40 hour RBT Course - 3rd Edition TCO Glossary

A comprehensive collection of vocabulary terms and definitions from the 40-hour RBT Course 3rd Edition Glossary, covering core concepts in Applied Behavior Analysis, assessment, ethics, and professional conduct.

ABC Recording

A form of descriptive functional assessment and data collection method that documents the antecedent (what happened just before), the behavior (what response was observed), and the consequence (what happened immediately after).

Abolishing Operations (AO)

A type of motivating operation that decreases the value of a reinforcer and makes behaviors that produce that reinforcer less likely.

Accuracy

The degree to which recorded data matches what actually occurred during observation. Accurate data is free from errors and reflects observed behavior precisely.

Acquisition Procedures

Procedures used when teaching new skills or strengthening emerging behaviors.

Active Certification Status

A BACB designation meaning an RBT is authorized to practice, bill for services, and use the RBT title because they have a qualified supervisor on record and have met all certification requirements.

Activity Schedule

A visual, written, or object-based system that shows a sequence of upcoming activities, helping learners know what to expect and promoting independent transitions.

Advocacy

Actively supporting or speaking up for something that improves the quality of behavior-analytic services, such as requesting clarification, feedback, or training needed to implement procedures correctly.

Affect

The learner’s outward expression of emotional state during instruction, such as smiling, frowning, relaxed posture, or signs of distress. Monitoring affect helps determine engagement and well-being.

Affidavit

A sworn written statement describing events you directly observed or have personal knowledge of. When reporting misconduct to the BACB, an affidavit includes a factual account of the incident, a list of supporting documents, and a signed declaration that the information is true.

Agency

The ability to make choices and influence outcomes in one’s environment, to act rather than be acted upon.

Alone Condition

Sometimes also called the automatic reinforcement condition; this is a test condition within a functional analysis in which the client is observed without social attention, demands, or preferred items provided. If the behavior still occurs at a high rate, it may be maintained by sensory input or automatic reinforcement.

Analytic

Systematically using data to identify functional relationships between behavior and the environment

Antecedent

The stimulus or event occurring immediately before a behavior

Antecedent Intervention

A behavior change strategy that modifies events or conditions that occur before a behavior, to make adaptive behavior more likely and behaviors targeted for reduction less likely.

Applied

A focus on socially significant behaviors

Applied Behavior Analysis

A scientific and evidence-based approach that applies the principles of learning and behavior to understand and improve human behavior

Approximation

In terms of a shaping procedure, this is a behavior that resembles the final target behavior but does not yet meet its full form.

Arbitrary Matching

A type of discrimination task where the correct choice is not physically identical to the sample but has a learned relationship (for example, matching the picture of a dog to the written word “dog”).

Array

A structured arrangement of multiple stimuli presented together for selection during an assessment

Assent

Observable behavior that indicates a client is willing to participate in services, such as approaching activities, following instructions, or staying engaged without signs of distress.

Assessing Certificant

The BCBA or BCaBA who conducts and signs the RBT Initial Competency Assessment for an applicant.

Assessment

A systematic process of gathering information to guide decision making

Assessment Integrity

The ethical requirement that assessments are conducted with both accuracy and honesty. Assessment integrity means following protocols carefully, reporting what actually happened, and avoiding shortcuts or alterations.

Assumption-Based Recording

Entering data based on expectation or routine rather than direct observation (e.g., assuming a behavior occurred because it usually does). This practice reduces accuracy.

Attention Condition

A test condition within a functional analysis in which the client is left alone or with minimal interaction and when the target behavior occurs, social attention is provided. If the behavior increases during this condition, it may suggest the behavior is maintained by attention.

Attention Extinction

A procedure in which attention is withheld following a behavior that previously produced attention.

Attention Maintained Behaviors

Behaviors that occur to get attention from others

Attesting Certificant

The BCBA/BCaBA who verifies an applicant’s age, education, background check, and abuse registry check when applying for RBT certification.

Authorized Continuing Education (ACE) Provider

An ACE Provider is an organization or individual approved by the BACB to deliver professional development units (PDUs) or continuing education units (CEUs).

Average ⁄ Mean

A type of summary calculated by $⁄frac{⁄text{total of all data points}}{⁄text{number of points}}$.

