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39th Annual Convention; Minneapolis, MN; 2013

Event Details


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Symposium #24
An Examination of the Preferences of Children With Developmental Disabilities
Saturday, May 25, 2013
1:00 PM–2:20 PM
200 F-G (Convention Center)
Area: DDA/AUT; Domain: Applied Research
Chair: Matthew L. Johnson (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Discussant: Joel Eric Ringdahl (Southern Illinois University)
Abstract:

When teaching a child with developmental disabilities, it is imperative that effective reinforcers are identified. If effective reinforcers are not identified, the program will not be successful in changing the client's behavior. A procedure commonly used to identify potential reinforcers is a preference assessment. Preference assessments have also been used to identify preferred tasks and teaching methods in order to decrease non-compliance. This symposium will examine three different aspects of preference assessments. First, the efficacy of three different formats of the multiple stimulus without replacement procedure (MSWO) at identifying reinforcers for children with developmental disabilities will be examined. Second, children with autisms' preference for various prompting procedures will be examined in order to promote efficient and preferred teaching methods. Finally, children with developmental disabilities' preference for a frequent small reinforcer versus a larger infrequent reinforcer will be examined. All of these topics will contribute to the research on preference assessments in order to promote efficient and effective methods of teaching children with developmental disabilities.

Keyword(s): Disabilities, Preference, Prompting, Reinforcement
 

An Examination of the Extent Access to Stimuli During Pictorial Preference Assessments Determines Reinforcer Efficacy

ALLIE MARIE HENSEL (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Kyle Rowsey (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Mark R. Dixon (Southern Illinois University)
Abstract:

While preference assessments are effective at identifying potential reinforcers, they consume large amounts of time and resources. Multiple variations have been developed in order to save time and money when conducting assessments such as brief versions of the assessments, verbal assessments, and pictorial assessments. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of three different MSWO procedures at identifying reinforcers for four children with developmental disabilities. The procedures examined included a tangible MSWO procedure which provided access to the edibles (TA), a pictorial MSWO procedure which provided access to the edibles (PA), and a pictorial MSWO procedure which did not provide access to edibles (PWA). After hierarchies from all three assessments were identified, a reinforcer assessment was conducted to determine the efficacy of highly preferred stimuli. Data presented in Figure 1 indicate that all three assessments identified different edibles as highly, moderately, and less preferred. Further, the edible selected as highly preferred in the PA procedure was a more effective reinforcer than edibles selected in the TA and PWA procedures (Figure 2). The results of this study will determine whether a more efficient MSWO assessment will yield the same results as previously developed procedures.

 

Investigating the Preference for and Effectiveness of Simultaneous Prompting and Constant Prompt Delay Procedures

KEVIN P. KLATT (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire), Ashley Niebauer (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)
Abstract:

This study focuses on determining whether children diagnosed with autism demonstrate a consistent preference between two prompting procedures (simultaneous prompting or constant prompt delay) and whether either procedure results in higher skill acquisition for participants. Many young children with autism lack the ability to communicate to therapists; therefore, it is difficult for therapists to evaluate the types of teaching procedures the children may prefer. The findings of this study will shed light on how treatment components can be guided by clients despite their lack of ability to communicate. An alternating treatments design is used to evaluate effectiveness and efficiency of the two prompting procedures. A concurrent chains procedure is used to determine what the preferences for the two prompting procedures are for six participants ranging in age from three to nine years old. The terminal goal of the study is to discover the most preferred, efficient, and errorless prompting procedure.

 

Preference of Reinforcement Rate and Sub-optimal Decision Making

KYLE ROWSEY (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Allie Marie Hensel (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Mark R. Dixon (Southern Illinois University)
Abstract:

Research with pigeons has indicated that when given a choice between a discriminative stimulus and nondiscriminative stimulus, the pigeon will select the discriminative stimuli even when it results in less reinforcement. The current study sought to investigate whether individuals with and without developmental disabilities would engage in sub-optimal choices when given a choice between a discriminative and nondisciriminative stimulus. Participants were asked to choose between two buttons on a computer screen. Choices on the left button resulted in either a blue or green light. The blue light resulted in reinforcement 0% of the time and the green light resulted in reinforcement 100% of the time, however the green light only appeared for 20% of the times that the left button was selected (the left button resulted in reinforcement 20% of the time overall). Choices on the right button resulted in either a red or yellow light. Both the red and yellow light were reinforced on 50% of the occasions they came up and each occurred 50% of the time (the right button resulted in 50% reinforcement overall). Results indicate that people with disabilities do not regularly prefer the lesser reinforcement, instead selecting both sides at nearly the exact same frequency

 

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