ABA Skill Acquisition and Teaching Procedures 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Shaping involves reinforcing:
- Successive approximations toward the target behavior (Correct answer)
- Only the exact target behavior from the start
- Any behavior that occurs after the SD
- The absence of competing behaviors
Correct answer: Successive approximations toward the target behavior
Shaping reinforces responses that progressively resemble the target behavior, gradually raising the criterion until the final behavior is achieved.
Question 2: Which teaching arrangement uses naturally occurring opportunities distributed throughout the day rather than massed trials?
- Naturalistic teaching (incidental teaching) (Correct answer)
- Discrete trial training
- Direct instruction
- Error correction
Correct answer: Naturalistic teaching (incidental teaching)
Naturalistic or incidental teaching embeds learning trials within the child's natural environment and daily routines rather than structured table-top sessions.
Question 3: What is the main difference between massed practice and distributed practice?
- Massed practice runs many trials back-to-back; distributed practice spaces trials across time (Correct answer)
- Massed practice uses longer intervals; distributed uses shorter ones
- Massed practice involves multiple behaviors; distributed focuses on one
- Massed practice is used only for maintenance; distributed is for acquisition
Correct answer: Massed practice runs many trials back-to-back; distributed practice spaces trials across time
Massed practice presents many consecutive trials for one skill, while distributed practice intersperses trials with other activities or skills over time.
Question 4: A token economy uses tokens as:
- Conditioned generalized reinforcers exchangeable for backup reinforcers (Correct answer)
- Unconditioned reinforcers delivered immediately
- Aversive stimuli contingent on problem behavior
- Natural consequences of target behaviors
Correct answer: Conditioned generalized reinforcers exchangeable for backup reinforcers
Tokens are conditioned generalized reinforcers that acquire value through pairing with multiple backup reinforcers and can be exchanged for those reinforcers.
Question 5: Stimulus control refers to:
- A behavior occurring more frequently in the presence of a specific antecedent stimulus (Correct answer)
- The suppression of behavior by a punishing stimulus
- The reinforcement of behavior across all conditions
- The physical guidance used to prompt a response
Correct answer: A behavior occurring more frequently in the presence of a specific antecedent stimulus
Stimulus control exists when a behavior reliably occurs in the presence of a discriminative stimulus (SD) and not in its absence.
Question 6: What is errorless teaching designed to prevent?
- Learner errors during acquisition of new skills (Correct answer)
- Reinforcement of correct responses
- Generalization of skills to new settings
- Prompt dependency in advanced learners
Correct answer: Learner errors during acquisition of new skills
Errorless teaching provides immediate, intrusive prompts so the learner always responds correctly, minimizing errors and the reinforcement of incorrect responses during acquisition.
ABA Skill Acquisition and Teaching Procedures 2
Shaping involves reinforcing: