Smiling faces and other rewards: using the Behavioral Assessment and Research System (BARS) with unique populations

Concern about the exposure of children and adolescents to occupational and environmental hazards has increased, and so has the need to develop testing methods that can adequately assess the effects of exposure in children. A computerized testing system, the Behavioral Assessment and Research System (BARS), was successfully modified to test both younger populations and populations which do not speak English, the original language of the battery. These adaptations were modifications of the existing features of the BARS system which was designed to assess the broadest possible audience: simple language instructions broken down into basic concepts (step-by-step training with competency testing at each instruction step); a token dispenser along with a "smiling face" stimulus that reinforced appropriate performance; and adjustable parameter settings (e.g., number of trials, difficulty). Data from four groups demonstrate the feasibility of using BARS with children as young as preschool age and for non-English speaking children.