RBT practice test: Behavior Reduction, set 7

Set 7 of 9 for content area D, Behavior Reduction (14 of the 75 scored exam questions). Every answer is explained.

20 questions

Question 1A client receives NCR attention every 2 minutes, and problem behavior has been near zero for two weeks. The RBT thinks the schedule could move to every 5 minutes. What should the RBT do?
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A: Keep the schedule and tell the supervisor. Thinning the schedule is a plan change. The RBT keeps implementing the plan as written and brings the data and suggestion to the supervisor.
- B: Even with good data, the schedule change is the supervisor's decision.
- C: Stopping NCR is a plan change and may bring back problem behavior.
- D: A smaller change is still a change to the plan.
Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.06
Question 2What does differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) reinforce?
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D: A specific appropriate behavior in place of the problem behavior. DRA reinforces a chosen alternative behavior, such as asking for help, while problem behavior is placed on extinction.
- A: Reinforcing the absence of the behavior is DRO.
- B: Reinforcing a lower rate is DRL.
- C: DRA does not require the alternative to be incompatible; when it is, the procedure is called DRI.
Task D.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 3A teen used to get out of chores by complaining loudly. Under the supervisor's plan, the chore now stays in place no matter how loudly the teen complains, and complaining decreases. Which procedure is this?
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A: Escape extinction. Complaining used to remove the chore (negative reinforcement). When complaining no longer removes it, the behavior is on escape extinction and decreases.
- B: Negative reinforcement would be the chore being removed after complaining, which increased complaining before.
- C: Nothing the teen has is taken away after complaining.
- D: No stimulus is added after complaining to reduce it.
Task D.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 4After running in the school hallway, a student must walk the length of the hallway correctly several times, as the plan states. Which procedure is this?
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A: Positive practice overcorrection. Positive practice overcorrection requires the person to repeat the correct form of the behavior several times after the problem behavior.
- B: Restitution means repairing the environment; here the student repeats the correct behavior.
- C: Time-out removes access to reinforcement; this adds effortful practice.
- D: No reinforcer is taken away.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 5During an expected extinction burst, a client's yelling is louder than usual, but everyone is safe. What should the RBT do?
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D: Continue the procedure as written and keep everyone safe. Bursts are expected and temporary. Staying consistent lets the behavior decrease; giving in during a burst reinforces the most intense form of the behavior.
- A: Reinforcing a burst teaches that more intense behavior works.
- B: Stopping during a burst can reinforce the escalation, and it changes the plan.
- C: A reprimand is not in the plan and may give attention.
Task D.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 6A client's behavior suddenly becomes dangerous during a session. What is the RBT's first priority?
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C: Keeping the client and others safe. In any crisis or emergency, the first priority is the safety of the client, the RBT and anyone nearby. The RBT follows the crisis plan and emergency procedures, then reports and documents.
- A: Teaching stops mattering when someone may be hurt; safety comes first.
- B: Immediate safety steps come first; the supervisor is contacted as soon as it is safe or as the plan directs.
- D: Data and documentation are completed once everyone is safe.
Task D.7 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.01
Question 7At home, a 6-year-old screams soon after a caregiver starts a phone call. The caregiver usually covers the phone and says, "Stop that, I'm talking." The child rarely screams while the caregiver is playing with them. Which function does this pattern suggest?
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A: Attention. Screaming happens when the caregiver's attention is elsewhere and is followed by the caregiver turning to the child and talking, even though the words are a reprimand. That pattern points to attention.
- B: No task or demand is placed on the child before the screaming, so there is nothing to escape.
- C: No item is withheld or handed over in this pattern.
- D: The behavior depends on the caregiver's attention being diverted and is followed by a social response, so it is not likely automatic.
Task D.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A
Question 8What does a high-probability request sequence involve?
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A: Easy requests first, then the harder request. In a high-p sequence, the RBT gives several quick requests the client reliably follows, reinforces each, and then presents the request the client is less likely to follow.
- B: The easy requests come first; giving them after the hard request does not build up compliance before it.
- C: Removing and then adding back demands is demand fading.
- D: Choosing the task order is a choice-making strategy.
Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 9In most differential reinforcement procedures for problem behavior, what happens when the problem behavior occurs?
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A: It no longer produces the reinforcer. Differential reinforcement typically pairs reinforcement for the target response with extinction for problem behavior, so problem behavior stops producing the reinforcer.
- B: Differential reinforcement is a reinforcement-based procedure; punishment is not part of it.
- C: Reinforcing problem behavior on any schedule would keep it going.
- D: Reinforcing problem behavior to calm the client would strengthen it.
Task D.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 10A plan targets a child's escape-maintained tantrums with escape extinction. A new RBT instead stays silent during tantrums and leaves the task off the table until the child calms. Tantrums increase. What is the most likely reason?
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C: The tantrums still removed the task, so they were reinforced. Extinction must match the function. For escape-maintained behavior, removing the task after the behavior is negative reinforcement. Ignoring does not stop the escape, so the tantrums are strengthened.
- A: Bursts are temporary; the real problem is that tantrums still produced escape.
