RBT Exam Revision Course: Assessment: Skill Acquisition

Skill Acquisition

C-01 Identify the Essential Components of a Skill Acquisition Plan
C-02 Prepare for the Session as Required by the Skill Acquisition Plan
C-03 Use Contingencies of Reinforcement
C-04 Implement DTT Procedures
C-05 Implement Naturalistic Procedures
C-06 Implement Task Analyzed Chaining Procedures
C-7 Implement Discrimination Training
C-08 Implement Stimulus Control Transfer Procedures
C-9 Implement prompt and prompt fading procedures
C-10 Generalization and Maintenance Procedures

C-1: Identify the Essential Components of a Written Skill Acquisition Plan

The first step in creating a skill acquisition plan is to choose a skill to target. This skill must be socially significant, which means that it helps the individual become more independent, is age appropriate, and is socially relevant to increase their quality of life. Next, the supervisor will describe the teaching procedure, the materials to be used and what mastery or proficiency of the skill looks like. The final step is to choose the data collection procedures.

In short, the skill acquisition plan should tell you what materials will be used, what type of prompting will be used, how you will reinforce, how you will correct errors and what the plan is for maintenance and generalization.


C-02 Describe How to Prepare for the Session as Required by the Skill Acquisition Plan

 See Section A-01 (Describe How to Prepare for Data Collection). Preparing for a session requires you to identify the required materials, the target teaching procedures, current target prompt levels, current error correction procedures and reinforcers. Some reinforcers may have been placed on restricted access so it is important to ensure you are aware of this.  For example, having reviewed the skill acquisition and behavior support plans, you may need to verify that you have access to a tablet, timers, tally counters, flashcards, toys, visual schedules and protective equipment. You might also note that certain skills teaching interventions need to be prioritised or that you do not have the training to run a relevant component of an intervention. In the event that this relates to crisis intervention strategies, you will need to contact your supervisor for immediate guidance.

C-3: Use contingencies of reinforcement.

Reinforcement is a key concept in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and is used to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future. It can be a tricky concept to understand, as a reinforcer is only a reinforcer after it’s been proven to increase the chances of that behavior occurring in the future. For example, if a child starts cleaning their room more often after getting screen time as a reward, then the screen time is considered a reinforcer. However, if the child is less likely to clean their room after getting screen time, it’s considered a punisher and not a reinforcer.

Another important aspect of reinforcement is the immediacy, or how long after the behavior occurs the reinforcer is presented. The effectiveness of a reinforcer drops dramatically the longer you wait to give it, so it’s best to give it immediately after the behavior occurs.

There are also two types of reinforcement: conditioned and unconditioned. Unconditioned reinforcement, also known as primary reinforcement, does not have to be learned and are inherent forms of reinforcement such as food, water, or sex. Conditioned reinforcement, on the other hand, is learned and can be any stimulus that is associated with primary reinforcement.

A schedule of reinforcement describes the probability of a behaviour producing reinforcement. A continuous schedule of reinforcement means that every instance of a behaviour is reinforced while an intermittent schedule of reinforcement means that only some instances will be reinforced.  On a fixed ratio (FR) schedule, reinforcement is delivered after a fixed number of responses. On a variable ratio schedule(VR), reinforcement is delivered after a variable number of responses.  On a fixed interval (FI) schedule, reinforcement is delivered for the first instance of a behaviour after a fixed period of time, while a behaviour that is on a variable interval (VI) schedule will be reinforced for its first instance after a variable duration of time.

C-4: Implement Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) procedures

Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) is a teaching method that is commonly used in ABA. DTT is a structured teaching method that involves breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps. The goal of DTT is to teach new skills by breaking them down into small, easy-to-learn steps, and then gradually building on those skills and combining them to achieve mastery of skills that will contribute to a person?s quality of life.

DTT is used to teach a wide range of skills, including communication, social interaction, self-care, and academic skills. The therapist will present a task or instruction to the client, and then wait for a response. If the client responds correctly, they will be reinforced with a reward, such as a treat or praise. If the client responds incorrectly, the therapist will repeat the learning opportunity and typically prompts the learner to help the client respond correctly.

The RBT will usually continue to present the task or instruction (using higher level prompts) until the client responds correctly, and then move on to the next trial. DTT is a highly structured and systematic approach, which makes it easy to track progress and make adjustments as needed.

C-5: Implement Naturalistic ABA Teaching Procedures

Naturalistic ABA teaching procedures are a more flexible and less structured approach to teaching new skills when compared to most forms of DTT. The goal of naturalistic teaching is to teach skills in a way that is natural and meaningful to the client, and that is similar to how they would learn skills in their everyday environment.

