Evaluation of a brief stimulus preference assessment

We evaluated the utility of a brief (5-min) stimulus preference assessment for individuals with developmental disabilities. Participants had noncontin gent (free) access to an array of stimuli and could interact with any of th e stimuli at any time. Stimuli were never withdrawn or withheld from the pa rticipants during a 5-min session. In Experiment 1, the brief preference as sessment was conducted for 10 participants to identify differentially prefe rred stimuli, and reinforcer assessments were conducted to test the reinfor cing efficacy of those stimuli identified as highly preferred. In Experimen t 2, a comparison was conducted between the brief preference assessment and a commonly used paired-stimulus preference assessment. Collectively, resul ts demonstrated that the brief preference assessment identified stimuli tha t functioned as reinforcers for a simple operant response, identified prefe rred stimuli that were differentially effective as reinforcers compared to nonpreferred stimuli, was associated with fewer problem behaviors, and requ ired less time to complete than a commonly used paired-stimulus preference assessment.