Important recent advances in the cognitive neuroscience of language have been made using functional localizers to demarcate language-selective regions in individual brains. Although single-subject localizers offer insights that are unavailable in classic group analyses, they require additional scan time that imposes costs on investigators and participants. In particular, the unique practical challenges of scanning children and other special populations has led to less adoption of localizers for neuroimaging research with these theoretically and clinically important groups. Here, we examined how measurements of the spatial extent and functional response profiles of language regions are affected by the duration of an auditory language localizer. We compared how parametrically smaller amounts of data collected from one scanning session affected (i) consistency of group-level whole-brain parcellations, (ii) functional selectivity of subject-level activation in individually defined functional regions of interest (fROIs), (iii) sensitivity and specificity of subject-level whole-brain and fROI activation, and (iv) test-retest reliability of subject-level whole-brain and fROI activation. For many of these metrics, the localizer duration could be reduced by 50-75% while preserving the stability and reliability of both the spatial extent and functional response profiles of language areas. These results indicate that, for most measures relevant to cognitive neuroimaging studies, the brain\'s language network can be localized just as effectively with 3.5 min of scan time as it can with 12 min. Minimizing the time required to reliably localize the brain\'s language network allows more effective localizer use in situations where each minute of scan time is particularly precious.

Students with intellectual disabilities need more time and explicit instruction to develop word decoding. Most previous research on interventions among these students is performed in English. Therefore, the current study examined the impact of a word-decoding intervention in Swedish on individual students with intellectual disabilities. A single-subject-design study was conducted with five students with mild intellectual disability in the fourth grade. They needed to enhance decoding, and Swedish was their first language. Their word and non-word decoding was measured during the baseline and intervention phases. The intervention with the Wolff Intensive Program was delivered by special education teachers supporting phonemic decoding and reading fluency training during 25 sessions. All five students developed their decoding as they decoded more words in a given time (NAP=0.84-1.00) and decreased their decoding errors in both word and nonword decoding (NAP=0.72-1.00). The results are promising but need to be confirmed in additional studies.

Worldwide, children are increasingly being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The case of South Korea is not exceptional. One of the core symptoms of children with ASD is sensory reactivity issues, such as an unusual interest in the sensory aspects of the environment. One promising development in sensory enrichment for individuals with ASD is a multisensory environment (MSE).
This study investigated the influence of MSE on the target behaviors of children with ASD with different sensory characteristics in the case of South Korea.
A multiple treatment design {A-B-C-D (B + C) phases} was implemented to observe the six target behaviors of three children with ASD. The sensory environmental intervention focusing on visual and auditory stimuli was manipulated as a stimulating MSE or a relaxing MSE depending on the sensory profile of each participant. The analysis was undertaken using visual inspection with data patterns and graph slopes, which is a customary method of analyzing the single-subject design data. In addition, the means and standard deviations of the two target behaviors of each participant were analyzed together.
The findings reveal that MSE interventions positively affected the target behaviors of children with ASD with diverse sensory characteristics. The stimulating MSE created by the integration of visual and auditory stimuli was the most effective intervention for the participants with hypo-visual and hypo-auditory sensitivities in this study.
The MSE could be meaningful as a nonpharmaceutical therapy that could influence the daily behaviors of children with ASD.

UNASSIGNED: An increase in the range of motion at the knee and hip may support the recommendation of the men\'s landing style.Gymnasts appear to utilise individual landing strategies to complete the landing objective, supporting the use of a single-subject design.

In a signal detection theory (SDT) approach to associative learning, one assumes that, when a subject is exposed to a flow of stimuli, an association is created between the internal representations of a cue and of an outcome, allowing the representation of the cue to activate the representation of the outcome. The outcome activation is a random variable drawn from a Gaussian distribution with mean m (sensitivity to the contingency) and standard deviation d (variability in outcome activation). Depending on whether the outcome activation is above or below various decision thresholds, the participant perceives either a negative, a null, or a positive contingency between the cue and the outcome. This study presents a detailed SDT analysis of the performance of four participants on whom data in a contingency assessment task were collected almost daily during several months. Parameters from the SDT model proved relatively stable over time, except if feedback was provided to the subject. In that case, for some participants but not all, the sensitivity increased. The decision criteria were also affected. Some of these changes endured despite the discontinuation of feedback. The variability in outcome activation was not affected by the feedback.

