A Neurodiversity Affirming Values Inventory You Can Run Monday

This is a template you can print and fill in for a real client by Monday morning, built from two cases Brian Middleton walks through in the talk: Jessica, who likes My Little Pony, pizza, and spinning and hates being interrupted or being told to take a break, and Roberto, who likes flipping books and lining things up and hates loud noises and transitions. The inventory works because it treats likes and hates as the same kind of data, then nests small values inside bigger ones the way patriotism is a small piece of community, so you stop arguing about whether a learner has "real" values and start working with the ones already on the table.

What a Values Inventory Is (and Is Not)#

A values inventory is a one-page worksheet you fill in for one learner. It has five columns: likes, hates, perseverations, the value you think those point to, and one programming change you will make this week. It is not a card sort. It is not a list of 50 abstract words a kid points at. It is not a goal you write once and never touch.

Most "neurodiversity affirming values" pages give you a label list and stop. The label list is the easy part. The hard part is staring at a real kid's likes and hates and figuring out what value is sitting underneath. That is what this inventory is for.

A Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) working in home or clinic can run this in 20 minutes. You do not need the learner to sit at a table. You do not need them to talk. You can fill the columns from session notes, parent report, and your own observation.

Looking for values is an adventure. And this is going to help you right here. Because my goal is to show you all how to be values detectives. From the talk — Brian Middleton

Step One: The Likes Column (Be Specific, Not Polite)#

The likes column is where most inventories fall apart. People write "music" or "iPad." That is not specific enough to drive a programming decision. You need the exact song. You need the exact app. You need the exact body posture the kid uses when they are happy.

Use Brian's Jessica example as the bar. Jessica likes watching and scripting My Little Pony and Barbie. She likes pizza, fruit punch, swimming, and spinning. Those are six specific items. Each one is a clue.

When you write "spinning," do not write "movement." Spinning is its own thing. It tells you the learner wants vestibular input on their own terms. "Movement" is the umbrella you put over it in step four, not the entry in column one.

A rule of thumb: if the parent could read your entry and not picture what you mean, rewrite it. "Pizza" is fine. "Food" is not. "Pacing the back hallway after lunch" is fine. "Sensory breaks" is not.

Step Two: The Hates Column (and Why You Need It)#

This is the column most teams skip and the one that tells you the most. A hate is a value in the negative. When a kid hates puzzles, vegetables, being interrupted, being helped, unexpected changes, and being told to take a break, you are looking at the same value list as the likes column, just flipped.

Jessica's hates point straight at control, autonomy, predictability, and competence. She is not avoiding puzzles because puzzles are bad. She is avoiding being told what to do and how to do it. That is a different problem with a different fix.

Write the hates the same way you wrote the likes. Specific. Observable. Short. "Being told to take a break" is a hate. "Transitions" is too broad on its own, but it is fine if you also note what kind of transition (room to room, adult-led, mid-task).

Then sit with the list. Look at the likes next to the hates. The pattern almost always shows up before you reach the next column. Jessica's list screams autonomy and movement. Roberto's list screams order and visual input. You do not have to be clever. You have to be willing to look.

Step Three: The Perseveration Column#

This is where the neurodiversity affirming part of the inventory actually shows up. Most reinforcer surveys treat perseverations as something to fade. The inventory treats them as the loudest signal in the room.

A perseveration is a behavior the learner returns to over and over, often outside of any obvious reinforcer in the moment. Scripting My Little Pony. Lining up cars. Flipping the same page in the same book. Talking about the same special interest for the fifth conversation in a row.

Write each one down the way you wrote likes and hates. Be specific about the topic and the form. "Scripts the same three-minute scene from Episode 14" is better than "scripts cartoons." The form matters because it tells you what the kid is getting out of it.

A perseveration almost always points to a value the kid has not been allowed to name out loud yet. That is the move you make in step four.

So here's our friend Jessica. Jessica likes watching and scripting My Little Pony and Barbie. She also loves pizza, fruit punch, swimming and spinning. Jessica hates puzzles, vegetables, being interrupted, being helped, unexpected changes, and being told to take a break. What could her values be? Control. Autonomy. Inclusion. Consistency. Independence. Physical activity. Movement. Flow. Familiarity and organization. From the talk — Brian Middleton

Step Four: Name the Pattern (the Nesting Doll Move)#

This is the step that separates a values inventory from a list of preferences. You look at columns one, two, and three, and you name the bigger thing that fits all of them.

