RBT RBT Skill Acquisition and Training 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During discrete trial training (DTT), what is the correct sequence of components?
- Discriminative stimulus, response, consequence (Correct answer)
- Response, consequence, discriminative stimulus
- Consequence, discriminative stimulus, response
- Intertrial interval, response, reinforcer
Correct answer: Discriminative stimulus, response, consequence
DTT follows the sequence of SD (discriminative stimulus), response from the learner, and then a consequence (reinforcement or error correction).
Question 2: A learner consistently responds correctly when the therapist holds up a red card but fails when a different therapist presents it. This is an example of:
- Stimulus generalization
- Stimulus discrimination
- Response generalization
- Failure to generalize (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Failure to generalize
When a skill is only performed with one specific trainer and not others, the learner has not yet generalized the response across people.
Question 3: Which prompting strategy involves the therapist physically guiding the learner's hand through the correct response?
- Gestural prompt
- Model prompt
- Physical prompt (Correct answer)
- Positional prompt
Correct answer: Physical prompt
A physical prompt involves the therapist using hand-over-hand or partial physical guidance to help the learner complete the response.
Question 4: An RBT is teaching a child to sort objects by color. The child successfully sorts red and blue items but struggles with yellow. The RBT should:
- Move on to a new skill since two colors are mastered
- Provide additional trials focusing on yellow with appropriate prompting (Correct answer)
- Remove yellow items from the sorting task entirely
- Mark yellow as a mastered target
Correct answer: Provide additional trials focusing on yellow with appropriate prompting
When a learner struggles with specific items within a skill, targeted practice with additional prompting support for those items is the appropriate response.
Question 5: The term 'maintenance' in skill acquisition refers to:
- Teaching a new skill using prompts
- Continuing to perform a skill correctly after active teaching has ended (Correct answer)
- Practicing a skill in the presence of the BCBA only
- Repeating the same trials multiple times in a session
Correct answer: Continuing to perform a skill correctly after active teaching has ended
Maintenance refers to the continued performance of a previously mastered skill over time without ongoing intervention.
Question 6: When using a task analysis, the RBT breaks a complex skill into smaller steps primarily to:
- Reduce the session duration
- Make data collection easier for the RBT
- Allow the learner to acquire each component step systematically (Correct answer)
- Avoid the need for prompting
Correct answer: Allow the learner to acquire each component step systematically
Task analysis breaks complex skills into teachable steps so learners can systematically acquire each component, making the overall skill achievable.
Question 7: An RBT is using 'forward chaining' to teach hand washing. Which step is taught first?
- The last step in the chain
- The middle step in the chain
- The first step in the chain (Correct answer)
- The easiest step regardless of order
Correct answer: The first step in the chain
In forward chaining, teaching begins with the first step of the task analysis, with subsequent steps prompted until the learner masters each step sequentially.
