A short step guide on How to choose Reinforcers and how to use them correctly.

“How to Choose Reinforcers”

We all remember that special teacher at school, probably because they gave away the best items, and made us feel pretty good! Children in mainstream classrooms are often rewarded for their good behaviour with common consequences like stickers, certificates, and of course general praise from the teacher.

Many children with autism however, are not reinforced by the same items as their typically developing peers. It is important though in order to strengthen behaviour that reinforcers are identified for children with autism, and then used to help them learn new skills and as a tool in reducing and managing challenging behaviour. 

So… how can you do this?

One way of identifying potential reinforcers is by exposing different potentially ‘fun’ items to your child in order to see which are interesting for your child.  In behavioural analytical terms, we call this a preference assessment. 

There are various types of preference assessments but in my opinion, the easiest to conduct is the paired choice preference assessment.  This is something that can be conducted daily, or even multiple times per day to determine which item in that moment is the most reinforcing to the child. 

 

How to conduct a paired choice preference assessment:

Step 1:

Find a variety of items that you think your child might find interesting or exciting.  This may include known preferred items, or new ones.

Step 2:

Assign each item to a letter on the data sheet (see attached).

Step 3:

Present the first two items outlined on the data sheet, in the order designated. E.g. If you have assigned A to ball and B to teddy and on the data sheet it states to present B on the left and A on the right, you should present the teddy on the left nod ball on the right.  You may accompany these presentations with excited noises and the names of the items.  The child is then allowed to reach for an item- he/she may then access that item for a very short period of time, before removing it and presenting the next two suggested items on the data sheet.

Step 4:

Make sure you record which item was selected by circling the letter. 

Step 5:

At the end of session calculate the number of times each item was selected.

Step 6:

List the items from most preferred to least preferred, creating a hierarchy of preferred items.

 

It is important to note that reinforcers change moment to moment, just because the child shows a high preference for a spin toy one day, it does not mean that toy will be as preferred the next day.  I liken this to my preference for treats, one day I might really want a nice big slab of dairy milk, but the next day I've had my fill of that and I’d much rather prefer a bag of Haribo!

 

What does this mean for you?

• Conduct these preference assessments often
• Do not assume that what was reinforcing one day, will be reinforcing the next

Use these reinforcers to help strengthen behaviours - Blog article coming soon on ‘strengthening behaviour!’