Effect of a token economy behaviour therapy on drooling in children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effect of token economy-a behaviour therapy technique for controlling drooling in children with cerebral palsy associated with mild intellectual disability. Methodology: A total number of 25 children with cerebral palsy associated with mild intellectual disability attending the occupational therapy department of Swami Vivekanand National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research (SVNIRTAR), Orissa, India, participated in a single blind randomized pre-and post-test control group training study. Subjects were randomly allocated to group A (experimental n=12) and group B (control n=13). Baseline frequency of drooling was observed by two independent raters for 20 minutes for both the groups. After the baseline data collection, subjects in group A received conventional therapy along with behaviour therapy (token economy) and group B received conventional therapy alone. Results: The result showed that there was a significant decrease in frequency of drooling after application of token economy as a behaviour modification technique in the experimental group (P=0.001) as compared to the control group (P=0.070). Conclusion: The result of the study demonstrated that the token economy program was effective in controlling drooling in children with cerebral palsy associated with mild intellectual disability.