 3 of the 5 original participants as they activated switches. Behavior changes during switch activation versus nonactivation times in the leisure device and social attention conditions suggested volitional movement supporting contingency awareness and preference. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.