Increasing Social Interactions in Deaf-Blind Severely Handicapped Young Adults

The effectiveness of prompting and positive reinforcement for increasing on-task behavior and social interactions in two deaf-blind severely handicapped young adults was examined. Treatment was conducted in a leisure setting in which subjects participated in games requiring social interchange. On-task behavior was initially targeted and treatment efficacy evaluated with a withdrawal design. After demonstration of experimental control, treatment was then implemented with social interactions in a multiple baseline design. Results showed increased percentages of on-task social interactions for both subjects with introduction of treatment. In addition, rates of non-targeted self-stimulatory responses were observed to decrease concurrently with treatment for target behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of behavioral strategies with deaf-blind persons and the importance of improved social performance in these individuals.