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Examined three strategies for assessing compliance in students whose speech and language development were delayed. The effects of attention versus escape from instruction following compliance were examined through a descriptive assessment in the classroom, an out-of-class experimental analysis conducted by a consultant, and an in-class experimental analysis implemented by the teacher. (Author/BF)

This study compared two strategies for increasing accurate responding on a low-preference academic task by interspersing presentations of a preferred academic task. Five children attending a preschool program for children with delayed language development participated in this study. Preferred and nonpreferred tasks were identified through a multiple-stimulus, free-operant preference assessment. Contingent access to a preferred academic task was associated with improved response accuracy when compared to noncontingent access to that activity for 3 students. For 1 student, noncontingent access to the preferred activity led to improved response accuracy, and 1 student's analysis suggested the importance of procedural variety. The implications of these findings for use of preference assessments to devise instructional sequences that improve student responding are discussed.