Assessment
Assessment essentials
Assessment answers two questions: what is happening, and why. Indirect methods-interviews, questionnaires, rating scales-gather history and caregiver report quickly but are subjective. Direct methods-ABC narrative or checklist recording, scatterplots, and direct observation-link antecedents, behavior, and consequences as they occur. Functional analysis experimentally manipulates conditions (for example, attention, escape, access to tangibles, alone) to identify function; descriptive assessment suggests correlations but cannot prove cause. Preference assessments identify potential reinforcers: free operant (watch what the learner chooses), paired stimulus (two choices), multiple stimulus with replacement, and multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO). A preference is not automatically a reinforcer; reinforcer effectiveness must be demonstrated by behavior change. Baseline data establish comparison before intervention. Traps: calling an interview a functional analysis; confusing preference with reinforcer; ranking a stimulus as preferred when it was never selected; ignoring medical, sensory, or safety issues that need referral; and failing to obtain consent or assent. Also distinguish skill deficits from performance deficits. Worked example: An MSWO presents five items; the learner selects puzzle, then ball, then bubbles. The ranking is puzzle > ball > bubbles, but the team then tests puzzle versus ball as consequences and finds only puzzle increases responding. Puzzle is the reinforcer; ball remains a preferred item. Rule of thumb: assess first, then verify with data.