Social validation assessment of microswitch-based programs versus interaction/stimulation conditions for persons with multiple disabilities is a practically relevant research issue that was recently addressed (Lancioni et al., 2002, 2005a). The present study extended such validation assessment by involving a new group of students with multiple disabilities and two new groups of raters: one including teacher trainees and the other parents of children with disabilities. One hundred and forty teacher trainees and eighty-four parents watched videotapes showing the use of microswitch-based versus stimulation programs for seven students. All teacher trainees and parents scored the microswitch and the stimulation conditions on a 7-item questionnaire, the same as that used in previous studies. Data showed that both groups of raters rated the microswitch condition as more positive than the stimulation condition. These results strongly support those of the previous studies. Implications for use of microswitches with persons with profound and multiple disabilities seem unequivocal. Even so, caution needs to be used until additional replications across different cultural environments are carried out.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research reported here was part of a project funded by the Italian Research Agency MIUR (No. 2003 111 299). The authors would like to thank all the raters for their participation as well as the parents of the seven students on whom the rating was based for their permission to show the videotapes.
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Lancioni, G.E., O’Reilly, M.F., Singh, N.N. et al. A Social Validation Assessment of Microswitch-Based Programs for Persons with Multiple Disabilities Employing Teacher Trainees and Parents as Raters. J Dev Phys Disabil 18, 383–391 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-006-9024-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-006-9024-6