Persons With Multiple Disabilities Exercise a Complex Response Scheme to Counter Incorrect Head and Shoulder Positions Via a Microswitch-Aided Program

Description

This study assessed a microswitch-aided program for helping two persons with multiple disabilities who presented with head and shoulder posture problems to exercise a combination of appropriate head and arm movements. The program involved microswitches for monitoring participants’ head and arm movements. A computer system recorded those movements and provided brief stimulation contingent on them during intervention. Three intervention phases took place, which focused on head movements, arm movements, and the combination of the two movements. Four weeks after the last intervention phase, a postintervention check occurred. Both participants increased the frequencies of (a) the head and the arm movements during the first 2 intervention phases and (b) those movements combined during the third intervention phase. Positive performance was maintained at the postintervention check. Microswitch-aided programs can support exercise of complex response schemes of persons with multiple disabilities.

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