The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of excitatory and inhibitory multisensory stimulation for reducing instances of stereotypic behavior (STB) in a severely multiply disabled population. Thirty-six subjects were randomly assigned to three groups (excitatory stimulation, inhibitory stimulation, and control groups), and the two experimental groups received a treatment intervention for 30 days. The multisensory stimulation consisted of vestibular, tactile, auditory, and visual input designed to be either excitatory or inhibitory. S TB was measured before, after, and 2 monthsafterthe intervention period. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANO VA) indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between tests, but not between groups. Propositions are set forth and examinedfor factors that could have influenced the results.

No abstract

We tried long‐term recordings of skin conductance (SC) in 12 severely handicapped persons by using an ambulatory recording device. The profiles of SC trends in patients were of quite different natures to that of normal subjects. We could not find regular sleep‐wake rhythms in nine out of 12 cases. One patient was kept awake from midnight until the next evening, indicating the reversed sleep‐wake rhythm. Another continuous 86 h recording showed irregular lengths of sleep that varied from 5 to 17 h. There were two cases whose sleep‐wake rhythms were unrecognizable because the SC profiles were almost flat. However, one of these patients had relatively rich vocal reactions and facial expressions, suggesting the discrepancies between the arousal estimation by SC and those by the observation of staff.