Esther Kim

SPED Practicum
Professional Development Reflection

Goal
When Esther is delivering one-on-one instruction to Students AD and J during pull-out sessions,
she will use results from preference assessments to reinforce positive behaviors to create an
effective learning environment for Student AD and J, for at least three sessions over the course
of the next eight weeks.
Activity
I will administer a preference assessment three times over the course of the next six to eight
weeks for Students AD and J to determine which items or activities are preferred. I will then
video record a pull-out session after each preference assessment as I use the results from the
assessment so that I can reflect on whether or not I was able to create a more effective learning
environment by using the preferred items/activities to reinforce the student. The video recording
will only be used and viewed by me for confidentiality reasons. I will then write a brief reflection
after each recorded pull-out session, which would be a total of three reflections.

Reflection
Over the past few months, I was able to administer three preference assessments for two
students: Student AD and Student J. Student AD is in first grade and Student J is in kindergarten.
After the first preference assessment, I mixed in new items with the old items for the next two
preference assessments. For the first preference assessment, which was administered over the
course of three days in mid-September, items included putty, a Minnie Mouse light up stick,
stickers, a rubber duck, a sensory flower item, and a snap bracelet. After three trials, I averaged
out the rankings of each item for both students. Student Ad chose the following items in the

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SPED Practicum
respective order: putty, sensory flower item, Minnie Mouse light up stick, snap bracelet, rubber
duck, and stickers. Student J chose the following items in the respective order: putty, stickers,
snap bracelet, Minnie Mouse light up stick, sensory flower item, and rubber duck. After the
preference assessment was complete, I then recorded the following instructional session for each
student.
For Student Ad, before she even got into the resource room, she requested to work for
Goldfish crackers and I said that she could work for the crackers. The other student was absent
this day, so we were working one on one and I had her attention for most of the session.
However, towards the end of the session, my cooperating teacher opened the door to the
functional life skills room. The student then slammed the door shut, opened it, and slammed it
again. After I opened the door, I then took out the putty and started playing with it. I was able to
regain her attention, and she immediately demanded for the putty. However, she then requested
for Goldfish. I hesitated and wasnt sure if Ad was asking for Goldfish because she was so used
to asking for that reinforcer. I said that she could, however, and after she earned her pennies, I
presented her with both the putty and the Goldfish. She decided on the crackers. I think that food
was more reinforcing for her than an item or an activity during that particular session. However,
for a few sessions after that, she did ask for the putty and enjoyed playing with it. She also
enjoyed it when I played with the putty and made funny noises with it. I think during that time
my attention was reinforcing for her as well.
For Student J, the putty was also ranked first out of all the items. During the following
session, Student J was given pictures of three choices, which included putty. He chose the putty
but then changed his mind by pointing to something else (snap bracelet) in the drawer after a few
seconds. So I pulled out the bracelet from the drawer and he was able to work for that item. After

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SPED Practicum
a next set of pennies, he decided on the putty again and worked for time with that reinforcer. The
session ran smoothly without any behaviors but I am not sure how the putty factored in the
session.
A few weeks later, I administered a preference assessment again, this time with a mix of
the older items and new items. The items were: putty, Minnie Mouse light up stick, flower
sensory item, tiara, paddle and a ball, and funny glasses. For Student J, I switched out the tiara
for stickers. Student Ad chose the following items in the respective order: tiara, ball and paddle,
putty, funny glasses, Minnie Mouse light up stick, and the flower sensory item. Student Js
ranked order was the ball and paddle, the funny glasses, putty, stickers, the flower sensory item,
and the Minnie Mouse light up stick.
During the next session for both students, I decided to only pull out their first ranked item
if they were exhibiting challenging behaviors. Student Ad was working with another student on
number recognition. Eventually, while I was working with the other student, Student Ad got out
of her seat and started crawling around on the floor. It was around that time that the other student
received all five of her pennies and I gave her the tiara while making a big show of it. Student
Ad came out from the floor and sat in her chair. I reminded her that she needed to work for five
pennies before she could have her turn with the tiara. She was then able to work but then started
saying, Working for Goldfish again. Once again, I presented her with both the tiara and the
crackers after her five pennies, but this time, she chose the tiara. After she put on the tiara, I
pulled out my phone and took a picture of her so that she could see what she looked like. She
enjoyed that and then went to my cooperating teacher to show her. After she came back to the
table, she took it off and then said, Working for Goldfish. So after that, we went back to
working for Goldfish but she did not exhibit challenging behaviors for the rest of the season. I

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SPED Practicum
think using a newer, ranked first item only when the behavior is really challenging is a strategy
that works. Also, Student Ad may have crawled around on the floor because I was working with
the other student and she wanted my attention. However, by giving the other student a tiara and
remarking how pretty she looks, I was able to show that I would give Student Ad attention when
she was doing her work.
Student Js first ranked item were the ball and paddle. By this time, I realized that Student
J would refuse to follow directions about midway into the session. During this particular session,
he stopped following directions half way even after I offered him a break or other items. Then I
started to pull out the ball and paddle and started playing with it. He started to reach for it, but I
pulled it back so that I could point to his penny board. He eventually started working but then
stopped again when I gave him a directive to fix his position in his chair. I was not able to give
him the item during this session. However, I did see that he was willing to start working again
after he saw the ball and paddle, even though it did not last long. By doing a preference
assessment, I was able to gauge what would peak his interest the most out of all the items I had
and be able to use that while he was exhibiting behaviors.
I administered a preference assessment for the last time with a mix of both old and new
items. The items were ball and paddle, funny glasses, tiara (for Student Ad), Monster bowling,
stickers, and play teacups. Student Ads ranked order was the play teacups, tiara, ball and paddle,
the funny glasses, Monster bowling, and stickers. Student Js ranked order was Monster bowling,
the play teacups, ball and paddle, funny glasses, and stickers.
During this session with Student Ad, I was working with her one on one because the
other student was absent. We were working on sequencing the letters of her name, and since we
were working one on one, the session ran smoothly. She did complain about three quarters of the

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SPED Practicum
way through and then I asked her if she wanted to play with the teacups and have a tea party with
me. She got excited and went back to her seat to sequence her letters. After the five pennies, we
had about three minutes left in the session, so I let her play with the tea set for the rest of the
session.
For my session with Student J, he exhibited several challenging behaviors including
refusal to work. I, then, took out the Monster bowling bag and started setting it up in the middle
of the classroom so that he could see. After telling him that we could play a game of bowling
after he finished reading his letter book, he started to read the book. After he finished, we played
a game of bowling.
For all three sessions, the preference assessment was useful because I knew what would
be more reinforcing for each student. I was able to use these reinforcers to manage behaviors,
and also to reward the students for finishing their work. By using these reinforcers, the sessions
went more smoothly and instructional time was maximized. This professional development goal
helped me to realize the importance of preference assessments and how I could practically apply
the results of the assessment during instructional time.