A study of behavior modification for developmentally disabled children

A tape-slide series, using a desensitization and modeling approach, was developed in order to prepare three- and four-year-old developmentally disabled children for an initial dental examination. The tape-slide series pleasantly describes what to expect during the first visit to the dental office. A clown and a four-year-old girl were used as models. Twenty-eight children participated in the study, divided into two groups: control and experimental. A requirement for qualification as a patient was that the child not have had any previous dental experience. Three techniques for measuring behavior were used: heart rate, a modified Melamed's scale, and a dentist's subjective evaluation. The results demonstrated that: a) The experimental group was in a high state of arousal when starting the dental procedures; b) Children exposed to the tapeslide series showed worse behavior and a higher heart rate than children not exposed to the series; c) Heart rate was sensitive and objective in measuring anxiety and arousal in the dental setting; d) Modified Melamed's scale was not sensitive enough to measure microbehavior in this study; e) The subjective dentist's evaluation showed the impossibility of preventing a biased interpretation of behavior by the evaluator.