Hannah Walker

EDU 348

27 November 2018

Preference Assessment

Participant Background

The student that was chosen to participate in this preference assessment, Leonard, is a

second-grade student with severe autism. Leonard attends Pugliese West Elementary and excels

in reading in math. He has troubles with acting out in class if audible sounds are too loud or if

students walk in his way. The teacher in the classroom decided that Leonard would be the best fit

for the preference assessment because she has been looking into reinforcements for him but had

never done a preference assessment before. The assessment was given at West right in the

hallway. It was done so during the math block so there were very few people walking the halls to

distract him.

After asking the parents and the teachers, a list of objects was gathered that were in

Leonard’s interest. When talking to Leonard’s teacher, it was clear that he enjoyed video games,

walks, candy, cereal, and stuffed animals. These were intriguing interests that he had picked, but

it was known that these were important to him. Leonard was always talking about video games

in his classes so it was decided that using the class iPad, he could get five minutes of time if

needed. Another hobby of Leonard’s is taking walks. Whenever he goes to the bathroom, he is

gone for a long time and normally found walking around the interior of the school. I thought that

it would be good to give him the opportunity to be able to take a walk when he needs

reinforcement. It would be important to make sure that he does not go for long walks when he

goes to the bathroom because that would defeat the entire purpose of the reinforcement. Another
idea that was thought of was to reinforce Leonard with candy. He always comes into class at the

beginning of the day with a lot of food. His teacher said that his lunch consisted primarily of

healthy foods that he ate, but did not enjoy eating. With the permission of his parents, candy,

specifically, tootsie rolls, was a good idea for a reinforcement. With the idea of food in mind, he

also expressed his interest in cereal. He would come in the morning with a cereal bar so the

teacher thought that maybe reinforcing him with pieces of cereal would be a good idea. The last

idea, stuffed animals, was given to us by Leonard’s parents. They said that he loves playing with

stuffed animals at home so using one as a reinforcement could potentially work very well.

Results

This preference assessment consisted of five sessions with five trails in each. I started out

at the school by conversing with the classroom teacher and deciding when the best time would be

for me to administer the assessment. She explained that the best time to work with Leonard was

during the hour math block. She said that Leonard was very gifted in math and that it would not

be hard for him to catch up. After that conversation with the teacher, I started out the assessment

by inviting Leonard into the hall to help me with a “big boy job.” I made sure that the other

students in the classroom were not listening so that it would not start a mixture of commotion.

Once we got out of the classroom and into the hallway, we sat down at a table and I brought out

the items. I explained to Leonard that I wanted him to pick something that would be “fun” for

him to do/play with. Leonard would choose an item and since the assessment was done “without

replacement,” I took that specific item away after he chose it. The two of us went through five

different sessions doing the same thing with the same five items. The following sessions are

based on what he chose.

Session 1 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Total

Video Game N Y - - 2
 Walk N N Y - 3
Candy Y - - - 1
Cereal N N N N 5
Stuffed N N N Y 4
Animal

Session 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Total

Video Game N N N N 5
Walk N N N Y 4
Candy Y - - - 1
Cereal N N Y - 3
Stuffed N Y - - 2
Animal

Session 3 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Total

Video Game N N N N 5
Walk N N Y - 3
Candy Y - - - 1
Cereal N N N Y 4
Stuffed N Y - - 2
Animal

Session 4 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Total

Video Game N N N Y 4
Walk N N Y - 3
Candy Y - - - 1
Cereal N Y - - 2
Stuffed N N N N 5
Animal

Session 5 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Total

Video Game N N N N 5
Walk N N N Y 4
Candy Y - - - 1

Cereal N N Y - 3
 Stuffed N Y - - 2
Animal

Hierarchy Item Chosen/Presented Percentage

1 Candy 5/5 100%
2 Stuffed Animal 4/14 29%
3 Walk 5/17 29%
4 Cereal 4/16 25%
5 Video Game 2/18 11%

The “Y” in the trials mean that Leonard picked that item in the specific order listen in the

“total” column. The “N” means that the specific item listed was not chosen in that specific trial.

The number in the “total” column represent the order in which the item was chosen. The last

table represents the hierarchical data of all the items. As seen above, candy was always chosen

first. It was presented five times, and out of those five times, it was chosen every time which

gave it a one hundred percent chosen rate. It is evident that video games, which were thought to

be the most reinforcing item, were the least reinforcing. Out of the eighteen times they were

presented, they were only chosen twice, giving them an eleven percent chosen rate. This data

shows what reinforcers Leonard would benefit most from.

Reflection

Never before had I heard of a preference assessment before taking this course. Learning

about different reinforcements was interesting and definitely something that I will carry with me

in my future classroom. Conducting a preference assessment on a student with disabilities was

very exciting because I got to know a lot about that student and what they found motivating and

exciting. Reflecting on my experience working with the student, I can say that there were

definitely aspects that were challenging and that I would change, but also I grew and learned

things that will be beneficial to my future as an educator.

 I found it challenging the fact that Leonard was not as cooperative as expected. It was not

prudent of me to go into this experience thinking that everything would go smoothly and without

any bumps. Leonard did not feel like doing the assessment when I was working with him,

causing him to be noncompliant and stubborn. Eventually, he came around after he realized that

he was not getting out of it and that he had no other choice but to do the assessment. It could

have been the location of where he took the assessment that threw him off. I administered the

assessment in the place where his teacher told me to in the hallway but after some time, I got the

impression that he goes here to do independent work a lot of the time. If I could do this

assessment in the future, I would definitely pick a spot where there were limited distractions and

a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. I learned that all students are different and that conducting

an assessment like this takes time and patience. Learning how to do this assessment will benefit

my future teaching career tremendously and will help me to learn the individuality of all my

future students and what they benefit most from.