Persons with multiple disabilities engage in stimulus choice and postural control with the support of a technology-aided program.
A simple computer that stops preferred videos when posture slips teaches adults with multiple disabilities to choose items and sit or stand upright at the same time.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Austin et al. (2015) worked with three adults who have many disabilities.
The team built a computer program that let each adult pick music or videos by touching a big button.
If the adult bent forward too much, the screen froze until they sat or stood straight again.
Sessions ran each day until posture stayed upright and choices stayed steady.
What they found
All three adults quickly learned to tap the button and get their favorite clips.
Forward bending almost stopped once the freeze rule began.
Choice and good posture kept going when staff stepped back, showing real learning.
How this fits with other research
Lancioni et al. (2011) showed the same choice setup without any posture rule; adding the freeze makes the 2015 study a direct upgrade.
Emerson et al. (2007) and Lancioni et al. (2008) used microswitch clusters to lift head position in students, but kids could not pick their own stimuli; the 2015 paper blends both ideas for adults.
Stasolla et al. (2017) also used microswitch plus preferred items, yet shaped forward steps instead of upright trunk; together the papers prove microswitch cues can build many motor skills.
Why it matters
If you serve adults who slump and passively wait, try a tablet that pauses their show when the head drops.
One USB button and a tilt sensor are cheap, easy to move, and give immediate feedback.
You will build choice-making, better posture, and independence in the same five-minute loop.
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Join Free →Tape a tilt sensor to the back of a chair, link it to a free media player, and let your client press a big button to restart their song only while sitting straight.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Technology-aided programs have been reported to help persons with disabilities develop adaptive responding and control problem behavior/posture. This study assessed one such program in which choice of stimulus events was used as adaptive responding for three adults with multiple disabilities. A computer system presented the participants stimulus samples. For each sample, they could perform a choice response (gaining access to the related stimulus whose length they could extend) or abstain from responding (making the system proceed to the next sample). Once choice responding had strengthened, the program also targeted the participants' problem posture (i.e., head and trunk forward bending). The stimulus exposure gained with a choice response was interrupted if the problem posture occurred. All three participants successfully (a) managed choice responses and access to preferred stimuli and (b) gained postural control (i.e., reducing the problem posture to very low levels). The practical implications of those results are discussed.
Behavior modification, 2015 · doi:10.1177/0145445515572187