This study used a functional communication training procedure with delay to reinforcement to increase communication and decrease elopement of a 14-year-old boy with Dravet syndrome. The initial functional analysis showed that elopement was maintained by access to tangibles and avoidance of requests. The experimental design used was multiple probes across settings experimental design. The results indicated that the communication level increased, and elopement decreased during sessions conducted in the rehabilitation center and the home environment. Implications for practice are discussed. K E Y W O R D S communication, delay to reinforcement, Dravet syndrome, elopement, FCT 1 | INTRODUCTION Dravet syndrome (DS) is a rare form of infantile-onset epilepsy characterized by frequent, prolonged seizures accompanied by psychomotor and neurological impairments (Dravet, 2011). It affects between 1/20,000 and 1/40,000 of persons. Children with DS begin to show a psychomotor decline in the second year of life, which then arrests around 6 years resulting in a moderate or severe intellectual disability (Ceulemans, 2011). Most patients develop language planning difficulties, dysarthria, and expressive language deficits that cause significant communication difficulties. When growing up, adolescents with DS may have difficulties walking and need equipment to support mobility (Knupp et al., 2017). The syndrome also dramatically affects children's behavior (Sinoo et al., 2019), who nearly inevitably develop behavior problems. The most frequent behavior problems in children with DS are attention deficits, hyperactivity (Ragona et al., 2010), and autistic-like characteristics. Children are reported to be noncompliant with adult requests; they are restless and do not seem to be interested and participate in activities typical of their peers (Sinoo et al., 2019). Other behavior problems include opposition, irritability, and
Background: Social communication skills are critical for full participation in social activities in primary life contexts for adolescents and young adults with neurodevelopmental disorders.Method: Two young adults with Prader Willi syndrome participated in an online socialisation programme with elderly and adolescent conversational partners. We used a multiple baseline across conversational partners design for each participant to investigate the effects of textual prompts and constant time delay on the number of initiations and follow-up questions. We evaluated the social validity.Results: Both participants improved their social communication skills during online socialisation with partners. Participants with Prader Willi syndrome enjoyed participating in this study. Elderly conversational partners reported a slight decrease in loneliness following online socialisation.
Conclusion:The use of textual prompts and constant time delay may be helpful to promote opportunities for interaction among segments of the population potentially at risk of social isolation during online socialisation.
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