PERSONS WITH ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY AND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES ACCESS STIMULATION INDEPENDENTLY THROUGH MICROSWITCH-BASED TECHNOLOGY

The possibility of enabling two adults with acquired brain injury and profound multiple disabilities to use microswitch based technology to attain preferred environmental stimuli on their own was assessed Each of the participants was provided with two microswitches that could be activated by right and left head turning or head bending responses The microswitches were introduced sequentially according to a multiple probe design across microswitches (responses) and allowed access to different sits of auditory or visual stimuli Eventually the two microswitches were made available simultaneously Sessions lasted 5 min Each participant learned to use the two microswitches successfully and maintained consistent levels of responding when they were simultaneously available During this phase both participants showed large within session variations in their right and left response frequencies with one of them showing an overall prevalence of the left side response The importance of assistive technology within programs for persons with acquired brim injury and multiple disabilities is discussed.