Research
Exploring questions, providing answers to transcend barriers
Children and adults with developmental disabilities require specialized treatment options and educational supports in order to realize their full potential. Consistent with its mission and vision, TERI engages in applied research designed to discover therapies and teaching techniques that will significantly enhance the life quality of these individuals and their families. As part of our blueprint for the future, we have partnered with local and international universities, researchers, and research hospitals to expand our reach and impact within the field.
Current Studies
The impact of FaceBook on the social connections of adults with profound disabilities: This study will examine both the process and the outcomes of initiating a FaceBook social media site on behalf of adults with profound disabilities. We will collect data on the role of staff, their training and support needs and the changes, if any in the social connections of the adults in the study.
The effects of a classwide behavioral support strategy on the maladaptive behaviour of adults with severe/profound disabilities. This study uses a control group and experimental group to examine the difference in decrease in maladaptive behaviour between individualized adaptive behaviour support plans (control group) and classwide behaviour strategies (experimental group) employed by instructors who have received researcher training and support.
These concurrent studies are designed to support our mission and vision of identifying support systems and techniques that will significantly improve the life quality of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families.
Past Studies
TERI has conducted research on sensory integrative techniques and their impact on maladaptive behavior in adults with significant disabilities. Our findings showed that positive, adaptive behaviors were improved as a result of ongoing involvement in structured, sensory based programs.
Finding and maintaining qualified staff is critical in the field of services to persons with developmental and learning disabilities. TERI designed and researched an immersion training program for staff who are new to the field of developmental disabilities. Our research revealed that this training program increased staff retention; reduced turnover in staff who had received the training; and resulted in high quality on the job staff performance ratings. TERI has shared the immersion curriculum and the research results at numerous conferences nationwide.
Children with severe autism often express their thoughts and feelings in ways that differ from the general population. TERI conducted research on happiness indices in children with autism in order to determine if certain behaviors, which appear to be negative and are often treated as socially inappropriate are, instead, indicators of positive subjective well-being. The study showed that, like most of us, children with autism laugh and smile when happy. Unlike the general population, however, children with autism also run, jump up and down, flap their hands, and show a significant increase in activity level when happy. This information is valuable for teachers and careproviders in assuring that these forms of nonverbal communication in children with autism are understood and reinforced, rather than redirected.
Many adults with developmental disabilities, particularly those who were institutitionalized as children in the 1960's and 70s, have lost contact with family members. Due to the significant nature of their disabilities, these adults are unable to share their life stories-their strengths, loves, fears, and history-with those who care for them. TERI researched the effectiveness of compiling and using adult life stories as a training tool to help connect paraprofessional staff with severe developmental disabilities. This study showed that using life stories as a training tool for building empathy between paraprofessionals and adults is an effective strategy. These results were presented at several state and regional conferences.
Parent, Teacher, and Institutional Perspectives on Transition to Adulthood for students (ages 16-22) with profound disabilities. In this study, we learned that parents focus on quality of life/happiness issues when preparing for adulthood while teachers are preparing students to enter the existing service system for adults. The institutional perspective is that all individuals should strive toward independence and employment. Parents and teachers disagreed with this, instead focusing on interdependence and personal happiness/quality of life for students with profound disabilities in adulthood.
Factors that impact decision-making of Direct Support Staff working with adults with profound disabilities. This study used both a survey (n=62 respondents) and video elicited interviews (n=15 participants) to determine what influences the decisions they make when providing direct support. Results revealed that staff rely primarily on their direct experiences with/perception of the individual when making decisions, and that decisions frequently fall within the theory of “satisficing”(people settle for the “reasonable” decision rather than the “best” decision, when faced with a choice). This study has implications for staff training and mentoring to assure that adults with profound disabilities are viewed from a capacity perspective rather than a deficit one.
