Reinforcer Testing for Minimally Verbal Children with Autism

A clinical challenge that can arise with minimally verbal autistic children is limited interests that result from few reinforcers. Interventions designed to condition stimuli as reinforcers require a valid procedure to evaluate their effectiveness. The current study evaluated commonly utilized reinforcer assessment procedures with four minimally verbal participants diagnosed with autism. Several modifications were required to produce valid assessment results for these participants (i.e., contingency teaching and careful evaluation of arbitrary responses). Results indicate that without modification, commonly used reinforcer testing procedures may not produce valid results with minimally verbal autistic children. Recommendations are provided for consideration by clinicians who use reinforcer testing with this population.