DeLeon, I. G., Fisher, W. W., Catter, V. R., Maglieri, K., Herman, K., & Marhefka, J. (2001).
Examination of relative reinforcement effects of stimuli identified through pretreatment and daily brief preference assessments.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
34, 463-473.
Several brief preference assessments have recently been developed
to identify reinforcers for individuals with developmental
disabilities. One purported advantage of brief assessments is
that they can be administered frequently, thus accommodating
shifts in preference and presumably enhancing reinforcement
effects. In this study, we initially conducted lengthy
paired-choice preference assessments and identified a hierarchy
of preferred items for 5 individuals with developmental
disabilities. Subsequently, brief
multiple-stimulus-without-replacement assessments using the same
items were completed each day prior to work sessions. On days
when results of the daily brief assessment differed from the
one-time lengthy assessment, the relative reinforcing effects of
the top items from each assessment were compared in a
concurrent-schedule arrangement. The results revealed that when
the two assessments differed, participants generally allocated
more responses to the task associated with the daily top-ranked
item.
DESCRIPTORS: _developmental disabilities, preference assessment,
reinforcer assessment