Behavioral Interventions & Techniques Flashcards
7 cards from real ABA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Behavioral Interventions & Techniques flashcards as text
A child repeatedly engages in self-injurious behavior (SIB) maintained by automatic reinforcement. Which intervention is MOST appropriate as a first-line approach?
Answer: Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) combined with differential reinforcement
For automatically reinforced SIB, NCR reduces motivation for the behavior while differential reinforcement builds appropriate alternatives.
Which type of prompting hierarchy is used when the practitioner begins with the most intrusive prompt and moves to less intrusive prompts?
Answer: Most-to-least (MTL) prompting
Most-to-least prompting starts with full physical assistance and systematically fades to less intrusive prompts as the learner demonstrates skill acquisition.
A BCBA designs a DRO interval of 5 minutes. The client goes 4 minutes 50 seconds without the target behavior and then engages in it. What should the practitioner do?
Answer: Reset the interval timer and withhold reinforcement
In DRO, reinforcement is only delivered if zero instances of the target behavior occur throughout the entire interval; any occurrence resets the timer.
Social stories are MOST consistent with which behavioral principle?
Answer: Antecedent-based intervention (ABI)
Social stories function as antecedent-based interventions by providing information that clarifies expectations and sets the occasion for appropriate behavior before it occurs.
A practitioner uses video modeling to teach a child with autism to greet peers. Which component is ESSENTIAL for transfer of training?
Answer: Programming for generalization across settings, people, and stimuli
Transfer of training requires deliberate programming for generalization so skills learned via video modeling are performed across varied real-world contexts.
Which schedule of reinforcement produces the highest and most consistent rate of responding and is most resistant to extinction?
Answer: Variable ratio (VR)
Variable ratio schedules produce high, steady rates of responding and are the most resistant to extinction because reinforcement timing is unpredictable.
Shaping by successive approximations is BEST defined as:
Answer: Differentially reinforcing closer and closer approximations to a terminal behavior
Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations — behaviors that progressively more closely resemble the target behavior — until the terminal behavior is achieved.