2024 Volume 61 Issue 4 Pages 203-212
Teachers should identify the preferred stimuli of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in order to support them by utilizing their preferred stimuli as reinforcers. Teachers in charge of Japanese elementary and junior high level special-needs schools for children with intellectual disabilities and teachers of special-needs classes for children with intellectual disabilities, autism, and emotional disabilities (N=173) completed a questionnaire that asked how the teachers identified the students’ preferences and their frequency of doing so, how the teachers used the identified preferences, and what type of stimuli they used. The results indicated that many teachers identified children’s preferences through behavioral observations and interviews, and approximately half of them identified their students’ preferences at least once a day. These results suggest that although the teachers included preferences in their teaching materials and assignments, only a few of them used the students’ preferences as reinforcers. Moreover, the teachers who used stimuli as reinforcers most often used praise and attention; fewer teachers used physical contact or toys. One of the reasons that the teachers gave for not identifying the children’s preferences was that they lacked the competence to do that. The discussion examined why only a few teachers used their students’ preferred stimuli as reinforcers and pointed out the need for systematic teacher training in preference assessment.
