A Social Validation Assessment of Microswitch-Based Programs for Persons with Multiple Disabilities Employing Teacher Trainees and Parents as Raters

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. To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Psychology