Abstract
The general purpose of the present study is to determine the relationship between direct and indirect preference assessments of individuals with severe and multiple disabilities (SMD) and the relationship between the direct preference assessments (single-stimulus, paired-stimulus, and multiple-stimulus) as applied to individuals with SMD, and to find whether it is effective to teach the skill of choice making among photographs through the constant time-delay procedure. The study group was composed of three boys aged 9 years and a 7-year old girl residing at Bolu Province who were diagnosed with severe disability; that is, a total of four subjects and their primary caregivers. The study had two phases. During the first phase, the relation between the preference assessments was investigated. There was a highly positive relationship between both the direct and indirect preference assessments and at the same time between the directly applied preference assessments based on single-stimulus, paired-stimulus, and multiple-stimulus-without-replacement. The second phase included teaching choice-making skills. It was seen that teaching through the constant time-delay procedure was effective in teaching the choice-making skill and that the participants preserved the choice-making skill 1, 3, and 4 weeks after the completion of teaching and generalized it to their primary caregivers. Key words: Severe and multiple disabilities, individuals with severe and multiple disabilities, choice-making, choice-making skills, teaching of choice-making skills, preference assessment.
Highlights
Severe and multiple disability (SMD) has been defined as the occurrence of one or more mental, emotional, and physical problems that require educational, social, and psychological or medical services apart from the services provided by the normal classroom or special education programs in order that the affected individuals can participate in social life more independently and use their existing potentials better (Tekin-İftar, 2005).Individuals with severe and multiple disabilities (SMD) may be severely affected by a single disability, or affected by multiple disabilities when a disability accompanies another
The caregivers‟ views were collected for 10 consumables and the same consumables were assessed by three direct preference assessment methods
LaRosa (2007) found that the caregivers‟ predictions were associated with the direct preference assessment results in a study, which compared the predictions of the caregivers of individuals with multiple disabilities to the direct preference assessment results
Summary
Severe and multiple disability (SMD) has been defined as the occurrence of one or more mental, emotional, and physical problems that require educational, social, and psychological or medical services apart from the services provided by the normal classroom or special education programs in order that the affected individuals can participate in social life more independently and use their existing potentials better (Tekin-İftar, 2005). Individuals with SMD may be severely affected by a single disability, or affected by multiple disabilities when a disability accompanies another. In certain individuals with SMD, severe cognitive and motor disabilities coexist Individuals with SMD may display characteristics associated with severe cognitive disabilities, additional disabilities (visual, hearing disability, physical disability, etc.), sensory loss and behavioral problems (Changnon, 2002; Petry and Meas, 2007). Some may experience intensive physical problems and difficulties with learning, focusing, and perceiving
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