RBT RBT Discrete Trial Training 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A learner has met mastery criterion on a target skill. What is the RBT's next appropriate step?
- Discontinue all data collection for that skill
- Inform the supervising BCBA and await guidance on next steps (Correct answer)
- Independently select a new target and begin training
- Return the skill to baseline to confirm the data
Correct answer: Inform the supervising BCBA and await guidance on next steps
Upon meeting mastery criterion, the RBT reports to the BCBA, who determines whether to move to maintenance, generalization, or a new target.
Question 2: Which of the following is NOT a component of a discrete trial?
- Discriminative stimulus (SD)
- Response
- Consequence
- Functional analysis (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Functional analysis
A discrete trial consists of the SD, the learner's response, and the consequence; a functional analysis is a separate assessment procedure.
Question 3: During DTT, 'distractor' stimuli are used primarily to:
- Increase the difficulty of the task by adding irrelevant SDs
- Test whether the learner can discriminate the target stimulus from non-targets (Correct answer)
- Provide additional reinforcement opportunities
- Prevent extinction by varying consequences
Correct answer: Test whether the learner can discriminate the target stimulus from non-targets
Distractor stimuli are non-target items or SDs presented alongside the target to assess and strengthen stimulus discrimination.
Question 4: An RBT is using a 'most-to-least' prompting hierarchy. Which sequence is correct?
- Gesture → Model → Physical
- Physical → Model → Gesture → Independent (Correct answer)
- Verbal → Gesture → Independent
- Independent → Gesture → Physical
Correct answer: Physical → Model → Gesture → Independent
Most-to-least prompting begins with the highest level of support (physical) and systematically fades toward independence.
Question 5: What is 'stimulus overselectivity' and why is it relevant to DTT?
- Responding to too many features of a stimulus, causing slow learning
- Responding to only one feature of a complex stimulus while ignoring others (Correct answer)
- Selecting reinforcers that are too powerful for a given skill
- Overusing a single SD type, reducing generalization
Correct answer: Responding to only one feature of a complex stimulus while ignoring others
Stimulus overselectivity occurs when a learner attends to only part of a multi-element stimulus, which can hinder discrimination learning in DTT.
Question 6: When collecting DTT data, an RBT notices a consistent pattern of correct responses on the first trial but errors on subsequent trials within a session. This pattern may indicate:
- The learner has fully mastered the skill
- Latent inhibition is enhancing responding
- The learner may be responding correctly by chance on the first trial (post-reinforcement error pattern) (Correct answer)
- Data collection errors by the RBT
Correct answer: The learner may be responding correctly by chance on the first trial (post-reinforcement error pattern)
A 'first-trial correct, subsequent-trial incorrect' pattern may suggest the learner is cued by session-start novelty rather than the SD, sometimes called a post-reinforcement or session-start error pattern.
Question 7: Which practice ensures that skills taught in DTT transfer to natural environments?
- Increasing the number of massed trials per session
- Conducting generalization probes across settings, people, and materials (Correct answer)
- Using the exact same materials and instructor for every session
- Removing all prompts immediately after mastery
Correct answer: Conducting generalization probes across settings, people, and materials
Generalization probes across varied settings, people, and materials are the standard method to confirm and promote transfer of DTT-acquired skills.
RBT RBT Discrete Trial Training 5
A learner has met mastery criterion on a target skill.
What is the RBT's next appropriate step?