Using Mini-Reinforcer Assessment Teachers of students with severe disabilities often find it difficult to determine effective reinforcers for motivating and reinforcing student participation in instructional activities. The term mini-reinforcer assessment refers to a strategy that is often useful in developing a collection of possible sensory reinforcers to motivate students with severe developmental disabilities to participate in classroom activities. This simple strategy can help teachers to more systematically engage students and reinforce their appropriate behaviors. Basically, the mini-reinforcer assessment consists of observing your students to determine what sensory stimulation the student most prefers so that materials with those properties can be used to reinforce student behavior. For example, John enjoys rocking back and forth during instructional activities. During free time, he prefers to swing or rock in the rocking chair. One may conclude that the vestibular stimulation he gains from these behaviors is a positive reinforcer for him. Using the mini-reinforcer model, a pool of objects and activities that involve vestibular stimulation could be gathered for John and used to reinforce his on-task behavior. The mini-reinforcer assessment strategy emphasizes the sensory stimulation that is produced by a certain behavior or object instead of on the specific object or activity itself. Once the preferred sensory stimulation is determined, a list of 10 to 20 objects that represent that sensory input can be developed. Once the list is developed, materials are gathered and organized into three containers: one for general storage, another to hold the students’ selections for that day and a third to hold the materials not selected. After the materials are gathered and sorted, the mini-reinforcer assessment should be conducted daily. When it is not possible to put an actual object into the container, a photograph representing the activity can be substituted. The procedure usually takes about 5 minutes and involves four steps:
The container with the objects chosen by the student are placed near his/her work area and offered at appropriate times to reinforce the desired behavior. To avoid satiation or boredom with the objects over time, limit the amount of time the student has access to them to 3 to 5 seconds, never present the same item twice in a row, and only use the items during instructional times. The following list are some examples of materials that can be used for different sensory stimulation preferences:
The above activities are offered as suggestions to facilitate implementation of the mini-reinforcer assessment strategy. This is an excellent opportunity to develop important, potent reinforcers to positively shape the behavior of our students with severe disabilities. For more information, see the following resources: Mason, S.A., McGee, G.G., Farmer-Dougan, V., & Risley, T.R. (1989). A practical strategy for ongoing reinforcer assessment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 22, 171-179. Wacker, D.P., Berg, W.K., Wiggins, B., Muldoon, M., & Cavanaugh, J. (1985). Evaluation of reinforcer preferences for profoundly handicapped students. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18, 173-178.
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