Naturalistic teaching procedures involve teaching skills in a natural setting, such as at home or in the community, rather than in a structured therapy room. The therapist will work with the client in their everyday environment, and will provide reinforcement and prompts in a way that is similar to how they would in a real-life situation.

For example, if the client is learning to ask for a drink, the therapist may prompt the client to ask for a drink during mealtime, rather than in a structured therapy session. This approach allows the client to learn the skill in a way that is more meaningful and applicable to their everyday life.

Common naturalistic teaching procedures include Incidental Teaching and Natural Environment Teaching.

C-6: Implement Task Analysis and Chaining Procedures

Task analysis is a process of breaking down a complex task into smaller, manageable steps. This is an important step in teaching new skills, especially when the skill is complex or multi-step. Task analysis helps to make the task more manageable and easier to understand for both the client and the therapist.

Chaining procedures are commonly used in conjunction with task analysis. Chaining is used to teach very complex tasks with many steps and a terminal reinforcer at the end of a chain. The first step in chaining is to conduct a task analysis and break the complex task down into smaller, manageable steps. After the task analysis is complete, the therapist can choose one of three chaining procedures: forward chaining, backward chaining, or total task chaining.

Forward chaining involves teaching the first step of the task, then the second step, and so on, until the client has mastered the entire task. Backward chaining involves starting with the last step of the task and working backwards to the first step. Total task chaining involves teaching the entire task at once, and providing prompts when the client has difficulty with a specific step.

C-7: Implement Discrimination Training

Discriminationion training is the process of teaching a client to behave differently depending on the physical and social stimuli presented. This is done by reinforcing behavior in the presence of one stimulus and not reinforcing the same behavior in the presence of another stimulus.

For example, a client may be taught to touch a green card within an array of three coloured cards when given the instruction ?Find the Green Card?, and not to touch a red or blue card. In this example, the instruction ?Find the Green Card? is the discriminative stimulus (SD), which signals that reinforcement is available if the client picks the green card.

Discrimination training is a key component of many skill acquisition plans, as it teaches individuals to respond appropriately to different stimuli in their environment. For example, a traffic light is a good example of discrimination training in action. When the light is green, it means go, and when it’s red, it means stop. The behavior of stopping at a red light has been reinforced by the individual’s avoidance of getting into a collision (negative reinforcement).

Discrimination training can also be used to teach more basic skills, such as naming animals and differentiating between them, or more complex skills, like recognizing subtle changes in a brain scan and knowing how to intervene in a complicated situation.

When implementing discrimination training in ABA, it is usually important to only change one characteristic at a time ? at least during the initial stages of instruction for most learners. For example, if teaching letters, they should all be the same size and color, so as not to confuse colors and shapes with letters. Similarly, when teaching colors, all the shapes should be the same, but the colors should be different.

One important concept to understand when working with discriminative stimuli is the difference between a discriminative stimulus (SD) and a non-discriminative stimulus (S-delta). A discriminative stimulus is a type of stimulus that signals that reinforcement for a certain behavior (or class of behavior), while an S-delta signals that reinforcement signals that reinforcement is not available.

For example, if a therapist presents four cards with the numbers 1-4 and instructs a client to point to the number one, the card marked with the number one in the presence of that instruction is the SD, meaning that only touching that card in response to the instruction will result in reinforcement. All the other cards in the presence of that instruction are S-deltas, meaning that touching them will not result in reinforcement.

C-8: Implement Stimulus Control Transfer Procedures

There are several procedures that can be used to transfer stimulus control, including differential reinforcement and the use of prompting and fading procedures. Differential reinforcement involves reinforcing the behavior only in the presence of specific stimuli, while withholding reinforcement in the presence of other stimuli (i.e. extinction). This helps to ensure that the behavior is only occurring in the presence of the targeted stimulus.

Stimulus fading involves gradually reducing the similarity between the original stimulus and the new stimulus, while still maintaining the same level of reinforcement. This helps the individual learn to respond to a wider range of similar stimuli.

Finally, prompting and fading procedures involve the use of prompts or hints to help the individual respond to a new stimulus, and gradually fading those prompts over time. This helps the individual learn to respond to the new stimulus independently.


C-9 Implement prompt and prompt fading procedures

 Prompts are cues or verbal or physical assistance that are provided to help an individual respond correctly to a task or situation. Prompts can be classified as stimulus (physical) or response prompts.

