Mixed Deck — All RBT Topics Flashcards

Which DR procedure is based on time?

Answer: DRO

Differential Reinforcement of Other behavior (DRO) is a time-based procedure where reinforcement is delivered when the target problem behavior has *not* occurred for a specified interval of time. If the behavior occurs during the interval, the timer is reset. This procedure aims to decrease a target behavior by reinforcing its absence over a set period.

Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

Answer: Removing a loud alarm when a student sits in their seat

Negative reinforcement increases a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus following the behavior.

Mary, an adorable 4-year-old dimpled client, is being helped with an RBT. Mary and the RBT were playing with the dollhouse one session. Mary had a good time and requested that the RBT snap a picture with his personal phone. The RBT answers yes since Mary asked the right questions. "I adore my job," the RBT later wrote on her social media account after posting the photo. What could be the issue in this situation?

Answer: The RBT should not keep photos of clients on her phone or share photos of clients on social media.

RBTs have a strict ethical obligation to protect client confidentiality and maintain professional boundaries. Taking photos of clients on a personal device and especially sharing them on social media, even without identifying information, is a serious breach of privacy and professional ethics. It compromises the client's right to confidentiality and can lead to unintended disclosure of protected health information (PHI).

When doing a paired choice preference evaluation, how should the RBT behave if the client tries to take both objects at the same time?

Answer: Block the client's access to both objects, then delete them and recreate the trial with the identical things.

In a paired choice preference assessment, the goal is to identify a single preferred item between two options. If a client attempts to take both items, the RBT should block access to prevent this and then remove both items. The trial should then be recreated with the identical items to ensure a clear choice is made, maintaining the integrity of the assessment.

When implementing incidental teaching, the RBT's FIRST step should be to:

Answer: Arrange the environment to create a situation that motivates the learner to initiate communication

Incidental teaching begins with environmental arrangement to create motivating conditions (e.g., placing a desired item out of reach) that prompt the learner to initiate communication naturally.

An RBT is teaching a client to identify colors. The client consistently selects the card on the left side of the table regardless of what is placed there. What error pattern is this?

Answer: Position bias — the client is responding to position rather than to the color SD

Position bias occurs when a client responds based on the position of items in the array rather than to the discriminative stimulus (the color name). This indicates a failure of appropriate stimulus control.

RBTs should meet with their supervisor at least ________ to discuss instances.

Answer: Twice

The BACB's RBT Handbook specifies that RBTs must be supervised for at least 5% of the hours they provide behavior-analytic services per month. This supervision must include at least two face-to-face contacts per month. These meetings are crucial for discussing client progress, addressing challenges, receiving feedback, and ensuring the RBT is implementing protocols correctly and ethically.

In DTT, 'transfer trials' are used to:

Answer: Shift control from a prompted response to an unprompted correct response

Transfer trials pair a prompted correct response immediately followed by an unprompted opportunity, transferring stimulus control to the SD.

Whole interval recording scores a behavior as occurring only if:

Answer: The behavior occurs throughout the entire interval

Whole interval recording requires the behavior to occur for the entire duration of the interval to be scored as occurring. If the behavior stops at any point during the interval, it is scored as not occurring for that interval.

A BCBA is assisting a problematic student in the classroom. The BCBA speaks with the child's teacher to learn more about the disruptive conduct and the events that occurred immediately before and after it. Which method does the psychologist use to conduct a functional behavior assessment?

Answer: Indirect assessment

An indirect assessment involves gathering information about a client's behavior through interviews, questionnaires, or rating scales completed by individuals who have regular contact with the client, such as parents, teachers, or caregivers. The BCBA speaking with the child's teacher to learn about disruptive conduct and its context is a classic example of an indirect assessment method.

What type of preference evaluation entails displaying all objects in front of the learner, documenting what item was selected [allow 30 seconds with the item], representing the remaining items and allowing the client to choose again, and repeating until no items remain?

Answer: Multiple stimulus without replacement

A Multiple Stimulus Without Replacement (MSWO) preference assessment involves presenting all items simultaneously to the learner. Once an item is selected, it is removed from the array, and the remaining items are presented again. This process continues until all items have been chosen, establishing a clear hierarchy of preferences.

One of your clients' families asked you to watch their children this weekend because they have travel plans. How should you reply to the family's request as an RBT?

Answer: Apologize and inform the family that it is against the RBT ethics code.

RBTs are required to maintain professional boundaries and avoid dual relationships that could impair objectivity, risk exploitation, or create conflicts of interest. Babysitting for a client's family constitutes a dual relationship (professional and personal/financial) and is explicitly prohibited by the BACB's ethical guidelines. It is crucial to politely decline and explain the ethical reason.

An RBT is collecting frequency data on a client's target behavior. At the end of the session, the RBT realizes they forgot to record two instances they observed. What is the MOST appropriate action?

Answer: Add the two instances to the data sheet and note that the count was corrected after the session

Accurate data collection is essential in ABA. If an omission is discovered before the data is finalized and submitted, correcting it with a notation preserves accuracy and transparency. Leaving incorrect data or discarding the sheet would compromise the integrity of the client's record.

In total task chaining, how does the RBT present the steps of a task analysis during each teaching session?

Answer: All steps every session, prompting as needed on steps not yet independent

Total task chaining requires the learner to attempt every step of the task analysis in each session. The RBT provides whatever level of prompting is needed for non-mastered steps, allowing practice of the full chain on every trial.

Which of the following best describes 'massed practice' in DTT?

Answer: Presenting the same SD repeatedly in consecutive trials

Massed practice involves running multiple consecutive trials of the same SD to build initial acquisition of a skill.

When implementing a punishment procedure, an RBT notices the target behavior is increasing rather than decreasing. This MOST likely means:

Answer: The consequence being delivered is actually functioning as a reinforcer

By definition, punishment decreases behavior. If the behavior increases, the consequence is functioning as a reinforcer, not a punisher, regardless of the RBT's intent.

Sensory extinction is an extinction procedure designed for behaviors maintained by:

Answer: Automatic (sensory) reinforcement

Sensory extinction attempts to eliminate or mask the sensory consequence that maintains automatically reinforced behavior (e.g., applying padding to reduce sensory feedback from head-banging). Because the reinforcer is internal, this procedure can be difficult to implement consistently.

What does a graph's trend represent?

Answer: The vertical representation of the average data values

A graph's trend represents the overall direction of the data path over time, indicating whether the behavior is increasing, decreasing, or stable. While often visualized with a trend line, this line essentially shows how the average level of the behavior (represented vertically on the y-axis) changes across the observation period. Thus, it provides a visual representation of the average data values' movement over time.

Shaping is best defined as:

Answer: Reinforcing successive approximations toward a target behavior

Shaping uses differential reinforcement of successive approximations to develop a new behavior or topography that does not yet exist in the learner's repertoire.

What is the MOST important consideration before implementing any punishment procedure with a client?

Answer: Ensuring that less restrictive interventions have been tried first and that informed consent has been obtained

Ethical guidelines require that the least restrictive effective procedures be tried first, and informed consent must always be obtained before using punishment procedures. RBTs never implement punishment without BCBA oversight and consent.