Musculoskeletal fitness is important for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) to maintain cardiovascular fitness, functional independence, and work task performance, and to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and other disabilities. However, adults with ID typically have significantly lower musculoskeletal fitness compared with their peers without a disability. Appropriate instructional strategies are needed to facilitate their acquisition and maintenance of musculoskeletal fitness. In this study, three adults with moderate ID, aged 19-20 years, were selected to evaluate the effects of a multi-component treatment package that included a video-enhanced system of least-to-most prompts (LMP) on their acquisition of two muscle-strengthening machine exercises. Results from a multiple-baseline-across-participants single-subject design show substantive gains in correct and independent performance of steps in the two exercises during the treatment condition. The improved performance in both exercises was maintained one week and two weeks after the last treatment session and appeared to have extended to a large fitness room. The study suggests that use of the video-enhanced system of LMP as an additional or alternate type of instruction can lead to improved acquisition and maintenance of muscle-strengthening exercises by young adults with moderate ID.

Two-way contingency tables arise in many fields, such as in medical studies, where the relation between two discrete random variables or responses is to be assessed. We propose to analyze and visualize a sample of 2 × 2 tables in the context of single-subject repeated measurements design by means of compositional data (CoDa) methods. First, we propose to visualize the tables in a quaternary diagram. Second, we show how to represent these tables by means of logratios indicating the relationship between the two variables as well as their strength and direction of dependency. Finally, we describe a technique to model those tables with a simplicial regression model. Data from a real-world study of self-prediction of migraine attack onset is used to illustrate this methodology. For each individual, the 2 × 2 table of their migraine expectation vs next day migraine occurrence is computed, generating a sample of tables. Then we visualize and interpret the prediction ability of individuals both in the simplex and in terms of logratios of components. Finally, we model the self-prediction ability with respect to demographic variables, days tracked and disease characteristics. Our application demonstrates that CoDa can be a useful tool for visualizing, modeling, and interpreting the components of 2 × 2 tables.

Improvements in the quantification and visual analysis of data, plotted across non-standardized graphs, are possible with the equations introduced in this paper. Equation 1 (an expression of graphic scale variability) forms part of the foundation for Equation 2 (an expansion on the traditional calculation of the tangent inverse of a line\'s algebraic slope). These equations provide clarification regarding aspects of \"slope\" and graphic scaling that have previously confused mathematicians. The apparent lack of correspondence between geometric slope (the angle of inclination) and algebraic slope (the m in y = mx + b) on \"non-homogeneous\" graphs (graphs where the scale values/distances on the y-axis are not the same as on the x-axis) is identified and directly resolved. This is important because nearly all behavior analytic graphs are \"non-homogeneous\" and problems with consistent visual inspection of such graphs have yet to be fully resolved. This paper shows how the precise geometric slope for any trend line on any non-homogeneous graph can quickly be determined-potentially improving the quantification and visual analysis of treatment effects in terms of the amount/magnitude of change in slope/variability. The equations herein may also be used to mathematically control for variability inherent in a graph\'s idiosyncratic construction, and thus facilitate valid comparison of data plotted on various non-standard graphs constructed with very different axes scales-both within and across single case design research studies. The implications for future research and the potential for improving effect size measures and meta-analyses in single-subject research are discussed.

Adults with intellectual disability have significantly lower musculoskeletal fitness than their peers without a disability. Appropriate instructional strategies are needed to facilitate their acquisition and maintenance of musculoskeletal fitness. In this multiple-baseline across-participants single-subject study, the authors evaluated the effects of a multicomponent package that included a video-enhanced system of least-to-most prompts on the acquisition of 5 muscle-strengthening exercises in 3 women with mild intellectual disability, age 24-37 yr. Results show substantive gains in correct and independent performance of steps in the 5 exercises during the treatment condition. The improved performance was maintained 2 wk after the last treatment session and in a large YMCA gym. The study suggests that use of the video-enhanced system of least-to-most prompts can lead to improved acquisition and maintenance of muscle-strengthening exercises by adults with mild intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: Modifying intensity is one approach to tailoring intervention to meet the needs of learners with developmental disabilities. This study examined the effects of varying intensity levels of a behaviour analytic intervention on the efficiency of acquisition and task persistence in young children with Down syndrome.
METHODS: Using adapted alternating treatment designs, three children were taught expressive language targets when three aspects of the dose of intervention intensity varied: number of opportunities, spacing of opportunities and session duration.
RESULTS: Children acquired targets faster in conditions in which the spacing of opportunities was shorter than conditions in which the spacing was longer. Two children showed greater expression of positive affect in moderate levels of intensity. Children showed idiosyncratic differences in off-task behaviour.
CONCLUSIONS: This research suggests that pacing of opportunities may be an important for understanding acquisition outcomes in a behaviour analytic approach to intervention for communication among young children with Down syndrome.