Communication interventions on conditional requesting or rejecting skills for individuals with moderate to severe developmental disabilities: a scoping review

Abstract

Objective: To synthesize communication intervention studies that addressed conditional requesting or rejecting skills for individuals with moderate to severe developmental disabilities from 1980 to 2017.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted and the yielded 20 studies were coded from three aspects, including participant characteristics, intervention characteristics, and quality of study parameters.

Results: The identified studies involved 31 participants who ranged from 4 to 45 years of age and had a diagnosis of a developmental disability with moderate to severe disabilities. These individuals with moderate to severe disabilities were able to learn to request or reject conditionally, with maintenance and generalization reported in some studies. In general, the identified studies differed in their specific intervention goals related to conditional requesting or rejecting skills. The methodological adequacy of the studies identified warrants improvement.

Conclusion: There is the need for future research on conditional communication intervention for individuals with developmental disabilities to refine and expand the existing evidence base.

Keywords:

• conditional requesting
• conditional rejecting
• developmental disabilities
• review