624
Views
27
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Article

An empirical evaluation of an interactive multi-sensory environment for children with disability

, , , , , , & show all
Pages 267-278 | Published online: 10 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

Seventeen students with severe disability (age range 5 years to 18 years) from one school were assessed on Foundation Outcome Statement Skills (FOS Skills) and subsequently exposed to an interactive multi-sensory environment (MSE). Approximately 40 hours of video recordings were made of the 17 participants interacting in the MSE, and a further recording was made during a school excursion to a local farm school to check for generalisation of behaviour. Six categories of disability were covered in the evaluation, namely children with: severe intellectual disability, severe intellectual disability/autism, severe intellectual disability/visual impairment, severe intellectual disability/hearing impairment, multiple disability, and multiple disability/visual impairment. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a statistically significant increase in the number of FOS Skills exhibited by the participants from Pre MSE to Post MSE. A further ANOVA demonstrated a significant increase in the number of FOS Skills immediately following exposure to the MSE (i.e., following the first session in the MSE). These increases were particularly marked for a small number of participants and for four main FOS Skills. There was also some evidence of generalisation of FOS Skills to an external setting.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.