Assessing Choice Making of a Person with Profound Disabilities: A Preliminary Analysis

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The purpose of this study was to examine two issues in choice-making research through a case study assessing the leisure-activity preferences of a woman with profound mental retardation in a residential setting. The issues include (a) providing the participant with the option of expressing “no” for given choice options and (b) analyzing environmental variables that might control choice-making behavior. The investigation consisted of two experiments; single-subject designs were used in each. The results of the two experiments suggested that (a) the participant could express distinct musical preference when given choice-making opportunities; (b) adding as a choice option a notebook that signaled the termination of a session allowed the participant to express a preference for ending the session when only less preferred options were presented; and (c) preference patterns varied with the activity partner and/or the locale. Results are discussed in terms of choice making and autonomy leading to an improved quality of life.