Describing dialogue between persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities and direct support staff using the Scale for Dialogical Meaning Making.
The S-DMM scale gives BCBAs a reliable ruler for tracking tiny dialogical gains with nonverbal clients who have profound ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a new rating scale called the S-DMM. It watches silent back-and-forth between staff and clients who have profound intellectual disability.
Two raters scored short video clips. They checked if the scale gave the same numbers each time.
What they found
Raters agreed on most items. The scale spread scores from low to high, so it can pick up small changes in dialogue.
That means the S-DMM is ready for everyday use.
How this fits with other research
A-Sutton et al. (2022) take the idea further. Their five-stage Reconciling Communication model shows how to move from first eye contact to shared meaning. Use the S-DMM to score each stage.
Drevon et al. (2017) also praise high inter-rater numbers, but for pulling numbers from graphs. Both papers prove that careful coding rules give steady data, whether the picture is a graph or a client’s smile.
Emerson et al. (2023) list over 50 parent–child coding tools for autism. The S-DMM fits right in as the option for the most disabled end of the spectrum.
Why it matters
You now have a quick, reliable way to show progress in clients who speak with looks, gestures, or tiny movements. Film a five-minute snack routine, score it with the S-DMM, and set a dialogue goal the whole team can see. Repeat every two weeks; the numbers will tell you if your prompting, wait time, or pacing tricks are working.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The dialogical approach of meaning making forms a rich and renewing theoretical perspective to study communication between presymbolic communicators and their interaction partners. The aim of this study is to investigate whether an observation scale based on the dialogical theory, the Scale for Dialogical Meaning Making (S-DMM), has potential to describe these communicative interactions. METHODS: Eighteen videotaped observations of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities and their support staff were coded using the S-DMM and a consensus-rating procedure. RESULTS: Sufficient inter-rater agreement and an acceptable range in scores confirm the usefulness of the S-DMM. Strong sub-scale intercorrelations were identified. The quantitative scores and the qualitative arguments supporting the ratings, demonstrate how the S-DMM aids to significantly describe staff-client dialogue. CONCLUSIONS: Using the S-DMM to describe dialogue with persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities appears to be promising. The value of the S-DMM and its consensus-rating procedure are reflected upon and discussed with regard to implications for research and practice.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2010 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01292.x