Backup Reinforcer

An item, activity, or privilege that can be obtained in exchange for tokens within a token economy.

Backward Chaining

A teaching method where the instructor completes all steps of the task except the final one, and the learner is taught to perform the last step independently first. Earlier steps are gradually added in reverse order until the entire chain is mastered.

Bar Graph

A visual display that compares performance across categories or conditions using rectangular bars. The height of each bar shows the magnitude of behavior in that category.

Baseline Logic

The reasoning process in ABA that compares intervention data to baseline data to evaluate the effects of treatment.

Behavior Chain

A sequence of linked responses where each step produces a change in the environment that serves as reinforcement for the previous step and as the cue for the next step.

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)

A formal document that describes which behaviors should be reduced, why they happen, and how to respond. It also tells the RBT what kind of data to collect and how.

Behavioral Contrast

A phenomenon in which a behavior decreases in the setting where punishment occurs but increases in other settings where it does not.

Behavioral Momentum

A principle stating that behavior that is already occurring at a high rate is likely to continue; used in high-probability sequences to increase the behavior of task completion.

Behavioral Skills Training (BST)

A systematic teaching procedure that includes instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback.

Behavioral Trap

A situation where a behavior, once established, is maintained by naturally occurring reinforcement without continued teaching; often with behaviors of lower response effort and maintained by highly motivating reinforcers.

Calibration

Adjusting and refining professional judgment over time based on experience, supervisor feedback, and observed client patterns.

Chronic Variable

A long-lasting or ongoing condition that consistently affects a client’s performance or behavior over time, such as long-term health issues or stable environmental disruptions.

Clinical Direction

Guidance provided by a qualified supervisor about how to respond to client needs, implement procedures, modify strategies, or address unexpected situations.

Condition Change Line

A solid vertical line on a graph that marks a change in the overall treatment condition, such as switching from baseline to intervention.

Conditioned Reinforcer

A previously neutral stimulus that becomes reinforcing after being paired with another reinforcer.

Confidentiality

The ethical and legal obligation to protect private information about clients and their families, including anything that could reasonably be used to identify who a client is.

Conflict of Interest

A situation in which personal, financial, or relational factors may interfere with objective, client-centered professional judgment.

Continuous Measurement

A type of data collection in which every instance of a behavior is recorded during an observation period; most appropriate when behaviors have a clear beginning and end.

Critical Direction

Guidance provided by a qualified supervisor about how to respond to client needs, implement procedures, modify strategies, or address unexpected situations.

Daily Living Skills

Also called self-help or adaptive skills; these are skills that support a person’s independence in everyday life, such as dressing, feeding themselves, or using the bathroom independently.

Data Path

A line connecting consecutive data points within a single condition to show trends in performance over time. Data paths do not cross condition change lines.

De-Escalation

A set of strategies designed to reduce the intensity of a client’s behavior and prevent further escalation, often by modifying antecedents or altering environmental conditions.

Demand Fading

Gradually increasing the quantity, duration, or difficulty of tasks after starting at an easier or limited level, to reduce escape-maintained behaviors and build work tolerance.

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA)

Reinforcement is delivered for a specific, socially appropriate behavior that serves the same function as the behavior targeted for reduction, while reinforcement is withheld for the target behavior.

Differential Reinforcement of High Rates (DRH)

Reinforcement is delivered only when a behavior occurs at or above a specified rate, increasing the behavior’s rate.

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI)

Reinforcement is delivered for a behavior that cannot physically occur at the same time as the behavior targeted for reduction.

Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL)

Reinforcement is delivered when a behavior occurs at or below a specified rate, reducing but not eliminating the behavior.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)

Reinforcement is delivered when a specific behavior targeted for reduction does not occur during a defined interval of time and reinforcement is provided for any other desirable behavior that occurred during that time instead.

Discontinuous Measurement

A type of data collection that records only some instances of behavior during an observation period, providing a sample of the behavior over time.

Discrete Trial

A single teaching opportunity with a clear start and end, beginning with a specific discriminative stimulus (SD).

Discriminative Stimulus (SD)

A stimulus that signals that reinforcement is available for a particular behavior.

Duration

The total amount of time that a behavior occurs, measured from the moment it begins until it ends.

