1. Free Operant Preference Assessment: FO
Christina R. Weldy
St. Cloud State University

2. About the FO assessment
Developed by Roane et al. (1998)
Duration-based assessment
Amount of time spent engaged with each item
Useful for assessing tangible items and activities
5-minute assessment
Plus time allotted for sampling the stimuli prior to the assessment
The free operant preference assessment was developed by Roane et al. in Research has shown that the free operant preference assessment is a valid method for identifying items that our clients most prefer. It may be most useful for identifying preferred tangible items or activities. The free operant assessment is a duration-based assessment meaning we gather data based on the amount of time the client engages with each item included in the assessment. In this assessment you will first allow your client to individually sample the target items for approximately 30 seconds each, then you will set a timer for 5 minutes and record every ten seconds which item your client is manipulating. The following slides include video clips and instructions for each step you will be asked to perform when conducting the free operant assessment. After you view each step, you will watch a complete example of a therapist conducting this assessment.