Evaluation of Concurrent Operant Preference Assessment For Identification of Social Consequences in Adolescents: Daily Living Skills in a Residential Setting

Abstract

There are a growing number of youth in residential care who are dually diagnosed with a mental health disorder and developmental delay. By using function-based interventions, individuals' problem behaviors may be addressed without requiring a higher level of care. An alternative strategy to a functional analysis is to use a concurrent operant preference assessment (COA) to determine the individual's preferred consequences and allow appropriate interventions to be developed based on the preferred consequence and potential function of the challenging behavior for the individual. The clinical utility of a COA procedure to increase latency to compliance with daily living skills with youth dually diagnosed in a residential setting was evaluated using a multiple baseline across subjects design. Results showed that the use of potential reinforcers determined by the COA increased compliance with daily living skills with all 5 participants. Additionally, these skills were maintained at a 2 week probe.