Echoic

A verbal operant in which a person repeats what someone else says; typically reinforced by social attention.

Errorless Learning

A teaching approach where prompts are used to prevent errors during skill acquisition, so the learner practices correct responses consistently.

Establishing Operations (EO)

Factors that make something more or less reinforcing at a particular moment.

Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts

The professional ethics code that applies to BCBAs and BCaBAs, outlining ethical responsibilities including duties when supervising RBTs.

Exclusion Time-Out

A form of time-out in which the learner is removed from the immediate activity or area but remains under continuous visual supervision.

Extinction

The discontinuation of reinforcement for a previously reinforced behavior, resulting in the eventual decrease and elimination of that behavior.

Extinction Burst

A temporary increase in responding that occurs when reinforcement is withheld from a behavior that has a strong reinforcement history.

FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)

A U.S. federal law that protects the privacy of student education records and limits access to information such as IEPs and school-based behavior plans.

Fidelity Checklist

A step-by-step list of what the instructor must do to implement a procedure correctly, often used for training, self-monitoring, or supervisor observation.

Forward Chaining

A teaching method where the learner is taught the very first step in the task analysis until mastery is demonstrated, and then additional steps are added in sequence.

Functional Analysis (FA)

A highly controlled assessment that tests different environmental conditions to determine which one causes the behavior to occur most often.

Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

A systematic process of identifying the purpose or function that a behavior serves for an individual by analyzing antecedents, behaviors, and consequences.

Functional Communication Training (FCT)

A form of DRA in which reinforcement is delivered for a communication response that replaces a behavior targeted for reduction; the response must be functionally equivalent.

Generality

Behavior change lasts over time, appears in different environments, and spreads to other people or related behaviors, even after the intervention ends.

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer

A previously neutral stimulus that has been paired with many different types of reinforcement across settings, maintaining reinforcing value regardless of the current context.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

A U.S. federal law that protects the privacy and security of a person’s health information.

Incident Report

A formal document completed when an unexpected event occurs during a session, such as an injury or major behavioral event, completed factually and objectively.

Incidental Teaching

An interaction where a teacher uses the learner's initiation to prompt a response, provide reinforcement, and expand learning within structured or unstructured situations.

Indirect Functional Assessment

A method of gathering information about behavior by interviewing people who know the client or using checklists, relying on secondhand reports.

Interobserver Agreement (IOA)

The extent to which two or more independent observers record the same values for the same behavior under the same conditions.

Interresponse Time (IRT)

The time between two consecutive instances of the same behavior.

Intraverbal

A verbal response to someone else’s words that isn’t an exact match, allowing for questions and conversation.

Latency

The time between an instruction or cue and the initiation of the behavior.

Learned Helplessness

A state in which an individual stops trying to influence their environment because past attempts have not produced meaningful change.

Listener Responding

A physical (nonverbal) response to someone else’s verbal behavior.

Maintenance Phase

The period when we monitor or check that a learner continues to use a previously learned skill over time, without active teaching.

Mand

A verbal operant in which a person requests a need or want; reinforced by access to what is requested.

Mandated Reporter

A professional legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect of a child, older adult, or other vulnerable person to proper authorities.

Momentary Time Sampling

A discontinuous measurement method where the observer records whether the behavior is occurring at the exact moment the interval ends.

Negative Punishment

The removal of a stimulus following a behavior that decreases the future probability of that behavior occurring.

Negative Reinforcement

When something is removed from the environment immediately after a behavior and, as a result, the behavior increases in the future.

Natural Environment Teaching (NET)

Teaching in naturally occurring situations where skills are embedded into the learner’s everyday life, following the learner's motivation.

Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR)

A procedure in which preferred stimuli are delivered independently of the learner’s behavior.

Operational Definition

A clear, objective, and concise description of a behavior that is both observable and measurable.

Partial Interval Recording

A discontinuous measurement method where the observer records whether the behavior occurred at any time during the interval.

Percent Correct

A summary of accuracy calculated by $⁄frac{⁄text{correct responses}}{⁄text{total trials}} ⁄times 100$.

Permanent Product Recording

Measurement based on the outcome or result of a behavior, such as completed worksheets.

Positive Punishment

The presentation of a stimulus following a behavior that decreases the future probability of that behavior occurring.