RBT Exams

Positive Reinforcement

A PROCESS that occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that increases the FUTURE frequency of the behaviors in similar conditions

Negative Reinforcement

A PROCESS that occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by the REDUCTION or REMOVAL of a stimulus that increase the FUTURE frequency of the behavior in similar conditions

Positive Punishment

A PROCESS that occurs when the addition of a stimulus immediately following a behavior results in a decrease the FUTRUE frequency of the behavior.

Negative Punishment

A PROCESS that occurs when a response is followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus (or a decrease in the intensity of a stimulus the decreases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions.

Reinforcer

Stimulus change that increases the future frequency of the behavior (Items that increases a behavior)

Punisher

Stimulus change that decreases the future frequency of the behavior (Items that decreases a behavior)

Conditioned Reinforcer

When a previously neutral stimulus acquires the ability to function as a reinforce through stimulus-stimulus pairing with one or more unconditioned or conditioned reinforces

Unconditioned Reinforcer

A stimulus change that can increase the future frequency of behavior without prior pairing without any other form of reinforcement

Extinction

A procedure that occur when a previously reinforced response is discontinued, so that behavior decreases in the future. No reinforcement-behavior decreases. A maintaining reinforce is no longer provided.

Deprivation

The absence or reduction of a reinforcer for a period of time. Deprivation is an establishing operation that increases the effectiveness of the reinforcer and the rate of behavior that produced that reinforcer in the past.

Satiation

Consuming a substantial amount of a reinforcer temporarily decreases relevant learning and performance.

The repeated receiving of reinforcement.

Contingency

The relationship between a kind of response, the stimuli which precede it, and the stimuli which follow

Motivating Operation

An environmental variable that:

1. Alters (increases or decreases) the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus

2. Alters (increases or decreases) the current frequency of all behavior that have been reinforced by that stimulus

Antecedent

A stimulus that precedes a behavior

Behavior

An observable and measurable external act of an organism

Consequence

A stimulus that precedes a behavior in time

3-Term Contingency

A-B-C of behavior

Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence

Stimulus

Physical events that affect the behavior of an individual.

• May be internal or external to the individual

• May occur prior to, during, or after a behavior

Discriminative Stimulus

A stimulus in the presence of which responses of some type have been reinforced and in the absence of which the same type of responses have occurred and not been reinforced

Stimulus Control

When the rate/frequency, latency, duration, or amplitude of a response is altered in the presence of an antecedent stimulus.

Acquired when responses are reinforced only in the presence of a specific stimulus (SD) and not in the presence of another stimulus

Response

A single instance of behavior

Ex: One time hand flapping

Behavior

Larger set/class of responses that share physical dimensions (e.g., hand-flapping behavior) or functions (e.g., study behavior)

Discrete Trial

A method of teaching in simplified and structured steps.

Instead of teaching an entire skill in one go, the skill is broken down and “built-up” to teach each step one at a time

Discrimination Training

Using DTT to teach different labels, objects, or colors

Procedure that establishes stimulus control

Discrete Trial Training (DTT)

The method allows for repeated presentations of trials

A trial is clearly and objectively defined

It has three parts: SD, Child responses, Consequence

Natural Environment Training (NET)

Utilizing principles of ABA to teach in the natural environment, the real world.

Fluency-Based Training

Flash cards and repeated drills

Generalization

Practicing mastered skills across different settings and with different people

Maintenance

Ability of a child to demonstrate previously acquired skills over time and over durations in which the reinforcement has been faded below the original level.

Caregiver Training

Parent training and parent consultation

Premack Principle

Outlines what the child is expected to do prior to receiving access to a preferred task or item

Commonly phrased in a “first/then” format

Preference Assessment

Observation or trial-based evaluations that allow clinicians to determine a preference hierarchy

• A preference hierarchy indicates which items are a child’s highly-preferred items, moderately-preferred items, and low-preferred items

Prompt

Used to increase the likelihood that a student will provide a desired response (cues)

Errorless Learning

Therapy strategy that ensures children always response correctly.

As each skill is taught, children are provided with a prompt or cue immediately following an instruction.

Most-to-Least Prompting

Physical, Verbal, Positional, Gestural (prompting level for a child to complete the skill)

Least-to-Most Prompting

Gestural, Positional, Verbal, Physical (prompting level for a child to complete the skill).

Prompt Fading

Systematic reduction of a prompt until it is eliminated or redefined as an integrated part of the task

Time Delay Prompt

The response interval is a fixed (constant) number of seconds, usually 3, 4, 5 seconds.

In the 0-second trials, there so only one response interval that is inserted after the controlling prompt

Chaining

A technique used in ABA to break complex tasks down into discrete responses or individual behaviors

Forward Chaining

A technique used to teach a multi-step task by starting with the first step, then adding subsequent steps sequentially until the learner completes the entire chain independently

Backward Chaining

A technique used to teach a multi-step task in reverse order, starting with the final step then gradually adding the earlier steps as mastery develops

Shaping

The process of gradually modifying a behavior by reinforcing closer and closer approximations to the target behavior

Pacing

Differential reinforcement schedule

Time between the preceding response and the reinforced response is specified more narrowly as falling between certain limits.

Alternative and Augmentative Communication

Includes all forms of communication (other than oral speech) that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas

• Special aids, such as pictures and symbol communication boards and electronic devices, are available to help people express themselves (i.e., iPad)

Functional Approaches to Teaching Language Skills

Teaching language within the context of the child’s daily routines

Mand Training

Essentially a request. However, it’s all about what comes before and after the request. Prior to the request comes some kind of deprivation or aversive

Tact Training

A verbal operant that is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus (such as an object, event, or property of an object) and is maintained by nonspecific social reinforcement (praise)

Less technically, it is a label (labeling). Being able to label the item when the stimuli is present

Training Echoic Behavior (Echo)

An imitated sound or word

Training Intraverbal Behavior

A correct conversational response (the therapist says "did you have fun on the ride?" and the child replies "yes, I love the ride.")

Teaching Joint Attention — FOCUS on FACE and EYE CONTACT

Occurs when two people share an interest in an object or event and there is an understanding between the two people that they are both interested in the same object or event

Solitary Play — Teaching Play Skills

The child will play or engage with a toy, if no one sits next to them or tries to interact with them.

If someone tries to sit down, the child would turn their back to the person and scoot away. If the person tries to touch the toy, the child would get up and walk away

Parallel Play — Teaching Play Skills

The child will play or engage with a toy while in close proximity with other children or adults, and sometimes will look at how the other child is engaging with their own toy

The child primarily focuses on their own toy and does not interact with the peer or adult

Interactive Play — Teaching Play Skills

The child will share a toy with a peer or adult and will take turns appropriately

• Includes: passing a toy back and fourth, or imitating each other’s play

The child may still play silently or avoid eye contact with the other person

Cooperative Play — Teaching Play Skills

The child will play and engage with another person, while playing with separate toys or sharing one toy

• Includes: building a block tower together, or working together to solve a puzzle

The child will look at the other person and make eye contact

Pretend Play — Teaching Play Skills

The child will engage in imaginative play (either alone or with others) that involves elements of pretend

• Includes: cuddling a doll and pretending the doll is crying, cooking a pretend meal using Play-Doh, or playing dress up

Rule Based Play — Teaching Play Skills

The child will play highly social and competitive games with other persons

• Includes: sports, board games, card games, and video games

The child can also play games that other children make up on the spot and can easily adhere to rules of the game that constantly change

Fine Motor Skills — Teaching Motor Skills

Puzzles, drawing, play-doh, writing, typing, and legos

Gross Motor Skills — Teaching Motor Skills

Throw, catch balls, yoga, jumping, riding a bicycle, play tag, etc.

Safety — Teaching Adaptive and Safety Skills

Cross street, handle fragile and breakable items, cook, prepare food, take a bus, etc.

