보완대체 의사소통 사용을 위한 행동관찰 중재가 중도(重度)장애학생의 자기결정행동에 미치는 영향

Abstract

As interest in having a higher quality personal life has increased there has been an emphasis on the importance of self-determination, which affects the living quality of students with disabilities and their successful transition into being adults. Most students with disabilities have not had the opportunity for self-determination in their life and tend to depend on others at the moment they have to make a decision. In particular, students with severe disabilities have limited opportunity to express their preferences and make choices because of their low perceptive ability and limited communication skills. So when augmentative and alternative communication(AAC) systems are applied with them and they can express their feelings and needs, they can make more personal life decisions leading to a higher quality of life. For this purpose, this study attempted intervention with the use of AAC through action observation based on the fact that the mirror neuron system involves imitation and sympathy targeting students with severe disabilities. This study aims to look at the effects of action observation intervention for the use of AAC on the self-determination behavior of the subjects. The subjects of the study were three students with severe disabilities who require the support of AAC as they have difficulty in communicating using spoken language. The communication equipment for this study was a tablet PC with a touch screen, with which the vocabulary needed could be added or supplemented according to the conditions and situations of the users, and a voice tap program was used with which the subjects could search for the symbols they wanted through the Internet to expand the AAC symbol board. With the action observation intervention for the use of AAC, a multiple probe baseline design consisting of preparatory observation, a baseline analysis, intervention, generalization and maintenance were applied to all participants. In the action observation intervention, participants observe actions using visual effects on the actions of others or models on a screen, and repeatedly imitate the actions they observe. The intervention consists of self-awareness, self-control, selection, and self-advocacy as sub-skills of self-determination, and the subjects can observe the actions in a video and make their own decisions to questions from mediators. The results of the study are presented as follows: First, action observation intervention for the use of AAC was effective for promoting better self-determination behavior in the subjects. The self-determination behavior of all the subjects which did not appear in the baseline period increased as the intervention progressed. Second, action observation intervention for the use of AAC had different degrees of occurrence in the sub-skills of self-determination behavior. Self-awareness, self-control, selection, and self-advocacy differed slightly according to the subjects. Third, self-determination behavior which changed through the intervention was generalized to other subjects of communication. As the intervention progressed, self-determination behavior of others who did not participate in the study increased. Fourth, self-determination behavior was maintained at a high level after the intervention ended. Through the above results, it was discovered that the intervention enhanced the self-determination behavior of students with severe disabilities. This study has meaning in that it showed the possibility that action observation intervention for the use of ACC can enhance self-determination behavior in students with severe disabilities who have difficulty in expressing their own preferences and making choices.