BCAT Skill Acquisition Treatment 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a standard Discrete Trial Training (DTT) session, what is the correct sequence of components?
- Reinforcement → SD → Prompt → Response
- SD → Prompt → Response → Consequence → Inter-trial interval (Correct answer)
- Response → SD → Consequence → Prompt
- Inter-trial interval → Consequence → SD → Response
Correct answer: SD → Prompt → Response → Consequence → Inter-trial interval
DTT follows the sequence: discriminative stimulus (SD), optional prompt, learner response, consequence (reinforcement or error correction), and inter-trial interval.
Question 2: Total task chaining differs from forward and backward chaining because:
- Only the first step is reinforced
- The learner attempts every step in the sequence during each teaching opportunity (Correct answer)
- The trainer completes all but one step
- Steps are taught in random order
Correct answer: The learner attempts every step in the sequence during each teaching opportunity
Total task chaining has the learner practice all steps of the task analysis on every trial, with prompts provided only where needed.
Question 3: Interspersal training (or 'maintenance trials') in a skill acquisition session involves:
- Teaching only new targets in every session
- Mixing mastered easy tasks with new harder targets to maintain fluency and motivation (Correct answer)
- Presenting all new targets at once without mastered items
- Skipping reinforcement for mastered tasks
Correct answer: Mixing mastered easy tasks with new harder targets to maintain fluency and motivation
Interspersal training embeds already-mastered ('easy') tasks among new acquisition targets to sustain momentum and provide frequent reinforcement opportunities.
Question 4: A skill is considered 'mastered' for maintenance purposes when:
- The learner answers correctly once without a prompt
- The learner meets a predetermined criterion (e.g., 80% across 3 sessions) and performance is maintained over time (Correct answer)
- The technician feels the learner knows the skill
- The skill appears on generalization probes only
Correct answer: The learner meets a predetermined criterion (e.g., 80% across 3 sessions) and performance is maintained over time
Mastery requires meeting a pre-set criterion consistently across multiple sessions, and maintenance checks confirm the skill is retained over time.
Question 5: Graduated guidance is a prompting strategy that involves:
- Using only verbal prompts faded over time
- Physical guidance that is adjusted hand-over-hand and faded based on the learner's moment-to-moment performance (Correct answer)
- Giving a fixed prompt on every trial regardless of learner response
- Providing gestural prompts only
Correct answer: Physical guidance that is adjusted hand-over-hand and faded based on the learner's moment-to-moment performance
Graduated guidance uses physical guidance that is dynamically faded or increased in real time based on how much assistance the learner needs each moment.
Question 6: Which data collection method is most appropriate for tracking accuracy across discrete trials in a skill acquisition program?
- Duration recording
- Frequency recording of problem behavior
- Percent correct per session (Correct answer)
- Latency recording
Correct answer: Percent correct per session
Percent correct (number of correct responses divided by total trials × 100) is the standard metric for monitoring skill acquisition progress across DTT trials.
Question 7: During a skill acquisition session, a learner gives an incorrect response. The recommended error correction procedure typically involves:
- Ending the trial and moving on without feedback
- Providing a full prompt to produce the correct response, then re-presenting the SD (Correct answer)
- Giving a time-out for every error
- Reducing the reinforcer magnitude after every error
Correct answer: Providing a full prompt to produce the correct response, then re-presenting the SD
Error correction prompts the correct response after an error, then repeats the SD to give the learner an opportunity to respond correctly and receive reinforcement.
BCAT Skill Acquisition Treatment 4
In a standard Discrete Trial Training (DTT) session, what is the correct sequence of components?