Persons with Alzheimer's disease engage in leisure and mild physical activity with the support of technology-aided programs.

Three studies were conducted to assess technology-aided programs to promote leisure engagement and mild physical activity in persons with Alzheimer's disease. Specifically, Study I assessed a program aimed at enabling three patients with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease to choose among different music options and activate the preferred ones. Studies II and III were directed at patients in the low moderate or severe stages of the Alzheimer's disease who were no longer capable of ambulating and spent their time generally inactive, sitting in their wheelchairs.

Extending technology-aided leisure and communication programs to persons with spinal cord injury and post-coma multiple disabilities.

Purpose: These two studies extended technology-aided programs to promote leisure and communication opportunities to a man with cervical spinal cord injury and a post-coma man with multiple disabilities.

Method: The studies involved the use of ABAB designs, in which A and B represented baseline and intervention phases, respectively. The programs focused on enabling the participants to activate songs, videos, requests, text messages, and telephone calls.

Persons with multiple disabilities use forehead and smile responses to access or choose among technology-aided stimulation events.

A variety of technology-aided programs have been developed to help persons with congenital or acquired multiple disabilities access preferred stimuli or choose among stimulus options. The application of those programs may pose problems when the participants have very limited behavior repertoires and are unable to use conventional responses and microswitches. The present two studies assessed non-conventional response-microswitch solutions for three of those participants.

Assessing the impact and social perception of self-regulated music stimulation with patients with Alzheimer's disease.

We assessed the impact and social rating of an active and a passive music condition implemented with six patients with Alzheimer's disease. In the active condition, the patients used a simple hand response and a microswitch to self-regulate music stimulation inputs. In the passive condition, music stimulation was automatically presented throughout the sessions.

Adapting a computer-assisted program to help a post-coma man with extensive multiple disabilities choose stimulus events.

Objective: To adapt an existing computer-assisted program to help a post-coma man with extensive multiple disabilities choose between stimulus events.

Method: An adapted version of the program assessed in this study presented the man with 7-second samples of preferred and non-preferred stimuli, without questions, and allowed him to choose any of them through a vocalization response. The man's use of this response to choose a stimulus sample led the computer to present the matching stimulus for 20 seconds.

A special messaging technology for two persons with acquired brain injury and multiple disabilities.

Objective: To enable two persons with acquired brain injury and multiple (e.g. motor and visual) disabilities to communicate with distant partners through a special messaging technology, which served to send out text messages and read (listen to) incoming messages.

Persons with multiple disabilities use orientation technology to find room entrances during indoor traveling.

These two studies assessed adapted orientation technology for promoting correct direction and room identification during indoor traveling by persons with multiple (e.g., sensory, motor and intellectual/adaptive) disabilities.

Microswitch- and VOCA-assisted programs for two post-coma persons with minimally conscious state and pervasive motor disabilities.

Intervention programs, based on learning principles and assistive technology, were assessed in two studies with two post-coma men with minimally conscious state and pervasive motor disabilities. Study I assessed a program that included (a) an optic microswitch, activated via double blinking, which allowed a man direct access to brief music intervals, and (b) a voice output communication aid (VOCA) with two channels, activated via different hand-closure movements, which allowed the man to call his mother and a research assistant who provided stimulation events. Study II assessed a program that included (a) a pressure microswitch, activated via head movements, which allowed a man direct access to video-clips and music, and (b) a VOCA device, activated via prolonged eyelid closure, which allowed the man to call the caregiver (i.