An analysis of choice making in the assessment of young children with severe behavior problems

We examined how positive and negative reinforcement influenced time allocat ion, occurrence of problem behavior, and completion of parent instructions during a concurrent choice assessment with 2 preschool-aged children who di splayed severe problem behavior in their homes. The children were given a s eries of concurrent choice options that varied availability of parent atten tion, access to preferred toys, and presentation of parent instructions. Th e results showed that both children consistently allocated their time to ch oice areas that included parent attention when no instructions were present ed. When parent attention choice areas included the presentation of instruc tions, the children displayed differential patterns of behavior thar appear ed to be influenced by the presence or absence of preferred toys. The resul ts extended previous applications of reinforcer assessment procedures by an alyzing the relative influence of bath positive and negative reinforcement within a concurrent-operants paradigm.