重症例に対するスィッチ・ディバイスを用いた作業療法の効果(第2報)—スィッチ操作持続時間と操作回数の検討

The effect of occupational therapy using switch devices for mentally and physically handicapped subjects(the second report) : The duration and times of switch operation

要旨：作業療法においてスィッチ操作活動を実施している重症心身障害例14例に対して，そのスィッチ操作持続時間と操作回数を測定した．スィッチ操作に関する作業仮説として，段階Ⅰ：不可能，段階Ⅱ：反射的反応，段階Ⅲ：懐疑的反応，段階Ⅳ：因果関係理解の完成の4つの段階を仮定し，スイッチ操作持続時間と操作回数の測定結果をもとに対象児(者)の分類を行ったところ，ほぼこの段階にあてはまることが示された．このスィッチ操作段階は，重症心身障害例の認知的スキルの1つである因果関係理解の評価手段となりうることが示唆された．

　The duration and times of switch operations were measured involving fourteen severely mentally and physically handicapped subjects, who had performed the activities using switch devices. The operational hypothesis with regard to the development of using the switch devices consisted of four stages : stage 1, unable; the stage 2, reflexive response; stage 3, skeptical behavior; and stage 4, complete causal relevance established. The subjects were successfully able to be classified into these stages by the duration and the times of their switch operations. These results suggest that these stages of the switch operation are valuable for evaluating the development of causal relevance—that is, one of the cognitive skills—in severely mentally and physically handicapped subjects.