Siblings of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Their knowledge and perspectives on guardianship and its alternatives.

BACKGROUND: Siblings of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often support their brothers and sisters through caregiving and guardianship. METHODS: In this qualitative study, the knowledge and views of 10 adult siblings were explored. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: The tripartite impact of limited knowledge of guardianship and alternatives, the viewpoint of full guardianship as necessary and the desired/anticipated roles of siblings combined to create the Sibling Reciprocal Effect (SRE). The present authors define SRE as the phenomenon of siblings to recognize the applicability of complementary forms of guardianship for other adults with IDD, but fail to see the advantage of available decision-making alternatives with their own brothers/sisters. Instead, siblings defer to full guardianship as the preferred mechanism for decision making. Implications for practitioners include informing families of the full range of options for supporting persons with IDD in decision making. Future research suggestions include examining the elements of the SRE and siblings' knowledge regarding guardianship and the alternatives.

Using Pictures Depicting App Icons to Conduct an MSWO Preference Assessment on a Tablet Device.

Identifying preferred content on tablet devices may be important when using such devices in programming. This study included six adults with disabilities and examined using laminated picture cards depicting application (app) icons to conduct multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessments of iPad content. Following identification of preference hierarchies, we conducted reinforcer assessments to validate preference assessment results by demonstrating that selected apps functioned as reinforcers. We identified preference hierarchies for all participants, and the highest preferred app functioned as a reinforcer for a vocational task in five out of six participants' reinforcer assessments.