BCAT Behavior Reduction Strategies 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A learner engages in elopement (running away) in the school hallway. The BCBA instructs staff to stand near the door before transitions to block exit attempts. This is an example of:
- Negative punishment
- Environmental modification as an antecedent strategy (Correct answer)
- Positive punishment
- Differential reinforcement of low rates
Correct answer: Environmental modification as an antecedent strategy
Positioning staff to prevent elopement before it can occur is an environmental/antecedent modification that reduces the opportunity for the behavior.
Question 2: Response cost is classified as which type of behavioral procedure?
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative punishment (Correct answer)
- Positive punishment
- Negative reinforcement
Correct answer: Negative punishment
Response cost involves removing a previously earned reinforcer (e.g., tokens) contingent on problem behavior, making it a negative punishment procedure.
Question 3: A technician is instructed to redirect a learner to a quiet area following an aggressive episode and return them to the activity after 3 minutes of calm. This procedure is called:
- Overcorrection
- Exclusionary time-out (Correct answer)
- Non-exclusionary time-out
- Response blocking
Correct answer: Exclusionary time-out
Exclusionary time-out involves removing the learner from the reinforcing environment to a separate, less reinforcing location contingent on problem behavior.
Question 4: Which of the following would be considered a CONTRAINDICATION for using time-out as a behavior reduction strategy?
- The learner has a history of elopement and leaving the area could be dangerous (Correct answer)
- The learner's problem behavior is maintained by attention
- The BCBA has not yet observed the learner
- The learner is over 12 years old
Correct answer: The learner has a history of elopement and leaving the area could be dangerous
Time-out is contraindicated when the learner's behavior or safety history makes removal from the environment dangerous or when the current environment is not reinforcing.
Question 5: A learner's disruption is maintained by escape. The technician is told to continue the demand and prompt the learner through it every time disruption occurs. This procedure uses:
- Extinction by preventing escape (Correct answer)
- Positive punishment via overcorrection
- Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior
- Non-contingent escape on a fixed-time schedule
Correct answer: Extinction by preventing escape
By preventing escape from the demand contingent on disruptive behavior, the technician places the escape-maintained behavior on extinction.
Question 6: When a BCBA requires a behavior reduction procedure involving punishment, the technician's FIRST responsibility is to:
- Evaluate whether the BCBA's decision was correct
- Implement the procedure as described and collect data accurately (Correct answer)
- Modify the procedure to make it less aversive
- Obtain verbal consent from the learner before each session
Correct answer: Implement the procedure as described and collect data accurately
The technician's role is to implement the BCBA-designed procedure with fidelity and collect accurate data so the BCBA can evaluate its effectiveness.
Question 7: Positive practice overcorrection involves having the learner:
- Restore the environment to a better-than-baseline state
- Practice the correct form of the behavior repeatedly following each instance of the problem behavior (Correct answer)
- Lose a set number of tokens for each problem behavior
- Sit quietly in a designated area for a specified duration
Correct answer: Practice the correct form of the behavior repeatedly following each instance of the problem behavior
Positive practice overcorrection requires the learner to repeatedly practice the appropriate alternative behavior contingent on the occurrence of the problem behavior.
BCAT Behavior Reduction Strategies 4
A learner engages in elopement (running away) in the school hallway.
The BCBA instructs staff to stand near the door before transitions to block exit attempts.
This is an example of: