Beyond the Behavior Plan: Reinforcement & Rewards
Hi there! How are you? It’s so nice to see you here!
Welcome to our series here at Coffee Mugs & Clipboards called “Beyond the Behavior Plan”
This series is going to take us beyond what those documents often describe and really tell us what those supports, interventions and replacement behaviors mean. And as always “the why.”
Our discussion this week is going to introduce us to reinforcement and rewards, specifically, how do we use reinforcement and rewards, ways to get a really clear idea about what our learners are enjoying most at the moment, how to avoid over satiation, and more.
If you’re curious about how to identify reinforcers and rewards for your learners, you’ve come to the right place!
(I mean, would you really keep reading this blog post if you didn’t find the content reinforcing?!)
Mind blowing - right?!
What are Reinforcers and Rewards?
The word reinforcers and rewards are often used interchangeably. Are they really the same?
Reinforcers are the events (or stimuli) that create behavior change with either an increase (or decrease) in behavior. To link back to our past blog post on Consequences and Types of Reinforcement CLICK HERE.
Rewards are often given after a behavioral event (e.g. a race, a test, an achievement of sorts, etc.) but does not always create behavior change.
It’s an important distinction we need to make - we want to find something that supports the learner making behavior change, not just an item that is given following an achievement.
Now what?
Yes, the terms is often used interchangeably but now we know there’s a difference between a reinforcer and a reward. With that in mind, if we keep in the mindset of:
Is the reinforcer (event or stimuli) supporting behavior change for my learner?
We can then tease out if what we are using is supporting the greater purpose of making meaningful, functional behavior change.
Introduction to Preference Assessments
It can be challenging, sometimes, to figure out exactly what our learner is really enjoying or finds most motivating.
We can have an idea of their likes and dislikes, but to know if there is really something they truly enjoy THE MOST, it can be a guessing game unless you have a way to do that.
Enter the Preference Assessment.
A Preference Assessment is a systematic way to figure out a learner’s hierarchy of preferences, meaning, what they like THE MOST and what they like THE LEAST.
In the coming sections, we’ll discuss different forms of preference assessments and what they look like.
Free Operant
Free Operant Preference Assessments are observational where you watch the learner and see which ones they show interest in as well as how long they are engaged with that item.
If they engage with multiple items, you’d see which item they engage with the most and which item they engage with the least to see what their most and least preferred item(s) is.
Paired & Single Stimulus
Paired Stimulus Preference Assessments provide a learner with 2 items to choose from.
See which of the items the learner picks first and let the learner spends a minute or two engaging with that item. When the time is up, the item is removed and another two items are presented.
These pairs of items are done so strategically so each item is paired with every other item.
Important to Note: This is a great choice for a learner that can scan an array (visual field) of 2
Single Stimulus Preference Assessments provide a learner with 1 item at a time.
Watch how long your learner engages with the item within the minute or two provided.
When the time is up, the item is removed and another singular item is presented.
This preference assessment ends when each of the items are presented.
Important to Note: This is a great choice for a learner that cannot scan a large array.
Both of these types of preference assessments can also be time consuming as well because they require either dually presenting items or singularly presenting an item.
Multiple Stimulus
Multiple Stimulus Preference Assessments allows the learner to see many types of items in front of them.
Keep in mind, these types are great for a learner that can scan a larger array (visual field) beyond 2 items.
Multiple Stimulus With Replacement (MSW) Preference Assessments provide the learner with an array of 3 or more items for the learner to choose.
Once an item is chosen, they can engage with that item for a minute or two.
When time is up, the item is returned back with the other items and another trial begins.
This continues until each item was presented a minimum of 2 times.
Multiple Stimulus Without Replacement (MSWO) Preference Assessments provide the learner with an array of 3 or more items for the learner to choose.
Once an item is chosen, much like MSW they can engage with that item for a minute or two.
When the time is up, the item is removed from the array and another trial begins.
This continues until all of the items are gone.
Important to note:
-Items chosen most often, are those most preferred on the hierarchy.
-Items chosen the least, are those least preferred on the hierarchy.
-Learners being given these types of preference assessment need to be able to scan an array of 3 or more items.
How to Avoid Over Satiation
Have you ever REALLY wanted a bowl of ice cream, only to eat it and not want it any more?
Have you ever noticed that something your learner once loved, they aren’t really interested in any more?
When this happens, this means the learner has gotten their “fill” of the item and it no longer serves the purpose it once did before of providing reinforcement.
Over Satiation is a fancy way of saying that the learner has had repeated exposure and engagement with a particular item, activity or person and now no longer finds that items, activity or person to be as reinforcing as before.
To avoid this:
1) Simply rotate the top 3 (or 4 depending on the length of your hierarchy) items your learner enjoys most to keep that #1 item at the top of the list.
2) Conduct those preference assessments often (my rule of thumb is generally monthly) to make sure that what the learner is liking they still generally enjoy.
Because, I don’t know about you, but your preferences change sometimes, right?
Our learners do too.
How to Choose Reinforcers for Each Setting
I talked about this last week because what our learners have access to in different settings can vary.
This variance can cause our learners to have different preferences in different locations.
Don’t assume what they like in one setting they’re going to like in another.
How can we find this out?
Conducting another preference assessment (if possible) in each setting to see if indeed your learner DOES like the same thing or they don’t.
Once you have this information, create your preference hierarchy (e.g. 1-5) and rotate those top 3 items your learner enjoys to avoid over satiation and provide your learner with continuous reinforcement using appropriate items.
I would love to support you and your family in crafting collaborative, sustainable behavior and academic supports at home through a free 15-minute Coffee Break to find out just what your cup needs.
Be sure to follow us this week on Instagram @coffeemugsandclipboards as we bring this week’s information to life!
