ABAT Procedures and Intervention 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which prompting hierarchy moves from most intrusive to least intrusive?
- Verbal → Gestural → Model → Physical
- Physical → Model → Gestural → Verbal (Correct answer)
- Gestural → Verbal → Physical → Model
- Model → Physical → Verbal → Gestural
Correct answer: Physical → Model → Gestural → Verbal
The most-to-least hierarchy begins with physical guidance and systematically fades to less intrusive prompts like verbal cues.
Question 2: Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO) involves reinforcing:
- A specific alternative behavior that serves the same function
- The absence of the target behavior during a set interval (Correct answer)
- Behaviors that are physically incompatible with the target
- Lower rates of the target behavior than baseline
Correct answer: The absence of the target behavior during a set interval
DRO delivers reinforcement when the target behavior has not occurred during a specified time interval.
Question 3: When using a progressive time-delay prompting procedure, which variable is systematically changed across trials?
- The type of prompt used
- The amount of reinforcement delivered
- The interval between the SD and the prompt (Correct answer)
- The number of response opportunities per session
Correct answer: The interval between the SD and the prompt
Progressive time delay gradually increases the wait interval between the discriminative stimulus and the prompt to allow independent responding.
Question 4: Which statement best describes the ABA procedure of extinction?
- Delivering punishment contingent on each occurrence of the target behavior
- Withholding the reinforcement that previously maintained the target behavior (Correct answer)
- Reinforcing behaviors that are incompatible with the target behavior
- Removing aversive stimuli following occurrences of the target behavior
Correct answer: Withholding the reinforcement that previously maintained the target behavior
Extinction involves no longer providing the reinforcer that was maintaining the behavior, causing it to decrease over time.
Question 5: A practitioner uses DRI for a student who hits others. Which behavior is the most appropriate response to reinforce?
- Keeping hands in lap (Correct answer)
- Saying 'I need a break'
- Playing independently with a toy
- Making eye contact with the teacher
Correct answer: Keeping hands in lap
Keeping hands in lap is physically incompatible with hitting, making it the correct target for DRI.
Question 6: Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL) is most appropriate when the intervention goal is to:
- Completely eliminate the target behavior
- Address a behavior that already occurs at zero rate
- Reduce but not fully eliminate the target behavior (Correct answer)
- Replace a behavior with a functionally equivalent one
Correct answer: Reduce but not fully eliminate the target behavior
DRL is chosen when a behavior is acceptable at low levels but problematic at high rates, such as talking in class.
Question 7: What is an 'extinction burst' in the context of implementing extinction?
- A sudden, rapid decrease in behavior when extinction begins
- A temporary increase in target behavior rate or intensity when extinction is first applied (Correct answer)
- The permanent elimination of a behavior after sustained extinction
- The spontaneous recovery of behavior weeks after extinction ends
Correct answer: A temporary increase in target behavior rate or intensity when extinction is first applied
An extinction burst is a temporary increase in the frequency, duration, or intensity of behavior that commonly occurs at the start of an extinction procedure.
ABAT Procedures and Intervention 2
Which prompting hierarchy moves from most intrusive to least intrusive?