When using a stimulus prompt, an instructor makes some change to a stimulus, or adds/removes a stimulus in order to make a correct response more likely. It can involve a change to the SD (or the S-Delta) that makes the correct response more obvious to the learner.  There are two main categories of stimulus prompt ? the within stimulus prompt and the extrastimulus prompt.

When using a within stimulus prompt, you change the position or some dimension of an SD in some way that makes correct responding easier. For example, if teaching a child goal keeping skills, you might initially kick the ball to them lightly (with low intensity) to make it easier for them to stop the ball.

Extrastimulus prompts, as the same suggest, involves adding a stimulus to prompt the correct response. For example, if teaching somebody to complete a task such as a school morning routine, the addition of a visual schedule would be considered an extra-stimulus prompt.

Prompt fading is the process of gradually reducing the intensity of the prompt until the individual can respond correctly without the prompt. To prepare for the exam, it is important to understand the different types of prompts (e.g. full physical, partial physical, verbal) and the different methods of prompt fading (e.g. gradual, most-to-least, least-to-most).

C-10 Implement generalization and maintenance procedures

Generalization refers to the ability of an individual to apply a learned skill or behavior to new situations or environments. Maintenance refers to the ability to retain the learned skill or behavior over time.

Response generalization is said to have occurred when somebody learns a skills and then performs a variation of it in response to a similar situation.

Stimulus generalization is said to have occurred stimulus when a trained skill occurs in response to untrained or new stimuli or examples of stimuli.

To prepare for an exam on this topic, it is important to understand the different techniques for promoting generalization and maintenance (e.g. fading, chaining, shaping, token economy) and how to apply them in different situations.

C-11 Implement shaping procedures

Shaping is a method of teaching new behaviors by reinforcing successive approximations of the desired behavior.  The first step a behavior analyst carries out when considering using a shaping procedure, is to identify the terminal goal behavior. The next step is to identify a behavior that a client currently has in their repetorie, that is closest to that terminal goal behavior. Once this has happened, the RBT can use differential reinforcement to shape up the terminal goal behavior. This involves systematically changing the reinforcement criteria so that only approximations that represents a client?s current closest approximation of the terminal goal behavior are reinforced, and all other responses are placed on extinction.

To prepare for an exam on this topic, it is important to understand the different steps involved in shaping (e.g. identifying the target behavior, defining the first approximation, reinforcing successive approximations) and how to apply shaping in different situations.

C-12 Implement token economy procedures

 A token economy is a system in which an individual earns tokens (e.g. stickers, points) for displaying a desired behavior, and can exchange the tokens for a desired item or activity. To prepare for an exam on this topic, it is important to understand the different components of a token economy (e.g. tokens, token exchange system, target behaviors) and how to set up and implement a token economy in a therapeutic or educational setting.

Skill Acquisition Key Terms

Reinforcement

Reinforcement is a consequence that is responsible for increasing the future occurrence of the behaviours that preceded it.

Positive Reinforcement

When a behaviour is directly followed by the presentation of a pleasant stimulus that increases the future frequency of the behaviour, it has been positively reinforced.

Negative Reinforcement

When a behaviour is directly followed by the removal of an unpleasant stimulus that increases the future frequency of the behaviour, it has been negatively reinforced.

Unconditioned Reinforcer

Unconditioned reinforcers are natural reinforcers. They function as reinforcers the first time they are presented. No prior experience is required. They are also known an primary reinforcers.

Conditioned Reinforcer

Conditioned reinforcers (also known as secondary reinforcers) are those that have been paired with unconditioned reinforcers. The stimulus was once neutral but became established as a reinforcer by being paired with an unconditioned reinforcer or previously established reinforcer

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcers

A generalised conditioned reinforcer is a conditioned reinforcer that is paired with a wide range of other reinforcers. Money is an example of a generalized conditioned reinforcer. Money may be traded for a large variety of other reinforcers including tangible reinforcers, activity reinforcers, edible reinforcers and sensory reinforcers.

Punishment

A stimulus change that follows a behaviour and weakens a response is known as punisher. By weaken, we mean that future frequency of that behaviour is weakened because of that punisher.

Positive Punishment

When a behaviour is directly followed by the presentation of an aversive stimulus that decreases the future frequency of the behaviour, it has been positively punished.

Negative Punishment

When a behaviour is directly followed by the removal of a pleasant stimulus that decreases the future frequency of the behaviour, it has been negatively punished.

Continuous Reinforcement

When a behaviour is reinforced every time it occurs, we say that is on a continuous schedule of reinforcement.