Adaptive — Teaching Adaptive and Safety Skills

Use ATM, self-care (brushing teeth, washing hands, showering, washing dishes, folding clothes, chores, etc.), and daily living skills (hygiene)

Teaching Social Skills

Teaching kids in areas:

1. Poor eye contact

2. A lack of interest in initiating social interactions

3. A lack of understanding of emotions and how they are expressed

4. A literal interpretation of nonliteral language (such as figures of speech, metaphors, and sarcasm)

Teaching Cognition Skills

Skill development in children involves the progressive building of learning skills (such as attention, memory, and thinking).

These crucial skills enable children to process sensory information and eventually learn to evaluate, analyze, remember, make comparisons, and understand cause-and-effect

Thinking and learning skills can be improved with practice and the right training

Executive Function (EF) — Teaching Executive-Function Skills

The ability to engage in goal-directed activity, along with the mental processes that make this possible

As children grow:

• They are more and more able to engage in organized, planned, and goal-directed actions

• They are increasingly able to think about multiple aspects of a problem, plan a course of action, hold a plan in mind and act upon it

• They gain the ability to discern that something is an error and to modify their actions based on learning from errors

Organization — Problem Area of Executive Function (EF)

Children have difficulty organizing and remembering the steps to complete a task

Impulse Control — Problem Area of Executive Function (EF)

Children simply cannot control their impulses sufficiently enough to participate in structured situations

• Children will be unable to manage impulses to grab, punch, hit, bite, put things in their mouths, and run away

Children cannot remain seated long enough to complete a teaching session. Instead, they repeatedly stand up and go toward whatever has caught their attention

Planning Memory — Problem Area of Executive Function (EF)

Children appear (at times) seem to forget the sequence of events necessary to accomplish a task, even when they are highly motivated

Attending — Problem Area of Executive Function (EF)

Also referred to as selective attention

Initiating — Problem Area of Executive Function (EF)

Children learn to play a repertoire of different games and activities. They can play these games independently, but will not initiate them

Even if they are obviously bored, children will still rely on others to initiate all of their organized activities

Teaching Academic Skills

Teaching school goals and reviewing homework

• Includes: doing workbook, teaching letter recognition, and teaching math, English, and Science

Visual Supports

Using a picture or other visual item to communicate with a child who has difficulty understanding or using language

• Includes: photographs, drawings, objects, written words, or lists

Used to help children for two main purposes:

1. Help parents communicate better with their child

2. Help children communicate better with others

Curriculum Modification

Modifying the existing intervention programs or instruction delivery methods to make learning easier for a child or to break down difficult goals into smaller prerequisite skills

In other words, altering the delivery of the instruction or method of student performance and does not change the content or conceptual difficulty

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)

A plan that is designed to teach and reward positive behaviors

• Can help prevent or stop problem behaviors in school

Describes the problem behavior, the reasons the behavior occurs, and the intervention strategies that will address the problem behavior

Target Behavior

The behavior that has been selected for change

Operational Definition

Describes the behavior in terms of its topology and its function

It is an explicit definition that makes it possible for two or more disinterested observers to identify the same behavior when observed

Functional Behavior Assessment

A systematic method for obtaining information about the function of challenging behaviors serves an individual.

• Allows professionals to make empirically based hypotheses about why behaviors occur

Intervention plan involves a variety of methods, including:

• Direct observations, interviews, checklists, and significant others

• Competing contingencies, and maintenance and generalization factors

• Potential reinforcers and punishers

The purpose:

1. Identifies and defines targets for behavior change

2. Guides professionals to create effective and positive interventions

Escape/Avoidance Function

A behavior allows escape from (i.e., stop) an ongoing stimulus

Attention Function

The individual behaves to get focused attention from parents, teachers, siblings, peers, or other people that are around them

Access to Tangible Function

The individual behaves to get a preferred item or participate in an enjoyable activity.

Automatic Function or Sensory Function

The individual behaves in a specific way because it feels good to them.

