ABA Preference

5
Where to Buy

ABA Preference App Review

App Info

Price: $1.99 In-App Purchases

Overview

ABA Preference provides an organized and reliable system for discovering rewards and reinforcers that are preferred by students or clients with disabilities. It does not require language skills, and only minimal motor control, and can be used with nearly any individual.

Features include:

  • Easy, accurate assessment of preferences
  • Provides percentage scores to compare reinforcers’ value
  • Easily create and share reports
  • Use your own pictures
  • Intuitive interface

Quality

ABA Preferences is a high-quality app that will provide reliable and accurate information about a student’s or client’s preferences. The interface is intuitive and works quickly and well. The app accesses pictures on your device as stimuli, so everything can easily be individualized. Record, save, and share information for multiple clients.

Education

Special education professionals know that many individuals learn best when they use a tangible reward system. This is particularly true with lower functioning clients and those with autism. However, language and cognitive impairments can make it difficult to figure out what items have value to the clients. ABA Preferences solves this problem by presenting pictures of possible reinforcers and having the client choose which they prefer. It’s activated with a simple touch, and no language skills at all are necessary. On the other hand, if a student or client does not have motor skills to voluntarily touch the screen, the teacher can ask which they prefer and touch for them.

The app presents pairs of pictures from the master group, and compares the number of times the pictures are chosen to calculate a percentage of value from the given group. For example, if the master group contains pictures of a dog, a campfire, flowers, and a rocketship, these pictures are presented in pairs and the client indicates which is preferable or which they are most interested in. The app returns a percentage that indicates how interested the client is in each picture. In the above example, the client preferred dogs 100% of the time and campfire 85% of the time. This information would be useful in planning the client’s educational program, because the teacher could know that the client has a strong preference for dogs as opposed to rocket ships. Real dogs, toy dogs, pictures of dogs, or even dog stickers might be useful to reward success at learning tasks.

Entertainment

This app isn’t really intended to be entertaining, but clients are likely to enjoy choosing pictures they find most interesting, given that the teacher put in valuable pictures in the first place. Most people like to exercise control over their lives, and this app could be perceived as a way to show that kind of control.

Value

This app costs $0.99 in the App Store and includes credits to do five preference assessments. Additional credits can be purchased at a cost of one for ninety-nine cents, ten for six dollars and ninety-nine cents, or a premium package of unlimited credits for nine dollars and ninety-nine cents monthly. It would be easy to find out if the app will fulfill a need in your program, but the per credit cost for assessments seems a little higher than many will want to pay, particularly if they are parents working with a single child or a classroom teacher working with a small number of children. I wish there was a time-based model that would be appropriate for use in families or small programs where a small number of credits could be added after a few months to accommodate parents and teachers who would like to keep current on their student’s or child’s preferences but who do not want to spend a lot of money. It might also be effective to charge more for the app and allow unlimited use.

Child Friendliness

This app is not intended for use by children.

  • Tutorial area
  • NO social media
  • NO 3rd party ads
  • YES in app purchase
ABA Preference
ABA Preference
ABA Preferences is a great tool to help teachers, parents, caregivers, and others who work with special needs individuals to understand their students’ and clients’ preferences. This information can be very useful in designing effective learning and behavior management interventions.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
5
Where to Buy