The development of a reinforcer choice assessment scale for persons with severe and profound mental retardation

Reinforcement is a cornerstone for treating adaptive skills and eliminating problem behaviors for persons evincing mental retardation. To effectively use reinforcement, professionals must find reinforcers that are most effect ive for each individual. Establishing reinforcers is particularly important for persons functioning in the severe and profound ranges of mental retard ation as reinforcers are often difficult to identify in this population, Th e current study aimed at developing a reinforcer rating scale that-would ha ve applicability on a broad clinical basis, looking specifically at the psy chometric properties of the scale. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.