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Updated: May 18, 2026

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting
Published on: June 6, 2020
Challenges of developing communicative interaction in individuals with congenital profound intellectual and multiple
Stefanie Blain-Moraes1, Tom Chau
1Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5841, USA. sblain@umich.edu
Background:
Physiological responses have been used in individuals with acquired disability to enable communicative interaction without motor movement. This study explored four autonomic nervous system (ANS) signals-electrodermal activity, skin temperature, cardiac patterns and respiratory patterns-to enable interaction with individuals born with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD).
Method:
A series of case studies were conducted to teach a 15-year-old individual with PIMD to voluntarily control his ANS signals for the purposes of communicative interaction. Training was carried out according to an alternating treatment single-subject research design.
Results:
Training was unsuccessful; however, ANS signal patterns revealed issues unique to people with PIMD: profound intrasubject variability, discrepancy between physiological responses and caregiver perspectives, and the participant's lack of contingency awareness.
Conclusions:
These three priority areas unique to people with congenital PIMD must be addressed before ANS signals can be used to enable communicative interaction with this population.
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