Effects of Four Therapy Procedures on Communication in People with Profound Intellectual Disabilities

✍ Scribed by William R. Lindsay; Esther Black; Sarah Broxholme; Deborah Pitcaithly; Nicola Hornsby

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 109 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1360-2322
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1468-3148.2001.00059.x

✦ Synopsis

A number of alternative therapies have recently been employed with people who have intellectual disabilities (IDs). The present study examines the effects of four frequently used therapies on the communication of people with profound ID. Communication was assessed using five measures of positive communication and five measures of negative communication. The therapies assessed were Snoezelen, active therapy, relaxation and aromatherapy/hand massage. There were eight participants in the present study and each received all four of the therapeutic procedures in a counterbalanced design. Treatment procedures were videotaped at sessions 5, 10, 15 and 20, and later scored for defined measures of communication. Both Snoezelen and relaxation increased the level of positive communication and had some effect on decreasing negative communication. However, active therapy and aromatherapy/hand massage had little or no effect on communication. The lack of a no‐treatment control is noted, especially in the light of trends seen at baseline. Considering the lack of generalization of therapeutic effects, the present results should be treated with caution.