Brian calls this the nesting doll move. He uses patriotism as the example. Patriotism on its own is a narrow value and an easy one to dismiss. But patriotism is a small doll inside the bigger doll of community. Once you see it that way, the learner who keeps bringing up flags and the national anthem is telling you they want to be part of a group. That is something you can program around.

Do the same thing with Roberto. He likes flipping through books, dangling things, lining up objects, and cheese. He hates sitting still except with books, loud noises, being told no, transitions, and sharing. The narrow labels are "books" and "lining things up." The bigger doll is order and visual stimulation and predictability and autonomy. Now you have something to work with.

Two rules for this step. First, do not stop at the first label you write down. The first label is almost always too narrow. Second, the bigger doll has to fit both the likes and the hates. If your label only fits the likes, you have a reinforcer, not a value.

Patriotism is a sub-value of community. I was able to expand my repertoire, expand access to reinforcement. So now I can see patriotic interaction, and I can see it for what it is, which is trying to engage in a community. Just because it's not the exact same value doesn't mean there can't be parallel values. From the talk — Brian Middleton

Step Five: Translate to Programming Decisions#

This is the column most teams forget. If the inventory does not change what you do on Tuesday, it was a writing exercise.

Pick one change per value. Not five. One.

For Jessica, the value is autonomy. One change for the week: bake an opt-out into every demand. She gets to pick the order of the three tasks, or she gets a "not right now" card she can hand back twice per session. That is it. You run that one change for five days and look at the data.

For Roberto, the value is order. One change for the week: pre-show the visual schedule for the session, and let him line up the cards in the order he wants. Same idea. One change. Five days. Look at the data.

When the data moves, write a second change. When it does not, you got the value wrong or you got the change wrong. Go back to column four. Try a different nesting doll.

The other piece of this step is reading the hates column as a value statement. When a kid avoids a task, they are moving toward something on the other side. "Being told to take a break" is not just an avoidance. It is a move toward the activity they were already inside. That is the value. Program for that.

Safety, building on current preferences, allowing opt-outs across the board. Allowing for opt-outs. I'm going to put more energy into reflecting on what avoidance behaviors are moving toward. Because the moving away, also the other side is a toward. From the talk — Brian Middleton

A Printable One-Pager for Your Next Case#

Here is the worksheet, in the order you fill it out. Put the learner's name at the top. Date it. Run it again in 90 days.

1. Likes. Six to ten specific items. No umbrella words.
2. Hates. Six to ten specific items. Same rule.
3. Perseverations. Three to five. Note the topic and the form.
4. Values. Two to four. Use the nesting doll. The label has to fit both the likes and the hates.
5. Programming changes. One per value. One week to test. Data review on Friday.

That is the whole tool. It fits on a single sheet of paper. It does not need a software subscription. It does not need the learner to read or speak. A BCBA can run it from a parent interview and one session of direct observation.

If you want to see Brian work through Jessica and Roberto live, the talk above is where he walks the inventory in real time. The two cases are the ones that make the method stick.

Frequently asked questions#

Is a values inventory the same as a values card sort?

No. A card sort gives the learner a stack of pre-written value words and asks them to rank them. That works for an adult who reads and reflects. It does not work for most of the learners a BCBA sees. The inventory in this article starts from what the kid already does and infers the value from there. No reading required. No abstract sorting required. You can run it on a non-speaking five-year-old.

How is this different from a regular reinforcer survey?

A reinforcer survey gives you a list of things to use as rewards. A values inventory tells you what the kid is trying to get more of and what they are trying to get away from across their whole day, not just during work. That is why the hates column matters. A reinforcer survey would never ask what the kid hates. The values inventory treats hates as half the signal.

Can the parent fill out the inventory if the learner cannot?

Yes. The parent or caregiver is often the best source for columns one through three. Sit with them for 20 minutes. Walk through a typical morning, a typical afternoon, and the worst part of the week. Ask for specific items, not categories. The BCBA does the nesting doll step in column four, then brings it back to the parent for a gut check.

Watch the full talk#

Brian Middleton walks through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a behavior analytic framework, then runs the values inventory on Jessica, Roberto, and a third case from his own caseload. If you work with autistic learners and you have ever stared at a treatment plan that called something a "value" without explaining how anyone figured that out, this is the talk that fixes it.