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Results for “Persons with Visual Disabilities”

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At least 955 records · Page 53Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Effects of different stimulus manipulations of the acquisition of word recognition in trainable mentally retarded children.

The present study was designed to assess the efficacy of different procedures for establishing transfer of stimulus control from pictorial representations to printed words in trainable mentally retarded school children. The study consisted of two experiments. In experiment 1, four training conditions were used, i.e. two conditions (stimulus shaping and stimulus connected prompt fading) in which the subjects' attention was guided to the training stimuli, and two conditions (stimulus disconnected prompt fading and no fading) in which the subjects were allowed to respond only to the prompts. The results showed that stimulus shaping and stimulus connected prompt fading were far more effective than either one of the other procedures. Subsequent analyses revealed that 1 the stimulus control of the trained words was restricted to one or two letters, and 2 in case it was restricted to one letter, this was frequently a letter other than the one used for training. Furthermore, it was noted that the learned discriminations deteriorated as time or training progressed. Experiment 2 was designed to replicate some of the findings of experiment 1, and to control for one of the variables contributing to the superior efficiency of stimulus shaping over stimulus connected prompt fading. In general, the results of this experiment confirmed those obtained in experiment 1.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Attentional difficulties in hyperactive and conduct-disordered children: a processing deficit.

A random population sample of 1479 Chinese boys from Hong Kong was screened and diagnosed in a two-stage epidemiological study. Four groups, age 7-8, were distinguished: (1) a pure hyperactive group (HA), (2) a mixed hyperactive/conduct-disordered group (HA+CD), (3) a pure conduct-disordered group (CD), and (4) a normal control group (N). On a visual search task, only the HA children showed a specific processing deficit in performance. This confirms the diagnostic value of such a deficit for hyperactivity, differentiating it from conduct disorder. The failure to find a similar deficit in the HA+CD group raises questions concerning the clinical identity of these children. Each group showed a performance decrement over time in the visual search task but the decrement did not differ between the four groups. This observation is not congruent with the reports of a short attention span in hyperactive children; explanations of this apparent contradiction are considered.

Attention↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Reducing overselective attention to compound visual cues with extended training in adolescents with severe mental retardation.

Because of the devastating impact a disturbance in responding to multiple cues can have on a child's development, this investigation determined whether computer touch-screen technology could be utilized to improve the attentional skills of students with severe developmental disabilities after attentional deficits were initially identified. In particular, we assessed whether establishing prior reinforcement histories for separate stimuli would control how adolescents with severe mental retardation attended to visual compounds when extended training was given. Initially, prior reinforcement contingencies of individual stimuli failed to control the attention of the adolescents (Huguenin, 1997). Longer single stimulus pretraining and additional exposure to compounds containing stimulus components with conflicting reinforcement histories, however, eventually proved effective in determining what aspects of complex visual cues they attended to. In most instances, the adolescents selectively responded to stimulus elements whose prior reinforcement histories were unchanged in the compound after additional training was administered. Stimulus elements with a reversed prior reinforcement contingency were usually ignored. The reliability of the effect of prior reinforcement histories of individual stimulus elements on attention to visual compounds following additional training was confirmed with multiple testing procedures, automatically administered by a computer. Even though presenting conflict compounds initially identified students with overselective attention, extended exposure to single stimulus training and conflict compounds alleviated stimulus overselectivity and improved their attentional skills. After individual stimulus-response relations were reestablished and sufficiently reinforced to reduce disrupting effects when compound training cues were presented, stimulus overselectivity was eliminated. Through longer single stimulus pretraining and additional exposure to training compounds, adolescents with severe mental retardation learned to selectively attend to each component of visual compounds when prior reinforcement histories associated with the individual stimulus elements were manipulated. The findings of this investigation indicated that overselective attention among students with developmental disabilities is not an unmodifiable perceptual characteristic. They also revealed that overselective attention may be due to the disrupting effects of compound training cues which can be minimized through longer single stimulus pretraining and repeated presentations of compound training cues. Utilizing computer technology to administer procedures similar to those described in this study may permit students with developmental disabilities to acquire essential attentional skills for learning educational tasks involving complex cues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

[Is the M. Frostig perceptual training effective or not? On evaluation of the program for promoting visual perception in the German speaking areas].

