Assessment of the Preferences of Individuals with Special Needs

Education plays an extremely important role in reintegrating individuals with special needs to society. In order to ensure the effectiveness of education, it is necessary to decrease problem behaviors, to increase motivation and commitment and to identify reinforcers. It is necessary to identfy the needs of individuals with special needs in order for reinforcers to be successful therefore it is crucial to make observations or assess preferences in different environments. Literature states that observation method can be used to determine preferences. Observations that are done to identify preferences may involve the use of systematic preference assessments since observations are affected by the personal characteristics of observers, limited nature of stimuli during observations and time consuming nature of the activity. Preference assessments are systematic assessments that are used to determine preferences. This article discusses preference assessment, behaviors used by individuals with special needs to display preference, preference assessment types and important points in effective preferences assessment.