Lauren Betar

EDU 348

December 3rd, 2019

Preference Assessment

Participant Background

The participant of this preference assessment was John, a four-year-old boy on the autism

spectrum. John is a Caucasian male who lives in a middle-class household with both of his

biological parents. He has one younger sibling who is two years old. This is John's first year in a

school setting. John has a limited vocabulary and struggles with socialization as well. Because of

these struggles, John was recently referred to special education. After his assessments, the school

psychologist determined that John has autism. After his diagnosis, John started receiving related

services (i.e., speech therapy, physical therapy) during the school day. John is pulled from the

general education classroom for about thirty minutes each day to receive one of these two

services. When John is in the general education room, he does not participate in whole-class

activities. The teacher's aid tries to get him to sit at the front of the classroom during whole-class

instruction, but this usually only lasted a few minutes before he walks to the back of the

classroom to play with toys. The teachers allow John to do this. Overall, John is disassociated

with his typically developing peers. Food is something that does a great job of motivating John

to sit at the carpet with peers during whole-class instruction, go to the restroom with the whole

class, and do any activities that the teacher asks of him. Because of this observation, I decided

that different types of food would be best suited to use during the preference assessment.

I conducted this assessment in John's typical inclusive preschool classroom in the

morning. The materials used in this preference assessment consisted of the following: Smarties,
Goldfish, Starbursts, pretzels, Skittles, and Swedish Fish. These items were selected because

they are all small and easy to chew and swallow. Another reason these items were picked is that

they would cause the least amount of distraction in the classroom. It is easier to give John a

skittle during class than it would be to give John a cupcake or a granola bar.

Results

This preference assessment consisted of five sessions with six or five trials in each

session. I began each session by explaining to John that I was going to show him different foods

and that he was to choose one that he wanted to eat. I laid out the six options for him on the table

in front of him. In the first trial, John chose the Starburst first. While John was eating the

Starburst, I recorded my results and rearranged the remaining five choices. I continued the

process over again until all of the choices were gone, or if John verbally told me "no" when I told

him, "choose one", in which case, the session was terminated and results were recorded.

During the five sessions, John chose a Smartie first four times. John chose a Smartie 83%

of the time; Smarties being his most preferred item. The tables below show this data. He chose

the Starburst 50% of the time. The Goldfish was chosen 33% of the time, Skittles were selected

26% of the time, and Swedish Fish 10% of the time. One item of the six that were chosen for this

preference assessment was not chosen in any of the sessions. Pretzels were John's least preferred

item, being chosen 0% of the time. In each trial, the pretzel was left on the table by John. In two

of five trials, John also left the Swedish Fish on the table. When asked to choose one, he told me

that he did not want the remaining item or items by exclaiming, "No!". I then said okay,

terminated that particular session, and set up the next session. Because of this, there were a

different amount of trials in each session. Sessions one, two, and five had six trials, including the
trial that the session was terminated during. Sessions three and four had five trials, including the

trial that the session was terminated during.

The charts that followed were created through the data that was collected during the

preference assessment. N stands for "no" while Y stands for "yes". When a Y is shown, this

indicates that during this specific trial, the student chose that item. After each Y, the dashes

indicate that this item was not replaced and that the item was not available for the student to

choose. The numerator of the total (i.e., 0 or 1) stands for whether or not the student chose this

item in the session. The denominator of the total stands for the number of times that the item was

presented for the student to be able to pick. For example, Goldfish in session one has a total of

1/3. This shows that the Goldfish was chosen in this session and that it was presented three times

to the student before the student eventually ate it. The charts that follow indicate the results of

John's preference assessment.

