Assistive Technology for the Very Young

Basic technology, exemplified by switches, is key to creating responsive environments for infants with developmental disabilities because it creates contingencies between action and outcome. Such contingencies are the basis of many forms of early learning and can be used to facilitate cognitive, emotional, and motivational change. A review of the effects of contingency experience on development and data from a model intervention program provide both group and case study evidence demonstrating how basic technology can be used to (1) teach children that the environment is responsive and controllable, and (2) promote positive attentional, emotional, and motivational consequences as early as the first year of life. To produce maximum benefits, basic technology must be used to design a learning environment that affords consistent, yet systematically varied contingency experiences.