Antecedent-Based Interventions (ABI)

A collection of practices in which environmental modifications are used prior to the behavior occurring to change the conditions in the setting that prompt a learner with ASD to engage in an interfering behavior

Examples:

• Behavior momentum

• Increasing the value of reinforcers

• Choice board

• Remove the trigger for problem behavior

• Priming

• Schedules

Functional Communication Training (FCT)

Used to teach and establish replacement behaviors for inappropriate or harmful behaviors (such as aggression, escape/elopement, non-compliance, etc.)

When a child is regularly engaging in disruptive, challenging behaviors, that is ALWAYS a form

Token Eco

High-P Request Sequence / Behavioral Momentum

Encourages students to follow directions.

The process starts by giving students three or more requests that they will readily do. After the student successfully completes each request, reinforce them. Now the student is more likely to carry out a more difficult request

Non-Contingent Reinforcement (NCR)

A powerful method to reduce problematic behavior

Involves giving the student access to a reinforcer frequently enough that they are no longer motivated to exhibit disruptive behavior to obtain that same reinforcer

Replacement Behavior

Replaces the unwanted targeted behavior

An appropriate behavior that is maintained by the same consequences as the unwanted target behavior

By serving the same function as the challenging behavior, the appropriate skill can be used to get the same need met in a more appropriate way

Escape Training/Extinction

A behavioral procedure that is generally used to treat escape- or avoidance-maintained behaviors

Utilization of this procedure includes discontinuing the escape contingency upon the occurrence of the behavior

Attention Extinction

A behavioral procedure that is generally used to treat attention-maintained behaviors

Utilization of this procedure includes discontinuing the attention contingency upon the occurrence of the behavior

Access to Tangible Extinction

A behavioral procedure that is generally used to treat access/tangible maintained behaviors

Utilization of this procedure includes discontinuing the access/tangible contingency upon the occurrence of the behavior

Extinction Burst

Defined as “a temporary increase in the frequency, duration, or magnitude of the target response” (Lerman, Iwata, & Wallace, 1999)

Sometimes a behavior that is being targeted by an extinction procedure will not initially begin to decrease and will instead do the complete opposite and actually increase

Continuous Reinforcement (CRF)

Within an educational setting, this means the teacher would deliver reinforcement after every correct response from their student(s)

Utilized for strengthening novel behaviors when teaching is first initiated for a new skill that is being acquired

Fixed-Ratio (FR) Schedule — Intermittent Reinforcement

Reinforcement should be delivered after a constant or “fixed” number of correct responses

The chosen number could be 5, 10, 20, or 100 or more. There is no limit, but the number must be defined

• Example: __2 means reinforcement is delivered after every 2 correct responses

Fixed-Interval (FI) Schedule — Intermittent Reinforcement

Reinforcement becomes available after a specific period of time

(The term) followed by the amount of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes available

• Example: __5 would mean reinforcement is delivered after the first correct response that occurs after 5 minutes (Time is not enough, the response has to be correct too)

Example: A weekly paycheck

Variable-Ratio (VR) Schedule — Intermittent Reinforcement

Occurs when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses

Creates a high and steady rate of responding

Example:

• Gambling and lottery games

• In a lab setting, this might involve delivering food pellets to a rat after one bar press, again after four bar presses, and a third pellet after two bar presses

Variable-Interval (VI) Schedule — Intermittent Reinforcement

Occurs when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed

Produces a slow and steady rate of response

Example:

• Delivering a food pellet to a rat after the first bar press following a one-minute interval, another pellet for the first response following a five-minute interval, and a third food pellet for the first response following a three-minute interval

Part(s) Pertaining To a Reinforcement Procedure

1. Reinforcement contingent on:

   1. The occurrence of a behavior other than the challenging behavior

   2. Challenging behavior occurring at a reduced rate

2. Withholding reinforcement (i.e., extinction) for the challenging behavior as much as possible

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA) — Differential Reinforcement

A procedure in which one reinforces the occurrence of behavior that provides a desirable alternative to the problem behavior; not necessarily behavior incompatible with it

In other words, putting an undesired behavior on extinction, while simultaneously giving reinforcement to an appropriate behavior

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI) — Differential Reinforcement

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO) — Differential Reinforcement