Session 1 Date: 11/13/2019

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 TOTAL

Smarties N Y - - - 1/2

Goldfish N N Y - - 1/3

Starburst Y - - - - 1/1

Pretzels N N N N N 0/6

Skittles N N N Y - 1/4

Swedish Fish N N N N Y 1/5

 Session 2 Date: 11/13/2019

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 TOTAL

Smarties Y - - - - 1/1

Goldfish N N N Y - 1/4

Starburst N Y - - - 1/2

Pretzels N N N N N 0/6

Skittles N N Y - - 1/3

Swedish Fish N N N N Y 1/5

Session 3 Date: 11/13/2019

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 TOTAL

Smarties Y - - - - 1/1

Goldfish N N Y - - 1/3

Starburst N Y - - - 1/2

Pretzels N N N N N 0/5

Skittles N N N Y - 1/4

Swedish Fish N N N N N 0/5

Session 4 Date: 11/13/2019

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 TOTAL

Smarties Y - - - - 1/1

Goldfish N Y - - - 1/2
 Starburst N N Y - - 1/3

Pretzels N N N N N 0/5

Skittles N N N Y - 1/4

Swedish Fish N N N N N 0/5

Session 5 Date: 11/13/2019

Item Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 TOTAL

Smarties Y - - - - 1/1

Goldfish N N Y - - 1/3

Starburst N Y - - - 1/2

Pretzels N N N N N 0/6

Skittles N N N Y - 1/4

Swedish Fish N N N N Y 1/5

Hierarchy Item Chosen/Presented Percentage

#1 Smarties 5/6 83%

#2 Starburst 5/10 50%

#3 Goldfish 5/15 33%

#4 Skittles 5/19 26%

 #5 Swedish fish 3/30 10%

#6 Pretzels 0/28 0%

These results can be used as a way in which to motivate and reinforce John. Smarties can

be used as positive reinforcement to reward behavior in the classroom such as sitting on the

carpet for a specific amount of time or following directions. Starburst could also be used to

reinforce these same behaviors. Because of the gap between the first and the third preferred item,

I would advise that the teacher not use Goldfish, Skittles, Swedish Fish, and especially not

pretzels, to reinforce student behavior. John clearly showed that while he prefers some of these

items over others, he does not enjoy them enough to be one of his first choices.

Reflection

This preference assessment was challenging because John is easily distracted. I initially

tried to take John out of the classroom to implement the preference assessment at one of the

desks in the hallway. After a few minutes of John roaming the hall and not wanting to sit down at

the desk, even upon seeing that there was food for him, I decided to take John back into the

general education classroom. This was challenging because John was distracted by the

misbehavior of another student. This other student was also a challenge because she wanted to

eat the candy that was supposed to be for John. I gave her some Goldfish crackers but this

distracted John. What was interesting was during this interaction with the other student, John

started playing with the Swedish Fish and Goldfish. He was pretending that they were toys and

began to stack the Starbursts. Once I redirected and had him put the candy back on the table, the

preference assessment continued. In the future, I would try to introduce a different setting for the

preference assessment. While the hallway did not work for John, maybe a different distraction-

free room would have been best to implement this preference assessment. I learned that this data
should be shared with all of the adults in the students' life (i.e., parents, general education

teachers, and related services providers). I also learned that this strategy is very important and

helpful in learning what type of food or object will motivate the specific child most effectively.
EDU 348 Preference Assessment Honor Pledge Statement:

The Preference Assessment Project is designed to assess and order meaningful reinforcers for
students with mild, moderate or severe disabilities. Franciscan University students are required
to administer a preference assessment to a student, preferably with a disability, and record
relative data. Students are to locate and arrange to work with a student of their choosing. If a
Franciscan University student is unable to identify a student to work with, they should notify the
instructor in a timely manner so that arrangements can be made. Students will administer the
preference assessment, record the data, analyze the data, and complete the assignment as outlined
in the handout and rubric.

Honor Pledge Statement:

As a student at Franciscan University within the Education Department, I worked with

the following student for the Preference Assessment Project in EDU 348.

Student Name (Actual): James

Permission Granted By: Mrs. Leasure, classroom teacher
Grade: Preschool
School Name: Pugliese West
Location of Assessment: Pugliese West, inside preschool classroom
Date of Assessment: November 13th

Under privacy laws, I understand that the above student information must be kept confidential.
Therefore, references to the student's name and school will be replaced in my Preference
Assessment paper. Further, referring to him/her by pseudonym ensures that I am respecting the
dignity of the student.

=====================================================================

I acknowledge and accept the EDU 348 Preference Assessment Project Honor Pledge and
witness that the
above

information is true and accurate.

Signature
Name (Print): Lauren Betar

Date: 12/3/19