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Choice and Preference Assessments

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Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis for Children with Autism

Part of the book series: Autism and Child Psychopathology Series ((ACPS))

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Abstract

The provision of choice opportunities and the assessment of and integration of clients’ preferences are professional obligations of behavior analysts working with children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Stimulus preference assessments that use empirically derived choice arrangements can determine relative preference among different stimuli, and preference rankings have been shown to have good predictive validity on the reinforcing efficacy of these stimuli. This chapter reviews choice and preference assessment procedures to use when self-reporting is either unreliable or impossible due to limited verbal abilities. The research supporting these procedures and practical step-by-step directions on their implementation are provided. In addition, variables that can affect assessment outcomes and considerations when implementing preference assessments for individual clients are reviewed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pace et al. (1985) assessed 16 stimuli. The example here is simplified and uses only six items.

  2. 2.

    Fisher et al. (1992) assessed 16 stimuli. The example here is simplified and uses only six items.

  3. 3.

    DeLeon and Iwata (1996) assessed 7 stimuli. The example here uses only six items to be consistent with earlier examples of other assessment formats.

  4. 4.

    Roane et al. (1998) assessed 10–11 stimuli. The example here uses only six items to be consistent with earlier examples of other assessment formats.

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Correspondence to Cammarie Johnson .

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Johnson, C. (2023). Choice and Preference Assessments. In: Matson, J.L. (eds) Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis for Children with Autism. Autism and Child Psychopathology Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27587-6_7

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