The purpose of the current study was to utilize a concurrent operants arrangement as a tool for identifying conditions under which two children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delays who engaged in problem behaviors maintained by positive and negative reinforcement would choose to complete academic tasks to earn access to preferred items. The results show that as the schedule requirement to access the preferred items was systematically increased, there was a point at which both participants were less likely to choose to work over taking a break. Both participants showed some variability in their choice allocations to the work and break options, especially at the levels with highest task demands. Whereas Ian was extremely consistent in his selection of the work option at the lowest levels of task demands, Gavin’s responding was more variable, selecting the break option on some trials even when task demands were very low. The reasons for these differences in choice allocation are unclear, but may be due to differences in the potency of the rewards selected for each participant, or in the level of difficulty or preference for the work tasks presented.