BCAT Behavior Reduction Treatment 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client's data shows that aggressive behavior occurs most frequently on Mondays after a 2-day break. This pattern suggests which antecedent variable?
- Setting event related to schedule changes over the weekend (Correct answer)
- A new consequence being applied on Mondays
- An increase in task difficulty on Mondays
- Lack of preferred items available only on weekdays
Correct answer: Setting event related to schedule changes over the weekend
Increased behavior after breaks (weekends) points to a setting event — the disruption in routine or reduced reinforcement over the weekend.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST describes the difference between DRO and DRA?
- DRO reinforces any behavior except the target; DRA reinforces a specific alternative behavior (Correct answer)
- DRO uses punishment; DRA uses reinforcement
- DRO requires a replacement behavior; DRA does not
- DRO is used for self-injury; DRA is used for aggression only
Correct answer: DRO reinforces any behavior except the target; DRA reinforces a specific alternative behavior
DRO reinforces the absence of the target behavior, while DRA specifically reinforces an identified alternative behavior.
Question 3: A technician notices that a client's problem behavior is increasing even though the BIP is being implemented correctly. The MOST appropriate action is to:
- Add a punishment component independently to stop the behavior
- Continue the plan and assume it is an extinction burst
- Document the data and immediately report the trend to the supervising BCBA (Correct answer)
- Reduce reinforcement density to see if behavior decreases
Correct answer: Document the data and immediately report the trend to the supervising BCBA
Technicians must document data accurately and report concerning trends to the supervising BCBA — they do not modify the BIP independently.
Question 4: Which procedure involves requiring a client to engage in an effortful behavior contingent on problem behavior, making the environment better than before the problem behavior occurred?
- Positive practice overcorrection
- Restitutional overcorrection (Correct answer)
- Response cost
- Time-out from reinforcement
Correct answer: Restitutional overcorrection
Restitutional overcorrection requires the client to restore the environment to a better state than before the problem behavior occurred.
Question 5: A client's SIB is maintained by automatic reinforcement. Which intervention is MOST likely to be effective?
- Extinction through withholding adult attention
- Sensory extinction (blocking sensory feedback) and providing alternative sensory stimulation (Correct answer)
- Removing all preferred items contingent on SIB
- Using a DRO with social praise
Correct answer: Sensory extinction (blocking sensory feedback) and providing alternative sensory stimulation
For automatically reinforced SIB, sensory extinction blocks the sensory consequence and alternative sensory items may compete with the problematic behavior.
Question 6: When writing a behavior reduction goal, the target behavior must be defined in terms that are:
- Broad and open to clinical interpretation
- Observable and measurable (Correct answer)
- Based on the presumed cause of the behavior
- Described using diagnostic labels
Correct answer: Observable and measurable
Behavior definitions must be observable and measurable so that all team members can consistently identify and record the behavior.
Question 7: Which of the following statements about time-out is ACCURATE?
- Time-out is only effective if the client is placed in a locked room
- Time-out is a punishment procedure that removes access to reinforcement (Correct answer)
- Time-out works regardless of whether the current environment is reinforcing
- Time-out is always the first intervention recommended in a BIP
Correct answer: Time-out is a punishment procedure that removes access to reinforcement
Time-out is a punishment procedure effective only when the environment the client is removed from (time-in) is rich with reinforcement.
BCAT Behavior Reduction Treatment 5
A client's data shows that aggressive behavior occurs most frequently on Mondays after a 2-day break.
This pattern suggests which antecedent variable?