Assistive Technology for Severe or Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities

This entry is aimed at providing an overview of technology products and related technology-aided programs developed for people with severe or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. The overview involves a brief presentation of a number of studies that were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of those products and programs in improving/enhancing the people’s condition. In particular, the overview provides a summary of studies that employed technology-aided programs for promoting functional use of (1) small/minimal responses (i.e., the only responses possible for the participants), (2) occupational responses, (3) ambulation responses, (4) relevant physical exercise responses, (5) combinations of responses or response variations, (6) adaptive responses serving as means to curb problem behavior, (7) choice responses, (8) communication requests, and (9) mobility and activity engagement. The summary provided for the single studies describes the characteristics of the participants, the technology available and how it was used during the intervention, and the results obtained. The presentation of the aforementioned technology-aided programs is followed by a brief discussion of their accessibility and their role over time.