Preference Assessment for Android

11 things about Preference Assessment

1. This app includes such features as descriptions of all of the types of preference assessments, a timer to determine the end of a trial, a timer to indicate how long each item is engaged with, the ability to assign a color to each item, the ability to customize each assessment type and specific instructions and visuals to help you set up and run the assessment.

2. This Preference (Reinforcer) Assessment app was designed by a BCBA (board certified behavior analyst) to make running a preference (reinforcer) assessment amazingly easy to do, so that anyone can effectively and scientifically determine their child’s or client’s preferences.

3. Additionally a study conducted with nine preschoolers with developmental disabilities found that systematic assessment identified more effective reinforcers than the teacher survey (Cote, Thompson, Hanley, & McKerchar 2007).

4. Specifically one study found a near zero correlation to what was chosen via a preference assessment and what was predicted by caregivers (Green, Reid, White, Halford, Brittain, & Gardner 1988).

5. Studies have shown that parents and caregivers opinions or beliefs of what a client/child prefers are often not as reliable as the results from a systematic preference assessment.

6. This app is based on the principles of a scientific preference assessment as described in the 1996 article published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis by DeLeon, I.

7. A preference, or reinforcer assessment is one of the key components of a BIP (behavior intervention plan) or FBA (functional behavior assessment).

8. Preferences, or suitability of different reinforcers often shift over time, so it’s imperative to continually perform preference assessments to make sure the stimuli you are using are still acting as effective reinforcers.

9. Once the assessment is finished the app will automatically calculate the percentage of times each item was selected in which it was available, and will present this info in an easy to read bar graph.

10. In summation, it was been repeatedly shown that the correlation between what parents/caregivers think is a reinforcer and what actually functions as a reinforcer is near zero for some individuals.

11. To effectively strengthen a target behavior a caregiver must know which items or activities will act as the strongest reinforcers.