Whereas the question concerning the efficacy of the Frostig program for the development of visual perception has been discussed controversely among American scientists, most German authors speak positively about the training. In this article, eight studies applying German versions of the Frostig training are shortly presented and their results summarized to find a statement about the effects of the German version of the Frostig program. The comparison of the eight studies turned out to be difficult, because the authors trained children with different handicaps. Moreover, the material was composed differently and the children were trained for different time periods. The interpretation of the positive results in the eight studies turned out more difficult because of unprecise presentation and of methodic shortcomings. The most severe shortcoming in most studies concerned the use of either no or of inappropriate control groups. Overall, the Frostig program seems to lead to improvements in different areas of performance when compared to normal school or preschool lessons. But it seems questionable if the Frostig material itself or the social interaction between trainer and child is responsible for the effects. Besides, the impact of the Frostig training on different performances may be a hint that the training not only affects visual perception, and that improved attention may be responsible for some of the effects.

Attention↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Television reading system.

The value of the television reading aid system is discussed, in the training of visually handicapped children.

Child↗
PubMed1981

Perceptual-motor learning with moderately retarded persons.

A visual-motor learning study was undertaken with 12 cultural-familial and 12 organic institutionalized retarded individuals to determine if organic signs on the Bender-Gestalt visual-motor test could be reversed. Statistically significant improvement was obtained with each group after 30 hr. of training. The results were discussed in relation to perceptual-motor regression and its potential for reversibility. Incorporating perceptual-motor regression exercises into the regular school program was suggested as an adjunct to current social and communication goals.

Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilitie↗
PubMed1992

Effect of mental retardation and motor disability on testing with visual acuity cards.

The visual acuity of 77 children (aged between 1 1/2 and eight years) with cerebral palsy and mental retardation was tested using acuity cards. Results varied by no more than one octave in 79 per cent of the cases. The median acuity of children with severe motor disabilities was lower and the variability from test to test was greater than for those with mild motor disabilities. Grouping the children roughly according to degree of mental retardation, the more retarded group tended to be more visually disabled and vary more from test to test. In general, day-to-day variability was greater than within-day inter-observer variability. The use of acuity cards to evaluate visual acuity in severely disabled and mentally retarded children, whose acuity is difficult to evaluate with conventional acuity tests, is a useful alternative method.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of synthetic speech output in the learning of graphic symbols of varied iconicity.

PURPOSE: To examine the effects of additional auditory feedback from synthetic speech on the learning of high translucent symbols versus low translucent symbols. METHOD: Two adults with little or no functional speech and severe intellectual disabilities served as participants. A single-subject ABACA/ACABA design was used to study the relative effects of two treatments: symbol training in the presence and absence of synthetic speech output. RESULTS: The results clearly indicated that the two treatments, rather than extraneous variables were responsible for gains in the symbol learning. Both participants learned either more low translucent symbols or reached their maximum learning of low translucent symbols in the speech output condition. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this preliminary study replicate and extend the iconicity hypothesis to a new set of learning conditions involving speech output, and suggest that feedback from speech output may assist adults with profound intellectual disabilities in coding particularly those symbols whose association with their referent cannot be coded via their visual resemblance with the referent.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Further evaluation of microswitch clusters to enhance hand response and head control in persons with multiple disabilities.

This study was a further evaluation of microswitch clusters (combinations of two microswitches) to improve adaptive responding together with correct head position in two persons with multiple disabilities. The two participants were 19.7 and 6.6 yr. old and had profound intellectual disabilities, spastic tetraparesis, and visual impairment. They were initially taught an adaptive hand response that activated a pressure microswitch and produced favorite stimulation. Thereafter, their performance of the hand response produced favorite stimulation only when it was combined with a correct head position (detected through a mercury microswitch). Analysis showed that both participants increased the frequency of the hand response and, subsequently, the percentage of times they emitted this response in combination with correct (upright) head position. In essence, they were able to coordinate constructive occupation with exercise of appropriate posture. Performance was maintained at a 2-mo. postintervention check.

Adult↗