ABA Skill Acquisition and Teaching Procedures 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Shaping involves reinforcing:
- Successive approximations toward the target behavior (Correct answer)
- Only the exact target behavior from the start
- Any behavior that occurs after the SD
- The absence of competing behaviors
Correct answer: Successive approximations toward the target behavior
Shaping reinforces responses that progressively resemble the target behavior, gradually raising the criterion until the final behavior is achieved.
Question 2: Which teaching arrangement uses naturally occurring opportunities distributed throughout the day rather than massed trials?
- Naturalistic teaching (incidental teaching) (Correct answer)
- Discrete trial training
- Direct instruction
- Error correction
Correct answer: Naturalistic teaching (incidental teaching)
Naturalistic or incidental teaching embeds learning trials within the child's natural environment and daily routines rather than structured table-top sessions.
Question 3: What is the main difference between massed practice and distributed practice?
- Massed practice runs many trials back-to-back; distributed practice spaces trials across time (Correct answer)
- Massed practice uses longer intervals; distributed uses shorter ones
- Massed practice involves multiple behaviors; distributed focuses on one
- Massed practice is used only for maintenance; distributed is for acquisition
Correct answer: Massed practice runs many trials back-to-back; distributed practice spaces trials across time
Massed practice presents many consecutive trials for one skill, while distributed practice intersperses trials with other activities or skills over time.
Question 4: A token economy uses tokens as:
- Conditioned generalized reinforcers exchangeable for backup reinforcers (Correct answer)
- Unconditioned reinforcers delivered immediately
- Aversive stimuli contingent on problem behavior
- Natural consequences of target behaviors
Correct answer: Conditioned generalized reinforcers exchangeable for backup reinforcers
Tokens are conditioned generalized reinforcers that acquire value through pairing with multiple backup reinforcers and can be exchanged for those reinforcers.
Question 5: Stimulus control refers to:
- A behavior occurring more frequently in the presence of a specific antecedent stimulus (Correct answer)
- The suppression of behavior by a punishing stimulus
- The reinforcement of behavior across all conditions
- The physical guidance used to prompt a response
Correct answer: A behavior occurring more frequently in the presence of a specific antecedent stimulus
Stimulus control exists when a behavior reliably occurs in the presence of a discriminative stimulus (SD) and not in its absence.
Question 6: What is errorless teaching designed to prevent?
- Learner errors during acquisition of new skills (Correct answer)
- Reinforcement of correct responses
- Generalization of skills to new settings
- Prompt dependency in advanced learners
Correct answer: Learner errors during acquisition of new skills
Errorless teaching provides immediate, intrusive prompts so the learner always responds correctly, minimizing errors and the reinforcement of incorrect responses during acquisition.
