ABAT - Applied Behavior Analysis Test Applied Behavior Analysis Skill Acquisition Programming 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which prompting strategy begins with the most intrusive prompt and systematically fades toward less intrusive prompts over successive trials?
- Least-to-most prompting
- Most-to-least prompting (Correct answer)
- Simultaneous prompting
- Graduated guidance
Correct answer: Most-to-least prompting
Most-to-least prompting starts with the highest level of support (e.g., full physical prompt) and systematically fades toward less intrusive prompts as the learner demonstrates competence, minimizing errors while building independence.
Question 2: In total task chaining, the instructor:
- Teaches only the last step of the chain until mastery before adding earlier steps
- Teaches only the first step until mastery before progressing forward
- Prompts and reinforces every step of the chain during each teaching trial (Correct answer)
- Selects only the most difficult steps to target each session
Correct answer: Prompts and reinforces every step of the chain during each teaching trial
Total task chaining requires the learner to perform all steps of the task in every session, with the instructor providing prompts as needed for steps not yet mastered, allowing full-chain practice in each trial.
Question 3: Compared to massed practice, distributed practice trials are generally associated with:
- Faster initial skill acquisition
- Better generalization and long-term maintenance of skills (Correct answer)
- Higher rates of problem behavior during instruction
- Greater reinforcer satiation
Correct answer: Better generalization and long-term maintenance of skills
Distributed practice—trials spaced across time or embedded in varied activities—promotes better generalization and long-term retention than massed practice, even though massed practice may produce faster initial acquisition within a session.
Question 4: Which error correction procedure involves modeling the correct response, guiding the learner to produce it, presenting a distractor trial, and then re-presenting the original SD?
- Errorless learning
- Simultaneous prompting
- Four-step error correction (Correct answer)
- Time delay procedure
Correct answer: Four-step error correction
The four-step error correction procedure systematically addresses errors by: (1) modeling the correct response, (2) prompting the learner to respond correctly, (3) inserting a distractor trial, and (4) re-presenting the original trial to confirm independent correct responding.
Question 5: In discrete trial training, a 'transfer trial' is used to:
- Move a mastered skill from the clinic to the natural environment
- Transfer stimulus control from a prompted response to an unprompted response (Correct answer)
- Shift delivery from primary to secondary reinforcers
- Introduce a new target skill following mastery of a prerequisite
Correct answer: Transfer stimulus control from a prompted response to an unprompted response
A transfer trial immediately follows an error correction or prompted trial by re-presenting the same SD, giving the learner the opportunity to respond independently and thereby transferring control from the prompt to the natural discriminative stimulus.
Question 6: Multiple exemplar training (MET) is primarily implemented to promote:
- Faster mastery of individual target behaviors
- Generalization across varied stimuli and response forms (Correct answer)
- Higher rates of correct responding within a single session
- Accurate interval-by-interval data collection
Correct answer: Generalization across varied stimuli and response forms
Multiple exemplar training uses varied examples of stimuli and response topographies during instruction so the learner can apply the skill to novel, untrained contexts, directly programming for generalization.
ABAT - Applied Behavior Analysis Test Applied Behavior Analysis Skill Acquisition Programming 1
Which prompting strategy begins with the most intrusive prompt and systematically fades toward less intrusive prompts over successive trials?