BCAT Behavior Reduction Strategies Questions and Answers

Question 1

A technician is implementing an extinction procedure for a client's attention-seeking screaming. For the first three days, the screaming decreases. On the fourth day, the client's screaming becomes louder and more frequent than it was at baseline. This temporary increase in the problem behavior is most likely an example of:

Accepted Answer

An extinction burst

Answer

An extinction burst is a predictable, temporary increase in the frequency, intensity, or duration of a behavior when reinforcement is first removed. It often indicates that the extinction procedure is beginning to work. Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a behavior after it has been extinguished for some time, resurgence is the reappearance of a previously extinguished behavior when another behavior is put on extinction, and negative reinforcement involves removing a stimulus to increase a behavior.

Question 2

A supervising BCBA has designed a plan to reduce a client's out-of-seat behavior during class. The plan instructs the BCAT to provide a token to the client for every 5-minute interval that they remain in their seat. If the client gets out of their seat, the timer is reset. Which differential reinforcement procedure is this?

Accepted Answer

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)

Answer

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO) involves delivering reinforcement contingent on the problem behavior not occurring for a specified period. In this scenario, the reinforcement (token) is given for the absence of the target behavior (out-of-seat) during the time interval.

Question 3

Which of the following interventions is considered an antecedent strategy for behavior reduction?

Accepted Answer

Non-contingent reinforcement (NCR)

Answer

Non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) is an antecedent intervention where reinforcement is delivered on a fixed-time or variable-time schedule, independent of the client's behavior. This strategy aims to reduce the motivation for problem behavior by providing regular access to the reinforcer. Extinction, positive punishment, and response cost are all consequence-based interventions.

Question 4

A client frequently engages in hand-flapping. The treatment plan has the technician reinforce the client for squeezing a stress ball, as it is physically impossible for the client to flap their hands while squeezing the ball. This is an example of which procedure?

Accepted Answer

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI)

Answer

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI) is a procedure where reinforcement is provided for a behavior that cannot occur at the same time as the problem behavior. Squeezing a stress ball is incompatible with hand-flapping.

Question 5

A client has a history of throwing materials to escape difficult tasks. The BCBA has instructed the technician to implement a Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA) procedure. Which of the following would be the BEST example of the technician implementing DRA?

Accepted Answer

Reinforcing the client for verbally requesting a break from the task.

Answer

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA) involves reinforcing a specific, appropriate behavior that serves the same function as the problem behavior. Verbally requesting a break is a functional alternative to throwing items to escape a task. The other options describe DRO, response blocking, and response cost, respectively.

(BCAT) Board Certified Autism Technician Practice Test

(BCAT) Board Certified Autism Technician Practice Test

BCAT Behavior Reduction Strategies Questions and Answers