BCAT Behavior Reduction Treatment 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client's problem behavior reappears after a period of successful suppression, even without any change in the treatment plan. This is known as:
- Extinction burst
- Behavioral contrast
- Spontaneous recovery (Correct answer)
- Stimulus generalization
Correct answer: Spontaneous recovery
Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of an extinguished behavior after a period of time without the behavior occurring.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of response blocking?
- Removing attention after problem behavior
- Physically preventing a client from completing a self-injurious behavior (Correct answer)
- Providing a preferred item to reduce problem behavior
- Teaching a replacement behavior using prompting
Correct answer: Physically preventing a client from completing a self-injurious behavior
Response blocking is a safety procedure where the technician physically prevents the problem behavior from being completed.
Question 3: A client earns tokens for every 10 minutes without aggression. This is an example of:
- DRO on a fixed interval schedule (Correct answer)
- DRI on a variable interval schedule
- Response cost on a fixed ratio schedule
- NCR on a variable ratio schedule
Correct answer: DRO on a fixed interval schedule
Earning tokens for the absence of a behavior over a set time interval is a DRO (Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior) procedure on a fixed interval schedule.
Question 4: A supervisor adds a rule that a client loses 5 minutes of free time for each instance of property destruction. This procedure is called:
- Extinction
- Response cost (Correct answer)
- Overcorrection
- Time-out from reinforcement
Correct answer: Response cost
Response cost involves removing a specified amount of a conditioned reinforcer contingent on the problem behavior.
Question 5: During which phase of behavior reduction should antecedent interventions be prioritized?
- After the behavior occurs
- Before the behavior has a chance to occur (Correct answer)
- During consequence delivery
- After the extinction burst subsides
Correct answer: Before the behavior has a chance to occur
Antecedent interventions are proactive strategies implemented before the behavior occurs to prevent or reduce its likelihood.
Question 6: What is the primary ethical concern when using punishment-based procedures?
- They require more data collection than reinforcement-based procedures
- They must only be used after less restrictive alternatives have been tried (Correct answer)
- They are always prohibited by the BACB Ethics Code
- They can only be used with adult clients
Correct answer: They must only be used after less restrictive alternatives have been tried
Ethical practice requires that less restrictive, reinforcement-based procedures be tried before resorting to punishment-based interventions.
Question 7: A client engages in elopement (running away) primarily when preferred items are taken away. The maintaining variable is most likely:
- Automatic positive reinforcement
- Social positive reinforcement (attention)
- Social negative reinforcement (escape from demands)
- Tangible positive reinforcement (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Tangible positive reinforcement
Elopement that occurs when preferred items are removed is likely maintained by tangible reinforcement — access to the preferred item.
BCAT Behavior Reduction Treatment 3
A client's problem behavior reappears after a period of successful suppression, even without any change in the treatment plan.
This is known as: