Values Assessment for Autistic Clients: A BCBA's Plain Guide

A values assessment for autistic clients is the dead-man test pointed at what someone cares about, the same move that turned a kid named Fred's iPad-throwing into a safety thermometer he could actually use, and the same logic that explains why a reinforcer survey alone left you doom-scrolling at 1 a.m. with stimulus masking running the show.

If you have been a BCBA for more than a year, you already have most of the skills you need. The trick is pointing them at a different question. A preference assessment asks "what does this client like." A values assessment asks "what does this client want their life to be about." Same toolbox. Different question. That is the whole shift.

What a Values Assessment Actually Is (the 30-Second Version)#

A value is something a person can move toward, over and over, across settings, on a Tuesday and on a Saturday. It is not the same as a goal. A goal has an end. A value does not. "Get my driver's license" is a goal. "Be independent" is a value. You can keep working on independence for the rest of your life.

It is also not avoidance. "I don't want to be lonely" is not a value. "I want to be close to people I trust" is. The flip from away-from to toward-something is what separates a value from a fear.

And here is the line most pages get wrong. Values must pass the dead man test. If a dead person can do it, it is not a value. "Being quiet" fails. "Being respectful" fails too, unless you can name what respectful behavior looks like in action. "Caring for animals" passes, because a dead person cannot feed a dog or scratch a cat's ear. This is the same dead man test you learned in your first behavior class. You already know how to run it. You just have not been pointing it at values.

Values vs Preferences vs Reinforcers: Same Toolbox, Different Question#

This is the question every BCBA actually wants answered when they search this topic. So let's not pretend.

How is the difference from reinforcement survey, this different from reinforcer survey and preference assessment? Great question. It kind of isn't. We have the technology. We've had this for a very long time. Preference assessment should include sensory preferences. Values. Preference assessments should include values and reinforcers. From the talk — Brian Middleton

So here is the clean way to hold the three apart.

A reinforcer is anything that, when it follows a behavior, makes that behavior happen more. Cookies. Tickles. Praise. Access to the iPad. Reinforcers are about what works in the moment.

A preference is what the client picks when given a choice. Goldfish over pretzels. Blue marker over red. Preferences tell you what to put in the room. They do not tell you why.

A value is the why behind the picks. A kid who keeps choosing animal stuffies, animal books, and animal toys probably has caring for animals on the value list. A teen who keeps choosing music, makes playlists, hums in session, and asks for the speaker probably has self-expression on the value list. The preference assessment gave you the data. The values assessment names the pattern.

You do not need a new form. You need a new column on the form you already use.

The Dead Man Test for Values#

Run any candidate value through three checks before you write it down.

First, can a dead person do this? If yes, throw it out and rewrite it. "Be calm" becomes "use my breathing tool when I notice my chest get tight." "Stop hitting" becomes "ask for a break when I feel hot."

Second, is this a toward-something or an away-from? Away-from items are fears. Flip them. "Don't be alone" becomes "spend time with people I trust." If you cannot flip it, it was probably not a value to begin with. It was a behavior you wanted to reduce.

Third, can you tact it, mand for it, and use it in an intraverbal? In plain words, can the client name it, ask for chances to do it, and talk about it? If the client has limited vocals, can the team tact it for the client and watch them mand for chances to do the thing? If the answer to all three is no, you may be projecting your own value onto the client. Step back.

These three checks take about ninety seconds per item. Run them. The list shrinks fast and gets useful.

Why the Reinforcer Survey Alone Misses the Point (the Midnight Scroll Problem)#

Here is the part that should feel uncomfortable in the best way.

If you have a smartphone and you have caught yourself scrolling at midnight, one, two, three o'clock in the morning, you know what stimulus masking looks like and feels like. You know you need to go to sleep with this reinforcer so easy and so powerful that you're stuck in a behavior trap. From the talk — Brian Middleton

You value rest. You value showing up tomorrow for the people who count on you. The phone does not care. The phone hands you a hit of novelty every five seconds. Reinforcement wins. Values lose.

Your clients live in the same trap. The iPad wins. The crunchy snack wins. The script from the show wins. None of those things are bad. They are reinforcers doing what reinforcers do. The problem is when the reinforcer is so loud that the client cannot hear their own values anymore. That is stimulus masking. A reinforcer survey alone will hand you the phone. A values assessment will hand you sleep.

This is why ACT made its way into BCBA work in the first place. Acceptance and Commitment Training gives you a way to make values louder than the loudest reinforcer in the room. You cannot do that if you never named the values.

What You Actually Write Down at the End of a Values Assessment#

The output is not a vibe. The output is a tool the client uses on a Tuesday morning when nobody is reading the IEP.

Me asking the question, what are his values, that I was able to figure out one of his values is safety. And so what I did is I created a safety thermometer. Now, Fred, he had some limited vocals. And he had a proloquo on his iPad. But his iPad would frequently turn into a projectile weapon. From the talk — Brian Middleton

Fred's value was safety. The tool was a visual thermometer that let Fred show his team where his safety meter sat in the moment. Green. Yellow. Red. That tool only got built because someone asked the values question first. If the team had stopped at preferences, they would have offered Fred more iPad and gotten more projectile.

So your write-up at the end of a values assessment should have three things.

One. The values list. Two to five items max. Plain words a parent can read.

Two. One small behavior the client can already do that moves toward each value. This is the bridge from value to BIP. If safety is the value, the move-toward behavior might be tapping the green zone on the thermometer. That is what you teach.

Three. One stuck point. Where does this value crash into the environment the client lives in? For Fred, the stuck point was that the iPad held both his communication and his most powerful reinforcer in the same device. Naming the stuck point is half of solving it.

That is the document. Two pages, tops. Hand it to the parent. Bring it to the team meeting. Pin it to the inside of the program book.

Run It on Yourself First: A 20-Minute Self-Assessment#

Before you run this on a client, run it on yourself. The pages that ask the BCBA to do their own values work land harder than the pages that jump straight to client work, because you cannot teach what you have not done.

I'll tell you my three core values. They are authenticity, curiosity, and thriving. All my other values are based around that. And if you haven't done a values-based activity where you dive in and try to discover your own values, and your core values, I highly, highly recommend doing that. From the talk — Brian Middleton

Tonight. Twenty minutes. Sit down with a blank page. Write down ten things that, when you do them, leave you feeling like the day was worth the gas in the tank. Group them. Name the groups. You will end up with two to five themes. Those are your core values.

Now run each one through the dead man test. Rewrite anything that fails. Now write one small behavior that moves you toward each value this week. Send a voice memo to a friend. Take a walk without the phone. Read for ten minutes before bed. Notice how much harder this is than you thought. Notice how the phone fights you. That is the same thing your clients feel. You will run a better assessment on Monday because of it.

What to Hand the Parent (and What to Bring to the Next Team Meeting)#

When the values assessment is done, the parent gets one page. The values list. The toward-behaviors. The stuck point. Nothing else. No jargon. No acronyms. If they ask what ACT is, you can explain. Otherwise leave it out.

The team meeting gets the same page plus one more. The second page is the program update. Which goals on the current BIP now serve a named value. Which goals do not. The ones that do not are not bad goals. They might just need a values bridge. "Tolerate transitions" is a behavior the team wants. Tie it to a value the client wants. Maybe Fred tolerates transitions because each transition gets him closer to time with his dog, and time with his dog serves his value of being cared for. Now the program is no longer about compliance. It is about Fred getting more of what Fred wants.

That is what neurodiversity affirming practice actually means in a session note. Not a slogan. Two pages, a thermometer, and a value that passed the dead man test.

FAQ#

Is a values assessment a preference assessment? No, but they share a toolbox. A preference assessment tells you what the client picks when given a choice. A values assessment names the pattern behind the picks and asks what the client wants their life to be about. You can run them together. Add a values column to the preference data you already collect.

Can you run a values assessment on a non-speaking autistic client? Yes. You watch what the client moves toward across days, across settings, and across people. You let the AAC device, the picture board, or the gesture system do the talking. You tact candidate values for the client and watch what they mand for. If a value is real, the client will keep choosing it when given honest chances. Fred had limited vocals and a proloquo, and the team still identified safety as a core value.

How long does a values assessment take? Plan on two to four sessions for a first pass. One session to gather the candidate list from interviews and observation. One to run the dead man test on each item. One to watch the client choose across the candidates. One to write it up. After that, revisit every six months or whenever a new big change happens, like a school transition or a new sibling.

Keep Going#

The full talk walks through more examples and gives you the live framing for using these tools in session. Earn the CEU and keep the recording for your team.

Watch the full CEU with Brian Middleton