ABAT ABAT Generalization and Maintenance Strategies 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Generalization in ABA refers to:
- A behavior occurring only in the training setting
- A behavior occurring across untrained stimuli, settings, or people (Correct answer)
- Replacing one behavior with another
- Increasing behavior through reinforcement
Correct answer: A behavior occurring across untrained stimuli, settings, or people
Generalization occurs when a trained behavior transfers to new people, settings, or stimuli beyond those present during original training.
Question 2: Which strategy BEST promotes generalization across settings?
- Teaching exclusively in a clinic room
- Training in multiple natural settings from the start (Correct answer)
- Using only one instructor for consistency
- Providing massed trials in one location
Correct answer: Training in multiple natural settings from the start
Training across multiple natural settings from the outset promotes stimulus generalization by broadening the range of contexts associated with the target behavior.
Question 3: 'Maintenance' in ABA is best defined as:
- The rate of behavior during initial training
- Continued performance of a skill after the formal training phase ends (Correct answer)
- Applying a skill to a new situation
- Increasing the complexity of a skill over time
Correct answer: Continued performance of a skill after the formal training phase ends
Maintenance refers to the durability of a behavior over time after systematic reinforcement or intervention has been reduced or eliminated.
Question 4: Teaching with 'sufficient exemplars' promotes generalization by:
- Repeating the same stimuli many times
- Exposing the learner to a varied sample of the stimulus class (Correct answer)
- Using only real-world materials
- Ensuring errorless learning
Correct answer: Exposing the learner to a varied sample of the stimulus class
Using sufficient and varied exemplars ensures the learner contacts enough of the stimulus class to generalize to untrained members of that class.
Question 5: What is 'response maintenance failure'?
- A skill that was never fully acquired
- A skill that was mastered but no longer occurs consistently after training ends (Correct answer)
- A behavior that occurs in the wrong setting
- A prompt that was never faded
Correct answer: A skill that was mastered but no longer occurs consistently after training ends
Response maintenance failure occurs when a previously mastered skill deteriorates or disappears once the formal intervention or dense reinforcement is removed.
Question 6: Programming 'common stimuli' during training means:
- Using only verbal instructions
- Including in the training environment stimuli that are also present in the generalization setting (Correct answer)
- Training in the exact same room each time
- Avoiding any distractors during sessions
Correct answer: Including in the training environment stimuli that are also present in the generalization setting
Including stimuli that are common to both the training and generalization environments increases the likelihood that the behavior will transfer to natural settings.
ABAT ABAT Generalization and Maintenance Strategies 1
Generalization in ABA refers to: