Effects of Vestibular Stimulation on Sitting and Vocal Behaviors Among Preschoolers With Severe and Multiple Handicaps

Abstract

A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to assess The effect of vestibular stimulation on the acquisition of erect and symmetrical sitting and vocal behaviors of preschoolers with severe and multiple handicaps. The subjects were three children aged three to five with various handicapping conditions. Measurements of erect and symmetrical sitting were taken in separate 3-minute time samples following vestibular stimulation. Frequency of vocalizations was recorded throughout the spinning sequence and the two 3-minute measurement periods that followed. All three subjects made gains in both erect and symmetrical sitting as well as in speech vocalizations during the intervention phase. The two subjects with athetosis appeared to maintain these gains across a 4-month follow-up period while the subject with hypertonicity did not.