Emma Baugher

EDU 348

April 8th, 2018

Preference Assessment

Participant Background

The participant of this preference assessment was a three-year-old boy on the autism

spectrum. Alex is primarily Caucasian and lives in a typical household with his biological

parents. Alex was diagnosed with cancer as a baby and received radiation and chemotherapy

treatments. Following his cancer treatments, Alex began to display signs of autism in his ability

to socialize and communicate. His parents believe there may be some connection between Alex’s

cancer treatments and his development of autism, however, when Alex finished treatments, he

was at the age where autism symptoms typically begin to show.

Cognitively, Alex performs extremely well, however, it is the social and emotional skills

that Alex needs to more fully develop. Alex is verbal, but he typically repeats words and

statements said, rather than answering the questions directed to him. Also, Alex has difficulty

focusing on the task at hand and he does not socialize easily with his peers. The main goal Alex

is working towards is to interact with others in a give and take situation, where he should attempt

to share, communicate, and interact with his classmates. He is also working on focusing on daily

tasks and routines in the classroom, such as putting his jacket and book bag in his cubby in the

morning and sitting in his spot at the table. The results of this preference assessment could be

useful in reinforcing these target tasks and behaviors.

I conducted this assessment in Alex’s typical inclusive preschool classroom in the later

morning while Alex’s classmates were at art class. The materials used in this preference
assessment consisted of the following: a small, plastic egg-shaped doll, a rainbow colored slinky,

a Mr. Potato head with all his pieces, a black and white plastic horse, and a Mickey Mouse

stuffed animal. The teacher selected a variety of toys that Alex might typically play with and

some he does not usually choose. Alex does enjoy using the IPad to take pictures during his free

play time. However, I did not use the IPad for the preference assessment because Alex was using

it when I arrived at the classroom and the teacher was concerned that he would choose to use it

first every time. This being said, the IPad is already a reinforcer that the teacher uses with Alex,

therefore I did not use it in my preference assessment. Alex did very well during the assessment

and he enjoyed the skittles and goldfish I used as reinforcements.

Results

This preference assessment consisted of five sessions with five trials in each session. I

began session one by explaining to Alex that I was going to show him some toys and I wanted

him to choose one toy he wanted to play with the most. I presented the five toys by explaining

which each toy was and placing them on the table in front of him. In the first trial, after I placed

all of the toys on the table, I asked Alex which toy he wanted to play with and immediately he

chose the egg-shaped doll. This was the toy he chose most frequently throughout the five

sessions. I allowed him to play with the doll for a brief period while I recorded my results and

took the toys away from the table. Then, I asked Alex if I could have the toy back and he

returned it without any reluctance. I immediately rewarded him with a goldfish, but I noticed he

did not eat it, therefore I used skittles for the remainder of the trials. I continued the process by

again presenting the toys to Alex and asking him to choose which he would like to play with.

During the five sessions, Alex was fairly consistent in his pattern of which toys he chose

more frequently. The tables below explain that Alex chose the egg-shaped doll 83% of the time,
 which is drastically more than any other toy. He chose the slinky 42% of the time, which is

understandable because the teacher explained she recently added the slinky to her classroom

toys. Mr. Potato Head and Mickey Mouse were chosen about the same amount with Mr. Potato

Head selected 24% of the time and Mickey Mouse selected 22% of the time. Alex chose the

plastic horse the least amount of times during the sessions, selecting it only 12% of the time.

These calculations were found by dividing the number of times an item was selected by the

number of times an item was presented.

Session 1 Date: 04/06/2018

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 TOTAL

Mr. Potato Head N N N Y 4
A Slinky N Y - - 2
Mickey Mouse N N Y - 3
Plastic Horse N N N N 0
Egg shaped doll Y - - - 1

Session 2 Date: 04/06/2018

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 TOTAL

Mr. Potato Head N N Y - 3
A Slinky N Y - - 2
Mickey Mouse N N N Y 4
Plastic Horse N N N N 0
Egg shaped doll Y - - - 1

Session 3 Date: 04/06/2018

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 TOTAL
Mr. Potato Head N N N N 0
A Slinky N N N Y 4
Mickey Mouse N N Y - 3
Plastic Horse Y - - - 1
Egg shaped doll N Y - - 2

Session 4 Date: 04/06/2018

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 TOTAL
Mr. Potato Head N N Y - 3
A Slinky N Y - - 2
Mickey Mouse N N N N 0
Plastic Horse N N N Y 4
Egg shaped doll Y - - - 1

Session 5 Date: 04/06/2018

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 TOTAL
Mr. Potato Head N N Y - 3
A Slinky N Y - - 2
Mickey Mouse N N N Y 4
Plastic Horse N N N N 0
Egg shaped doll Y - - - 1

Hierarchy Item Chosen/Presented Percentage

#1 Egg shaped doll 5/6 83%
#2 A Slinky 5/12 42%
#3 Mr. Potato Head 4/17 24%
#4 Mickey Mouse 4/18 22%
#5 Plastic Horse 2/17 12%

These results can be used as a reinforcement hierarchy for the behaviors Alex is working to

improve and achieve. For example, the egg-shaped doll or the slinky should be used as

reinforcers if Alex interacts with other students in a give and take environment because this is the

goal he is working towards most intensively. Since the egg-shaped doll was the toy that was

chosen most frequently throughout the assessment, it should be used for the most difficult tasks

Alex must achieve. Similarly, the Mr. Potato Head and Mickey Mouse should be used to

reinforce the simpler tasks, such as putting away his belongings in the morning. This is still an

important goal that Alex is working towards, but it is not as difficult as the socialization goal,
therefore, lower reinforcers can be used. The plastic horse should be used for reinforcement for

the easiest goals or even not at all because it was only chosen twice when presented 17 times.

This is how these results apply to Alex’s behavior and reinforcement schedule.

Reflection

Throughout this experience, I was pleasantly surprised how well Alex interacted with me

and complied to my requests. The most challenging aspect of the process was removing the toys

each time and placing them back on the table. It had to be fast paced in order to keep his interest

and attention throughout the assessment. I did find several aspects of working with Alex

extremely interesting. One particular part of the assessment I found interesting was how patient

Alex was during the process and how he waited for my cues. For example, after the first session,

each time I presented the toys to Alex he waited to choose until I asked which toy he wanted to

play with. He knew that once I asked him he was allowed to choose a toy. Also, each time Alex

chose a toy, he also verbalized which toy he wanted by saying its name and he always seemed to

know instantly which toy he wanted that time. This was all interesting because it showed he was

focused and listening to what I was saying to him and that he knew how to respond correctly to

my cues. I thought this connected also to the cues of direct instruction. When I asked Alex which

toy he wanted it was similar to the cue of snapping a finger in the direct instruction approach

because he waited for me to ask him before he responded.

I think if I could change anything about this process, I would select more of a variety of

choices for the student. Following the assessment, while analyzing my results, I realized all of

my choices were some type of toy. Next time I would like to use different objects, such as

stickers, books, electronics, or candy. I think these are the types of reinforcements that are

typically applied in the classroom and would be helpful to incorporate in the preference
assessment. Throughout this process, I learned the main goal and purpose of a preference

assessment is to provide students with disabilities a means to express their requests in the

classroom. I also learned that preference assessments are extremely useful in creating a hierarchy

of reinforcements for students. Overall, this experience was informative, and I learned a great

deal about the importance of preference assessments, especially in the inclusive classroom.