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Technology-Based Approaches for Promoting Ambulation

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Assistive Technology

Part of the book series: Autism and Child Psychopathology Series ((ACPS))

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Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of studies using technology-based approaches to promote ambulation in participants with intellectual disabilities and motor delays (i.e., children with Down syndrome) or with multiple disabilities (i.e., combinations of intellectual and neuromotor disabilities or of intellectual, neuromotor, and sensory disabilities). The most popular technology-based approach consists of the use of treadmills. A second technology-based approach combines the use of walker devices with microswitches. The microswitches allow the monitoring of the person’s stepping responses and the automatic delivery of brief periods of preferred stimulation contingent on those responses. A third technology-based approach, representing an early attempt to develop technological support for ambulation, consists of the use of a mobile robot. This chapter provides an overview of the different approaches by summarizing the studies using them, their procedural conditions, their differences in emphasis and aims, and their outcomes. This chapter also provides (a) a discussion of the results obtained with the different approaches and their implications in terms of applicability, practicality, and suitability of the approaches within education (rehabilitation) contexts and (b) a brief presentation of some relevant issues for future research in the area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

    Giulio E. Lancioni

  2. School of Educational Psychology & Pedagogy, Victoria University of Wellington, Karori Campus, Wellington, New Zealand

    Jeff Sigafoos

  3. Department of Special Education, University of Texas at Austin The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, Austin, TX, USA

    Mark F. O’Reilly

  4. American Health and Wellness Institute, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Nirbhay N. Singh

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  1. Giulio E. Lancioni
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  4. Nirbhay N. Singh
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Lancioni, G.E., Sigafoos, J., O’Reilly, M.F., Singh, N.N. (2013). Technology-Based Approaches for Promoting Ambulation. In: Assistive Technology. Autism and Child Psychopathology Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4229-5_6

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