- B: Attention was withheld, and attention is not the function here, so satiation does not explain it.
- D: Ignoring fails here because it withholds the wrong reinforcer, not because tokens were missing.
Task D.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 11A teacher reprimands a student each time the student calls out. Over several weeks, calling out increases. What is the reprimand most likely doing?
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B: Functioning as positive reinforcement. Consequences are named by their effect. A reprimand that is followed by more calling out is functioning as reinforcement, probably because it delivers attention.
- A: A punisher decreases behavior; calling out increased.
- C: Nothing is removed, and the behavior did not decrease.
- D: No reinforcer was withheld, so this is not an extinction burst.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 12A child's plan included overcorrection during toileting. The child now cries and pulls away at the bathroom door and refuses to go in. Why is this side effect a particular concern?
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A: Avoiding the bathroom blocks practice of the skill being taught. Settings and activities paired with punishment can be avoided, which removes chances to learn. The RBT records and reports this so the supervisor can review the plan.
- B: Avoidance is a side effect; it does not show the skill was learned.
- C: This follows punishment, not extinction.
- D: If bathroom visits were reinforcing, the child would approach, not avoid.
Task D.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.06
Question 13A client's plan lists early signs that aggression may follow (pacing and clenched fists) and says to offer a break card and reduce demands when they appear. The RBT sees the client pacing with clenched fists. What should the RBT do?
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D: Use the plan's early-step strategies right away. Many crisis plans include steps for precursor behaviors, the early signs that a crisis may follow. Acting early, as written, can prevent escalation.
- A: The plan calls for acting at the early signs, before aggression.
- B: The plan names these signs and gives specific steps to take.
- C: Holds are not for early signs, and this plan calls for a break card and reduced demands.
Task D.7 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 14A child's whining is maintained by attention. Which consequence most likely maintains it?
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B: A caregiver asking the child what is wrong. Attention-maintained behavior is reinforced by other people's responses, such as looking at, talking to or touching the person.
- A: Ending a chore is escape, a different function.
- C: Handing over a cookie is access to a tangible item.
- D: A sensation produced by the behavior itself would be automatic reinforcement.
Task D.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A
Question 15A teen often protests when activities change without warning. The plan uses a written schedule that the RBT reviews with the teen at the start of each session and updates before any change. What type of strategy is this?
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A: Antecedent intervention. The schedule is reviewed before activities change, so it alters conditions before the behavior. It is an antecedent intervention.
- B: A consequence-based procedure acts after a behavior occurs.
- C: Extinction withholds a reinforcer after a behavior.
- D: Punishment follows a behavior and reduces it.
Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 16A client's plan says the client earns a token for every 5 minutes without biting. Which procedure is this?
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D: DRO. Tokens depend on the absence of biting for each 5-minute interval, which is DRO.
- A: NCR would give tokens every 5 minutes whether or not biting occurred.
- B: DRL would allow biting at a low rate, which is not acceptable for a dangerous behavior and is not what the plan says.
- C: DRI would reinforce a specific behavior that cannot occur with biting.
Task D.3 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 17A client's hand-flapping appears to be maintained by automatic reinforcement. Why is planned ignoring unlikely to work as extinction for this behavior?
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B: Ignoring does not remove the sensory result that maintains it. Automatically reinforced behavior produces its own reinforcer, so it continues whether or not anyone pays attention. Withholding attention does not withhold the reinforcer.
- A: Whether a client speaks does not decide whether ignoring can be used.
- C: The assessment points to automatic reinforcement, not escape.
- D: Automatically maintained behavior can be addressed with procedures such as sensory extinction and reinforcement.
Task D.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 18A caregiver asks the RBT to start using time-out at home because it works at the client's school. Time-out is not in the RBT's plan for this client. What should the RBT do?
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D: Say they follow the plan and will pass the request to the supervisor. Requests to change procedures go to the supervisor. The RBT keeps implementing the current plan and passes on the caregiver's request promptly.
- A: Adding a procedure that is not in the plan is outside the RBT's role.
- B: Training caregivers on new procedures is the supervisor's decision.
- C: This is inaccurate; time-out can be part of a plan.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.06 · RBT Ethics Code 2.05
Question 19During escape extinction, a client cries and frowns and says, "I'm mad!" Which secondary effect of extinction is this?
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B: Emotional responding. Extinction often produces emotional responses such as crying, anger or frustration. These are expected secondary effects, recorded and reported as the plan directs.
- A: Spontaneous recovery is the return of an extinguished behavior after time away.
- C: Resurgence is the return of an old behavior when an alternative loses reinforcement.
- D: Behavioral contrast refers to changes in other settings.
Task D.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Question 20Which incident description is the most objective?
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A: At 2:14 p.m. the client hit the RBT's arm 4 times with an open hand. Objective documentation states observable facts: time, what the client did, how often and what staff did. It avoids labels and guesses about inner states.
- B: "Meltdown" is vague, and the cause is a guess about feelings.
- C: "Violent" and "out of control" are labels, not observable facts.
- D: "Bad mood" and "lashed out" are interpretations, not observations.
Task D.7 · 40-hour curriculum section E · RBT Ethics Code 2.02

