Running Head: PREFERENCE ASSESSMENT 1

Preference Assessment

Carly McDonald

Franciscan University

EDU 348
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A preference assessment is given to students to find out what an appropriate reinforcer

would be for them. A reinforcer is a change in consequence that increases the future frequency,

intensity, or duration of a response and is is a component of many commonly used

evidence-based interventions for building appropriate alternative behaviors (King, 2014, p. 531).

Once the best reinforcer for the student has been identified, the teacher can use it to lead them to

improve academic and behavioral performance (Weaver, 2017, p. 6).

There are many different types of preference assessments, but two of the most popular

ones are Multiple Stimulus with Replacement (MSW) and Multiple Stimulus without

Replacement (MSWO). In the MSW, after the student selects an item it is replaced for the next

trial so the students always have the same options. However, in the MSWO, after a student

selected an item it is set aside until the rest of the items have been selected. The MSW is more

focused on choosing a single item whereas the MSWO is more focused on selecting a hierarchy

of the items. In this specific preference assessment, the MSWO technique is conducted.

Participant

The participant of this assessment is a ten year old, Filipino female. She is homeschooled

every day by her mother. She is technically in fifth grade, but does all of her work except for

math at the sixth grade level. She lives with a mother, father, and seven siblings. She is very shy,

but polite around strangers and is at a normal level of communication. The female does not have

any behavioral difficulties or diagnoses.

Setting

The assessment was given in the home of the participant at around 6PM on a Friday. Her

mother, father, two sisters, and one brother were present for the assessment. The assessment was
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given on the floor of the living room with a small coffee table between the assessor and the

participant. The assessor was facing the fireplace and the participant was facing the kitchen.

They were sitting near the window that looks out to the driveway and street in front of the house.

Materials

In this preference assessment, the items used were a can of silly string, a pack of

Starbursts, a Twix, a notepad, and a few pencils (tied together as one item). The items were

selected by choosing things that are similar but different. There are two types of candy to see if

the child prefers candy over material items. In case it is true that the child prefers candy, the kind

of candy varied so as to see which of those she prefers. There were also three material items. The

notepad and pencils were both Halloween themed since it was close to Halloween time when the

assessment was conducted. Silly string was also selected because most children like to play with

it. During the assessment, the items were placed on the table in front of the child and shielded by

a notebook when they were moved around between trials.

Procedures

The assessment began with the assessor asking the participant to sit down facing the

assessor. The assessor asked the child a couple questions to get to know her. Then the assessor

explained how they were going to do the assessment together and why they were doing. She

talked about how it was for a class in college and what it was teaching her. Then they began the

assessment with the assessor laying out all five objects on the coffee table in front of the child.

The assessor asked her to pick one and then set it aside. The assessor made note of what the child

selected. After the child chose an item, the assessor held the notebook in front of the items so the

participant could not see them and changed the order of the objects displayed. The assessor asked
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the child to pick another one and set it aside again. This was repeated until all of the objects were

selected. After all of the objects were selected, the assessor reset the assessment and did four

more trials.

Whenever the child was distracted or off-task, the assessor redirected her attention to the

assessment and asked her to continue selecting the items. However, this only happened one time

throughout the entire session because the child was extremely focused on what was in front of

her.

Results

After completing this preference assessment, it is clear that using candy as a reinforcer

would be the best for this child. She chose candy first for four out of the five trials. Specifically,

chocolate candy would be a good reinforcer since she chose the Twix for three out of the four

trials where she chose candy first. The participant chose the pencils last every single time so it is

clear that pencils should not be used a reinforcer for her. Below are the results of each trial. “Y”

indicates that the participant chose that option first for the trial and “N” indicates that she did not

choose it first.

Trial 1

1 2 3 4 5

Silly String N N N Y -

Starburst N N Y - -

Twix Y - - - -

Pencils N N N N Y

Notepad N Y - - -
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Trial 2

1 2 3 4 5

Silly String N N Y - -

Starburst Y - - - -

Twix N Y - - -

Pencils N N N N Y

Notepad N N N Y -

Trial 3

1 2 3 4 5

Silly String N N N Y -

Starburst N N Y - -

Twix N Y - - -

Pencils N N N N Y

Notepad Y - - - -

Trial 4

1 2 3 4 5

Silly String N Y - - -

Starburst N N Y - -

Twix Y - - - -

Pencils N N N N Y

Notepad N N N Y -
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Trial 5

1 2 3 4 5

Silly String N N Y - -

Starburst N Y - - -

Twix Y - - - -

Pencils N N N N Y

Notepad N N N Y -

There were multiple distractions during this assessment that could have impacted the

results. During the majority of the assessment, the mother was talking to the assessor and making

comments to the participant about the order in which she chose the items. For example, “How

funny, you chose that one second last time too.” Comments similar to this could affect how the

participant went on to select the items. Another thing that distracted the child is that she

answered the phone in the middle of one trial. She heard the phone ring, got up, went into the

kitchen, and answered it. This phone call could have taken her mind off of the assessment.

After completing the assessment and considering the data, the hierarchy of the

participant’s choices are Twix, Starburst, silly string, notepad, and pencils.

Discussion

After completing the preference assessment, the data and results should be taken and put

into use. Educators should use the data to lead students to improve academic and behavioral

performance. The results of the preference assessment can impact future intervention because

when the teachers use the prefered reinforcement, they are more likely to get the desired results.
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Teachers do not always need to use the child’s first preference. The value of a preference

assessment is determined by its ability not only to minimize problem behavior but also determine

a preference hierarchy (Tung, 2017, p. 50). This hierarchy can greatly help the teacher change

the behavior. For example, if the student is working on a big behavioral change, the teacher can

begin by using the child’s second preference until it does not work anymore then switch to the

first. This will keep the child motivated. The different reinforcers can also be used in levels in

the form of shaping. For example, if a student performs a behavior that is close to the target

behavior but not exactly where the teacher wants him or her to be, the teacher can use the

second preference. When the child finally reaches the desired behavior in full, then the teacher

can use the first preference.

A new preference assessment should be given when the reinforcements no longer work.

After a certain amount of time, the reinforcements will most likely stop working for the student.

Once this happens, it would be effective to perform a new assessment with different items so the

educator can continue reinforcing the student’s behavior effectively.

If I were to do this assessment again, I would try to conduct it in a more private area with

less distractions. I think this would help the students to be more focused and actually think about

which of the item they prefer most. Another thing I would change is my reinforcement options.

They were a little too similar with the two candy bars and the notepad and pencils. I think it

would be more effective if I chose materials that were more different from each other. This way

the results would be better. I think the selections were skewed also because of the Halloween

themed items because those exact things perhaps would not have been as effective at a different

time of the year.

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References

King, S. A. & Kostewicz, D. E. (2014). Choice-based stimulus preference assessment for

children with or at-risk for emotional disturbance in educational settings. ​Education and

​ etrieved from ​http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/

Treatment of Children, 37. R

Tung, S. B. (2017). The effects of preference assessment type on problem behavior. ​Journal of

Applied Behavior Analysis, 4. ​Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/

Weaver, A. D. (2017), Using multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessments to

​ etrieved from
increase student engagement and performance. ​Beyond Behavior, 26. R

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