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Biomedical subjects

P Duker

Publications and source records attributed to P Duker.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

A stimulus control procedure to increase requesting with individuals who are severely/profoundly intellectually disabled.

Various procedures have been used to establish and increase manual signed and spoken requesting with individuals who are intellectually disabled. A few studies have used the so-called blockable response conditioned establishing operation (BR-CEO) as a stimulus control procedure to increase requesting. A variation on the BR-CEO is the interrupted chain procedure, in which requesting for the activity that had been interrupted is reinforced by continuation of the activity. Rather than interrupting an ongoing activity, six individuals who are severely/profoundly intellectually disabled were studied with respect to the differential effectiveness of presenting them incomplete versus complete referents (i.e. activity and objects) as a consequence of their requesting on their rate of requesting. Data were collected within a reversal design. The results show that five out of six individuals more than doubled their rate of requesting. Incomplete presentation of referents may be a practical procedure to increase requesting.

Adolescent↗

Effects of staff management on the quality of residential care for mentally retarded individuals.

Effects of two interventions on the quality of residential care for severely and profoundly mentally retarded individuals were assessed. Four living groups (N = 39 residents) were involved. Effects of assigning one extra staff member on staff's distribution of activities were evaluated as were effects of assigning extra tasks (including organizing daily staff meetings, providing feedback, and prompting self-recording) to the extra staff member on staff's distribution of activities, on staff's initiatives towards residents, and on residents' behavior. Results showed that assigning one extra staff member to living groups did not produce any change in staff's distribution of activities. Assigning extra tasks to the extra staff member, however, produced significant changes in the direction of more time spent on training residents. Also, several changes in staff's initiatives towards residents were recorded, whereas few changes in resident behavior were found.

Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilitie↗

Resident behaviors and characteristics as determinants of quality of residential care: an observational study.

The effects of resident behaviors and resident characteristics on the quantity and quality of care they receive from direct-care staff was examined. Four hundred and fifty-two residents with severe and profound mental retardation and 416 direct care staff members were involved. Naturalistic observations were conducted on direct-care staff behavior, that is, staff-resident initiatives, staff affection, staff communicative behavior, on resident behaviors (i.e., maladaptive, stereotypic, and adaptive behavior, position, attending, and communicative behavior), and on resident characteristics (i.e., gender, age, ambulancy, sensory handicaps, and seizure disorder). By importance, residents' ambulancy/motoric skills, their communicative behavior, and attending behavior accounted for the greatest differences in the quality and quantity of the care they receive from direct-care staff. Given that certain resident characteristics can be ameliorated through training, residents themselves may control, to a certain extent, the care they receive from direct-care staff in residential facilities.

Adult↗

Communicative functioning in individuals with Angelman syndrome: a comparative study.

PURPOSE: To assess expressive communication in individuals with Angelman syndrome. METHOD: Communicative functioning of individuals with Angelman syndrome (AS) (n = 109) was compared with individuals with mixed etiologies (n = 117) using the Verbal Behaviour Assessment Scale (VerBAS). RESULTS: Within-group analyses of those with AS revealed that the communicative function of manding was significantly more developed than tacting and echoing, and that tacting was significantly more developed than echoing. Low mean total VerBAS-scores were found with individuals who had epilepsy and used anticonvulsant medication, and with those who had profound developmental disabilities. In the comparison group, the function of manding was significantly more developed than both tacting and echoing, while tacting did not differ from echoing. Between-groups analyses revealed that individuals with AS had significantly lower scores on tacting and echoing, but not on manding. CONCLUSION: The overall pattern of VerBAS scores for individuals with AS suggests a possible communicative phenotype.

Adolescent↗