Answer every question to see your score.

What this test covers

Questions in this test by task
Task	Questions
D.1 Functions of behavior	2
D.2 Antecedent interventions	3
D.3 Differential reinforcement	3
D.4 Extinction	3
D.5 Positive and negative punishment	3
D.6 Secondary effects of extinction and punishment	3
D.7 Crisis and emergency procedures	3

5 easier, 12 exam-level and 3 harder questions. Each task link opens its study page.

Question 1A client receives NCR attention every 2 minutes, and problem behavior has been near zero for two weeks. The RBT thinks the schedule could move to every 5 minutes. What should the RBT do?

Question 2What does differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) reinforce?

Question 3A teen used to get out of chores by complaining loudly. Under the supervisor's plan, the chore now stays in place no matter how loudly the teen complains, and complaining decreases. Which procedure is this?

Question 4After running in the school hallway, a student must walk the length of the hallway correctly several times, as the plan states. Which procedure is this?

Question 5During an expected extinction burst, a client's yelling is louder than usual, but everyone is safe. What should the RBT do?

Question 6A client's behavior suddenly becomes dangerous during a session. What is the RBT's first priority?

Question 7At home, a 6-year-old screams soon after a caregiver starts a phone call. The caregiver usually covers the phone and says, "Stop that, I'm talking." The child rarely screams while the caregiver is playing with them. Which function does this pattern suggest?

Question 8What does a high-probability request sequence involve?

Question 9In most differential reinforcement procedures for problem behavior, what happens when the problem behavior occurs?

Question 10A plan targets a child's escape-maintained tantrums with escape extinction. A new RBT instead stays silent during tantrums and leaves the task off the table until the child calms. Tantrums increase. What is the most likely reason?

Question 11A teacher reprimands a student each time the student calls out. Over several weeks, calling out increases. What is the reprimand most likely doing?

Question 12A child's plan included overcorrection during toileting. The child now cries and pulls away at the bathroom door and refuses to go in. Why is this side effect a particular concern?

Question 13A client's plan lists early signs that aggression may follow (pacing and clenched fists) and says to offer a break card and reduce demands when they appear. The RBT sees the client pacing with clenched fists. What should the RBT do?

Question 14A child's whining is maintained by attention. Which consequence most likely maintains it?

Question 15A teen often protests when activities change without warning. The plan uses a written schedule that the RBT reviews with the teen at the start of each session and updates before any change. What type of strategy is this?

Question 16A client's plan says the client earns a token for every 5 minutes without biting. Which procedure is this?

Question 17A client's hand-flapping appears to be maintained by automatic reinforcement. Why is planned ignoring unlikely to work as extinction for this behavior?

Question 18A caregiver asks the RBT to start using time-out at home because it works at the client's school. Time-out is not in the RBT's plan for this client. What should the RBT do?

Question 19During escape extinction, a client cries and frowns and says, "I'm mad!" Which secondary effect of extinction is this?

Question 20Which incident description is the most objective?

What this test covers