BCAT Skill Acquisition Treatment 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Pivotal Response Training (PRT) targets 'pivotal' behaviors because:
- They are the most difficult behaviors to teach
- Improving them produces widespread improvements in many other untargeted behaviors (Correct answer)
- They are behaviors that appear on standardized assessments
- They require the most intensive prompting procedures
Correct answer: Improving them produces widespread improvements in many other untargeted behaviors
Pivotal behaviors like motivation, self-management, and responding to multiple cues are 'pivotal' because gains in these areas generalize broadly to other skills.
Question 2: Response generalization occurs when:
- The learner performs the same behavior in a new setting
- The learner performs a different but functionally equivalent behavior to achieve the same outcome (Correct answer)
- The learner fails to respond to a novel stimulus
- The learner discriminates between two similar stimuli
Correct answer: The learner performs a different but functionally equivalent behavior to achieve the same outcome
Response generalization means the learner produces variations of a behavior (different topographies) that still achieve the same reinforcing outcome.
Question 3: Behavioral Skills Training (BST) for teaching a caregiver a new prompt procedure would include which components?
- Written instructions alone
- Instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback (Correct answer)
- Video only, then independent practice
- Observation of another caregiver only
Correct answer: Instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback
BST combines verbal/written instruction, a live or video model, role-play rehearsal, and performance feedback to teach new skills effectively.
Question 4: Simultaneous prompting differs from time-delay procedures because:
- No prompts are ever used in simultaneous prompting
- The prompt is delivered at the same time as the SD with no delay on teaching trials (Correct answer)
- Simultaneous prompting uses only physical prompts
- Probes are never conducted with simultaneous prompting
Correct answer: The prompt is delivered at the same time as the SD with no delay on teaching trials
In simultaneous prompting, the controlling prompt is given immediately with the SD on every teaching trial, and unprompted probes are conducted separately to assess independent responding.
Question 5: Video modeling as a skill acquisition strategy is most beneficial for learners who:
- Have no imitation skills whatsoever
- Learn well from observational learning and watching demonstrations on screen (Correct answer)
- Require physical guidance on every trial
- Only respond to auditory prompts
Correct answer: Learn well from observational learning and watching demonstrations on screen
Video modeling leverages observational learning by showing the target behavior on video, which can be especially effective for visual learners with autism.
Question 6: When teaching a learner to request ('mand') a preferred item, the technician should primarily use:
- The learner's state of deprivation as the establishing operation to create motivation (Correct answer)
- Punishment-based procedures to increase manding frequency
- Schedules of reinforcement unrelated to the requested item
- Massed extinction trials for incorrect mands
Correct answer: The learner's state of deprivation as the establishing operation to create motivation
Establishing operations (EOs) such as deprivation increase the motivating value of a reinforcer, making the learner more likely to mand for it.
Question 7: A technician is teaching a learner to independently brush teeth using a task analysis with 10 steps. At which point should reinforcement be delivered?
- Only after the learner completes all 10 steps perfectly
- After each individual step the learner completes correctly (Correct answer)
- Only when the learner finishes with no errors across the whole chain
- Never during chaining — only at the end of the session
Correct answer: After each individual step the learner completes correctly
During chaining instruction, reinforcement is provided contingent on each correct step to build and maintain each link in the chain before requiring the full sequence.
BCAT Skill Acquisition Treatment 5
Pivotal Response Training (PRT) targets 'pivotal' behaviors because: