RBT practice test: Behavior Acquisition, set 12

D: The step was too big to learn as written. Task analyses are adjusted to the learner. When a step is too big to learn, breaking it into smaller steps makes each one possible to prompt, reinforce and score.

• A: Making the task longer is not the aim; making each step learnable is.
• B: Splitting a step does not by itself reduce reinforcement.
• C: Step size should fit the learner; more steps are not always better.

Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: The skill weakens through extinction. Behavior that no longer produces reinforcement decreases over time. That is extinction, and it is why maintenance plans keep some reinforcement for mastered skills.

• A: Practice without reinforcement does not strengthen operant behavior.
• C: Lack of reinforcement makes generalization less likely, not more.
• D: Without reinforcement, the skill is likely to weaken rather than stay the same.

Task C.9 · 40-hour curriculum section A

A: So it strengthens that exact approximation, not other behavior. A delay lets other behavior occur between the approximation and the reinforcer, and that other behavior may be reinforced instead. Immediate delivery makes clear which response is being strengthened.

• B: Quick satiation is not a goal; it would reduce the reinforcer's effectiveness.
• C: Earlier approximations are meant to stop being reinforced, not to be strengthened.
• D: Immediate reinforcement does not remove the need for data.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: After every occurrence of the target behavior. Early on, tokens are usually delivered after every instance of the target behavior (continuous reinforcement) so the client quickly learns what earns them. The plan may thin the schedule later.

• A: Delivering tokens only after every tenth response is a thin schedule that is more typical after the system is established.
• C: One delivery at the end of a session is too delayed to link tokens to specific behaviors.
• D: Tokens given on a time schedule are not tied to the target behavior.

Task C.11 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: The client ate a large lunch just before the session.. An abolishing operation temporarily decreases the value of a reinforcer. Eating a large meal just before the session makes food less effective as a reinforcer.

• A: Skipping a meal is deprivation, which increases the value of food.
• B: Going a long time without an item is deprivation, which increases its value.
• D: A session just before a meal typically follows a period without food, which tends to increase food's value.

Task C.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A

D: It bridges the delay between the response and the backup reinforcer.. A key advantage of conditioned reinforcers is that they can be delivered immediately, bridging the time between the response and a backup reinforcer that comes later.

• A: Tokens delivered after each correct response are contingent, not noncontingent.
• B: Tokens keep their value only while they continue to be exchanged for backup reinforcers.
• C: Tokens are conditioned reinforcers, not unconditioned ones.

Task C.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: The adult chooses the target and starts each trial with a planned instruction. Discrete-trial teaching is adult-led and structured: the instructor picks the target, gives a planned instruction, and delivers a planned consequence, often at a table with many trials in a row.

• B: Following the learner's interest is a feature of naturalistic teaching.
• C: Teaching within ongoing activities is naturalistic teaching.
• D: Using the requested item as the reinforcer is typical of incidental teaching; DTT often uses other reinforcers.

Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: Teach the plan's targets within the client's interests. In NET, the client's interests decide where and when teaching happens, but the supervisor's plan decides what is taught and how.

• A: Targets are chosen by the supervisor; the RBT teaches the plan's targets within the client's interests.
• C: NET is teaching, not free play; the RBT creates and uses learning opportunities.
• D: A fixed order ignores the client's motivation, which NET depends on.

Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.02

A: It reinforces turning the tap and cues wetting hands. In a chain, the stimulus change produced by each step works as a conditioned reinforcer for that step and as the discriminative stimulus for the next step.

• B: The terminal reinforcer comes at the end; running water is an early link.
• C: Running water is a natural result of the step, not a prompt the RBT adds.
• D: Each step's result does affect the chain by linking it to the next step.

Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: The skill was not maintained after teaching ended. The client met mastery, so the skill was acquired. Losing it over time after practice stopped is a failure of maintenance.

• A: The problem is a loss over time, not a lack of performance in new settings.
• B: Response generalization would be the appearance of new response forms, not a loss of correct responses.
• D: The client met the mastery criterion, so the skill was acquired.

Task C.9 · 40-hour curriculum section A

D: Responses that come closer and closer to the target behavior. Successive approximations are the series of responses, each more like the terminal behavior than the one before, that are reinforced one after another during shaping.

• A: Linking separate behaviors into a sequence is chaining.
• B: Fading prompts from most to least intrusive is a prompting procedure, not a series of responses.
• C: Stimuli that signal reinforcement is available are discriminative stimuli.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: An interdependent group contingency. In an interdependent group contingency, everyone receives the reinforcer based on the performance of the group as a whole. Here the class earns marbles, and the party, only when the group meets the rule.

• A: In an independent group contingency, each student earns reinforcement based on their own behavior.
• B: In a dependent group contingency, the group's reinforcement depends on the behavior of one student or a small subgroup.
• D: Response cost removes reinforcers; here marbles are added.

Task C.11 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: Report the change and share the data with the supervisor.. These signs suggest the tablet may have lost value as a reinforcer. The RBT keeps implementing the plan as written, using any options the plan already allows, and reports the change to the supervisor, who decides on any changes.

• A: Changing the schedule is a change to the plan, which the supervisor decides.
• B: Withholding all reinforcement is not in the plan and could place correct responding on extinction.
• D: Changing the amount of reinforcement is a plan change that needs the supervisor's direction.

Task C.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A

C: Right after each trial, during the intertrial interval. Trial-by-trial data are recorded for every trial as it happens, usually during the intertrial interval, so the record is accurate.

• A: Recording from memory later makes errors likely and makes the data unreliable.
• B: Trial-by-trial data include every trial, correct and incorrect.
• D: Recording only some trials is not trial-by-trial data.

Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: Follow the child and teach within the new activity. Naturalistic teaching relies on the learner's current motivation. When interest shifts, the RBT follows the child's lead to a new activity and keeps teaching there.

• B: The child's motivation for bubbles has dropped, so prompting a mand for them is unlikely to work.
• C: Forcing a return to an item the child no longer wants works against naturalistic teaching.
• D: Moving to a new activity is not a refusal, and the session can continue.

Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: Single-opportunity method. In the single-opportunity method, the assessment stops at the first error (or no response), and that step and all remaining steps are scored as not performed.

• B: In the multiple-opportunity method, the RBT would complete step 3 and let the client try each later step.
• C: Total task chaining is a teaching procedure, not a way of assessing the chain before teaching.
• D: Backward chaining is a teaching procedure that starts with the last step.

Task C.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: It marks the exact response and bridges the delay to the item. A conditioned reinforcer like "Yes!" can be delivered at the very moment of the approximation, while handing over an item takes a moment. It pinpoints the response being reinforced.

• A: "Yes!" follows the response; it does not prompt the next one.
• C: The plan still follows "Yes!" with the preferred item, which helps keep "Yes!" effective.
• D: Nothing in the plan links "Yes!" to the end of the session.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: 4 tokens. Tokens come after responses 3, 6, 9 and 12, which is 4 tokens. Responses 13 and 14 count toward the next token but have not yet earned one.

• A: 3 tokens would cover only 9 correct responses.
• C: 5 tokens would require 15 correct responses.
• D: 14 tokens would mean a token for every correct response, but the plan uses every third response.

Task C.11 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: Variable ratio 5. Reinforcement depends on the number of responses, and that number changes around an average of 5. That is a variable ratio (VR 5) schedule.

• A: A fixed ratio 5 would reinforce after exactly 5 responses every time.
• B: A variable interval schedule depends on time passing, not on a count of responses.
• D: A variable-time schedule delivers reinforcement after varying amounts of time regardless of behavior.

Task C.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A

B: It has a clear start and a clear end. Each discrete trial is a separate learning unit with a definite beginning and end, which makes it easy to count trials and record the response for each one.

• A: DTT can take place in many settings; the name refers to the trial structure.
• C: Trials usually last a few seconds, and no fixed length defines them.
• D: Sessions often include many targets; each trial is one learning opportunity.

Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: Reinforcing successive approximations of a terminal behavior. Shaping builds a new behavior by reinforcing responses that are closer and closer to the target behavior while no longer reinforcing earlier, less similar forms.

• B: Reinforcing steps of a task analysis in order from the first step is forward chaining.
• C: Gradually removing an added cue is stimulus fading.
• D: Reinforcement on a time schedule regardless of behavior is noncontingent reinforcement.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

A: 75%. Divide independent correct trials by total trials and multiply by 100: 15 / 20 = 0.75, or 75%. Prompted correct responses are recorded separately when the plan counts only independent responses.

• B: 90% counts the 3 prompted responses as correct (18 / 20), which this plan does not allow.
• C: 83.3% divides by 18 instead of the 20 trials that were run (15 / 18).
• D: 10% is the percentage of incorrect trials (2 / 20).

Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: Go back to the previous approximation, as the plan states. A step that is too large can lead to a breakdown in responding. The plan's rule tells the RBT to drop back to the previous approximation, where the client can contact reinforcement again.

• A: Holding a criterion the client cannot meet means no reinforcement, which can extinguish responding altogether.
• C: Skipping steps makes the requirement larger, not smaller, and is not in the plan.
• D: Giving the reinforcer for free is not part of the plan and would not strengthen any approximation.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: The delay may reinforce whatever the client did during those 15 seconds. Reinforcement works best when it follows the response immediately. A long delay weakens the link to the correct response and may strengthen other behavior that happened in between. Deliver the reinforcer first, then record the data.

• A: The client responded in 2 seconds, inside the 5-second window.
• B: The client responded correctly without help, so no prompt was needed.
• D: A reinforcer given before the instruction would not be contingent on the response.

Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E

D: Keep to the current step and tell the supervisor. Changing the steps or criteria of a shaping plan is a supervisor decision. The RBT's observation, backed by data, helps the supervisor decide whether to adjust the plan.

• A: Skipping steps changes the plan without supervisor direction.
• B: Skipping even one step is still a change to the plan.
• C: Caregivers cannot approve clinical changes in place of the supervisor.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

D: Mastered targets add easy chances for reinforcement. Mixing in mastered targets gives the learner frequent successes and reinforcement, which can support motivation and lower problem behavior during difficult work. It also gives practice that helps keep mastered skills.

• A: Mixing in mastered targets also helps keep those skills, and their purpose is not to fill time.
• B: New targets may still need prompts as the plan describes; mixing in other targets does not change that.
• C: Data for each target are recorded separately, so mastered targets do not change a new target's percentage.

Task C.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E

B: Unplanned shaping of more intense responses. The caregiver reinforces only the most intense responses and not the milder ones. This differential reinforcement of more extreme forms is shaping, even though no one planned it.

• A: Spontaneous recovery is the return of a behavior after a period of extinction; here louder behavior is being reinforced.
• C: Response generalization is the appearance of untaught forms of a trained response; this change follows a pattern of reinforcing only louder screams.
• D: Stimulus generalization is a response occurring with new stimuli; the change here is in the intensity of the response.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E

C: Deliver the reinforcer, since "ball" exceeds the current criterion. Any response that meets or exceeds the current criterion is reinforced. A response closer to the terminal behavior is exactly what shaping aims for, and it is worth reporting to the supervisor.

• A: A response that goes beyond the criterion still meets it and should not be put on extinction.
• B: Asking for a less complete response would reinforce a weaker approximation.
• D: Moving back a step would lower the criterion after the client did better.

Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E