Intermittent Reinforcement

When every occurrence of a behaviour is not reinforced, it is on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement. Reinforcement is only provided intermittently.

Schedule Thinning

Thinning a schedule of reinforcement involves gradually increasing the amount of contextually appropriate responses required for reinforcement. In ABA, reinforcement should move from a thick reinforcement schedule (usually continuous) to a thinner reinforcement schedule (variable) until it reaches the schedules of reinforcement a learner will encounter outside of the learning environment.

Stimulus Control

A behavior that occurs more often in the presence of a certain antecedent stimulus (or class of stimuli), is referred to as being under stimulus control. A behaviour comes under stimulus control because that behavior has been reinforced when that stimulus is present and not when it is absence (i.e. discrimination training).

Discrimination Training

Discrimination training involves reinforcing a behavior  in the presence of one stimulus but not others. This can happen naturally or we can contrive circumstances to use discrimination training to bring behaviour under stimulus control (i.e. teaching).

Discriminative Stimulus (SD)

A SD signals that a reinforcer is available for a behavior. Certain behaviors happen more often in the presence of certain SD?s because they have a history of being reinforced in their presence. When teaching, we hope to bring target behaviors until the control of target SD?s. For example, we might want a learner to respond to the target SD ?Where do you live?? with the target response of telling the questioner their address. We would do this by prompting and then reinforcing the target response when it occurs after the target SD.

Stimulus Delta  (S?)

A S? signals a reinforcer is  NOT available for a particular response.  For example, while the vocal stimulus ?Where do you live?? is an SD for providing your address, it is an S? for providing your name or singing the lyrics to your favorite song (i.e. providing an address will be reinforced while the other responses will not be reinforced).

Setting Events

A setting event can occur hours, or even days, before an antecedent or behaviour and can alter the probability of its occurrence. For example, poor sleep might affect performance on an examination.

Motivating Operations (MO)

Motivating operations have two effects.  They momentarily alter the value of a reinforcer and they make the behaviour that produces that reinforcement more or less likely to occur at that time. Deprivation (e.g. hunger) and satiation (e.g. feeling full after eating) are two common types of motivating operation.


Establishing Operations

Establishing Operations (EO?s) increase the value of a reinforcer and make behaviour that produces that reinforcer more likely to occur. Deprivation is a type of establishing operation.   It occurs when someone has been deprived of a particular reinforcer for a period of time.

Abolishing Operations

Abolishing Operations (AO?s) reduce the value of a reinforcer and make behaviours that produce that behaviour less likely to occur. Satiation is a type of abolishing operation. It occurs when someone has recently consumed a large amount of a particular reinforcer or has had substantial exposure to a reinforcing stimulus (e.g. food or sleep).

Three-term contingency

A contingency is an if/then statement that describes the likelihood of a behaviour and its probable consequences. The three-term contingency attempts to describe how our environment affects our behaviour by looking at the relationship between antecedents, behaviours and consequences.

Four-term contingency

This is an elaborated form of the three term contingency that also includes factors related to motivation (i.e. Setting Events and Motivating Operations).

Differential Reinforcement

Differential reinforcement consists of withholding reinforcement for incorrect or contextually inappropriate behaviors (i.e. Extinction), and providing reinforcement for the correct or contextually appropriate response.

Prompting

A prompt is an extra antecedent stimulus that encourages a person to engage in a particular behaviour. A prompt is typically given at the same time or just after the target antecedent SD and it helps to cue the correct response from a learner.

Fading

Prompt fading is a stimulus control transfer process that involves systematically reducing and removing prompts that have been paired with the SD. Different types of prompts can be arranged along a continuum or hierarchy of intrusiveness. We can fade prompts using techniques such as least to most (LTM) prompting and most to least (MTL) prompting.

Least to Most Prompting (LTM)

When using LTM prompting, a learner is provided with an opportunity to respond independently to an instruction or other SD. If they respond incorrectly (or do not respond at all), the RBT will engage in a more intrusive prompt for the next learning opportunity.

Most to Least Prompting (MTL)

With MTL prompting the most intrusive prompt is used first and is then faded to successively less intrusive prompts for subsequent learning opportunities if the learner is successful.  This is sometimes referred to as errorless prompting.

Shaping

Shaping is a process for establishing a new behaviour that is not currently part of a learner?s behavioural repertoire. It involves reinforcing successive (closer and closer) approximations to a target behaviour known as a terminal goal. Shaping can be accomplished by first identifying the terminal goal, reinforcing the current best approximation and then changing the reinforcing criteria to closer and closer approximations of the terminal goal. 

Chaining

Chaining is a way to teach a multi-step skill.  Small behaviors that are linked or chained together, to accomplish a terminal goal (e.g. getting to a friend?s house) are identified using a task analysis and then the steps and the sequence that they need to be performed in are taught using prompting and reinforcement

Task Analysis

When teaching behaviour chains, we usually use something known as a Task Analysis. This involves breaking a complex behaviour into small, teachable steps. Prompting and Reinforcing each step within a Task Analysis is an instructional procedure known as chaining. 

Forward Chaining

Forward Chaining is a procedure where at first only the FIRST step of a task analysis is targeted. If the learner completes it (with prompting initially), they receive reinforcement. When they can carry out the first step independently (i.e. it is mastered), the second step in the chain is targeted. It is used if a task is more complex for learner and if the end natural reinforcer in chain may not be a potent reinforcer for the learner.

Backward Chaining

Backward Chaining is a procedure where at first only the final step in the task is targeted. Reinforcement is provided if the final step within the chain is completed at the current target prompt level. When the learner can carry out the final step in the chain independently, the next step that is targeted is the second last step within the chain. It is often used a if task is quite complex for a learner and/or if the natural reinforcer at the end of the chain is a potent reinforcer for the learner.

Total Task Chaining

Total Task Chaining is a procedure  where all steps in the chain are targeted for teaching at once.  Each step has its own target prompt level. Reinforcement is given for the completion of each step with a particularly strong reinforcer provided at the end. It is often used if a learner can already carry out several steps in a chain.

Generalization

The spreading of the effects of intervention to outside of the intervention is known as generalisation.

Response Generalization

Response generalization is said to have occurred when somebody learns a skills and then performs a variation of it in response to a similar situation.

Stimulus Generalization

Stimulus generalization is said to have occurred stimulus when a trained skill occurs in response to untrained or new stimuli or examples of stimuli.

Maintenance

Maintenance refers to the extent to which a target behaviour continues to occur over time. When teaching a new type of skill to somebody  we typically start off with thick schedules of reinforcement, but over time we alter the reinforcement schedule to thinner schedules of intermittent reinforcement. This promotes the maintenance of the behaviour over time.

Discrete Trial Teaching

Discrete trial teaching uses the three term (ABC) contingency to teach a variety of skills to learners.

First, the instructor ensures that the learner is attending them by obtaining a readiness response. Next, the antecedent (the target SD) is presented and a prompt is used (if scripted in the protocol). Then, the a learner behaviour occurs (the response). This is followed by a consequence. If the learner responded correctly, reinforcement is delivered. If  the response is incorrect, the instructor provides a correction. Finally, there is an intertrial interval. This interval signals to the learner that one learning opportunity has ended and another is about to begin. During this time, the instructor records data and prepares for the next trial.

Naturalistic Teaching

Naturalistic teaching procedures involve teaching skills in a natural setting, such as at home or in the community, rather than in a structured therapy room. The therapist will work with the client in their everyday environment, and will provide reinforcement and prompts in a way that is similar to how they would in a real-life situation.

Incidental Teaching

Incidental teaching is a naturalistic ABA teaching procedure that was designed to promote the development of more elaborate communication.  A teaching opportunity begins when a learner demonstrates their interest in an item or activity by approaching it. An approach can be physical, vocal or non vocal (e.g. directing gaze, walking towards or pointing). Once the learner has initiated the opportunity, the instructor requests a more elaborate form of communication. The instructor then honours the elaborated request immediately, or provides it after a correction procedure.

Natural Environment Teaching (NET)

Natural Environment Teaching is a naturalistic behavioural teaching format that involves focusing on the learner?s immediate interests and daily activities as a guide for language instruction. It can be used to teach new targets or to generalise targets initially taught through other formats.  Within activities, learning opportunities are created to allow for learning or generalising skills related to matching, sorting, following instructions, imitating, emulating, manding, tacting, echoic and intraverbal responding.  As with other ABA teaching approaches, target SD?s or MO?s will be followed by learner behaviour and consequences, however there is a greater emphasis on the use of naturally occurring reinforcement.

Token Economy

A token economy is a contingency based procedure that can be used to reduce challenging behaviours or incorrect responses and increase functional behaviors through the deliverance of a tangible conditioned reinforcer in the form of tokens.  These tokens are generalised conditioned reinforcers that can be exchange for access to backup reinforcers. A token economy will typically involve two separate reinforcement contingencies ? one for receiving tokens and one for exchanging tokens.

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