Discrete Trial & Naturalistic Teaching 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 Discrete Trial & Naturalistic Teaching flashcards as text
A mastery criterion of '80% correct across 3 consecutive sessions' in DTT is preferable to a single-session criterion because it:
Answer: Demonstrates stable, consistent responding rather than chance performance
Multi-session mastery criteria help ensure the skill is truly acquired and stable rather than reflecting a single high-performance session due to chance or transient conditions.
In Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT), why are 'natural reinforcers' specifically emphasized?
Answer: They are functionally related to the target behavior, increasing motivation and generalization
Natural reinforcers are directly tied to the response (e.g., getting a toy after requesting it), which creates a clearer response-consequence relationship and promotes generalization to real-life contexts.
Which of the following is an example of an 'embedded instruction' strategy within naturalistic teaching?
Answer: Teaching a child to label colors by presenting a target question while painting during free play
Embedded instruction involves inserting learning trials into naturally occurring activities (e.g., painting) rather than extracting the skill for isolated drill.
A therapist using 'shaping' within a naturalistic context is reinforcing:
Answer: Successive approximations of the target behavior within natural activities
Shaping in naturalistic contexts involves reinforcing increasingly closer approximations to the target behavior as they naturally occur during play or daily routines.
In DTT, 'errorless learning' procedures are most appropriate when:
Answer: The learner has a history of reinforcement for incorrect responses or to prevent frustration during early skill acquisition
Errorless learning is most appropriate early in skill acquisition or when a learner has a history of error responding, as it prevents reinforcement of errors and reduces frustration.
Which scenario best illustrates the concept of 'generalization' from DTT to naturalistic settings?
Answer: A child who learned to request 'juice' in DTT spontaneously requests juice at home and school
Generalization occurs when skills trained in a structured setting (DTT) transfer to untrained settings, people, and materials — such as requesting across home and school.
When combining DTT and naturalistic teaching in a comprehensive ABA program, a best-practice rationale is that:
Answer: DTT builds discrete skills rapidly while naturalistic teaching promotes spontaneity and generalization, and both are complementary
A blended approach leverages DTT for rapid, controlled acquisition of discrete skills and naturalistic teaching for promoting generalization, spontaneity, and functional use in real-world settings.