NeuroRehabilitation 37 (2015) 393–403 DOI:10.3233/NRE-151269 IOS Press 393 Assistive technology to help persons in a minimally conscious state develop responding and stimulation control: Performance assessment and social rating Giulio E. Lancioni a,* , Nirbhay N. Singh b , Mark F. O’Reilly c , Jeff Sigafoos d , Fiora D’Amico e , Francesca Buonocunto f , Jorge Navarro f , Crocifissa Lanzilotti f , Piero Fiore a , Marisa Megna a and Sabino Damiani a a University of Bari, Bari, Italy b Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA c University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA d Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand e Lega F. D’Oro Research Center, Osimo, Italy f S. Raffaele Rehabilitation Center, Ceglie Messapica, Italy Abstract. BACKGROUND: Post-coma persons in a minimally conscious state (MCS) and with extensive motor impairment and lack of speech tend to be passive and isolated. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (a) further assess a technology-aided approach for fostering MCS participants’ responding and stimulation control and (b) carry out a social validation check about the approach. METHODS: Eight MCS participants were exposed to the aforementioned approach according to an ABAB design. The technology included optic, pressure or touch microswitches to monitor eyelid, hand or finger responses and a computer system that allowed those responses to produce brief periods of positive stimulation during the B (intervention) phases of the study. Eighty-four university psychology students and 42 care and health professionals were involved in the social validation check. RESULTS: The MCS participants showed clear increases in their response frequencies, thus producing increases in their levels of environmental stimulation input, during the B phases of the study. The students and care and health professionals involved in the social validation check rated the technology-aided approach more positively than a control condition in which stimulation was automatically presented to the participants. CONCLUSIONS: A technology-aided approach to foster responding and stimulation control in MCS persons may be effective and socially desirable. Keywords: Assistive technology, minimally conscious state, stimulation control, social validation * Address for correspondence: G.E. Lancioni, Department of Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari, Corso Italia 23, 70121 Bari, Italy. Tel.: +39 0805717864; E-mail: giulio.lancioni@ uniba.it. 1. Introduction Post-coma persons in a minimally conscious state (MCS) and with pervasive motor impairment and lack of speech tend to be passive and isolated and, consequently, may experience a severe reduction in 1053-8135/15/$35.00 © 2015 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved