1. An RBT is about to run a multiple-stimulus preference assessment with Mateo at home, and a tablet puzzle game is one of the items. His mother mentions that Mateo has not been allowed to play the game since yesterday morning.
How is this deprivation MOST likely to affect Mateo's selections?
Answer: C
Going without an item is deprivation, a motivating operation that temporarily increases the item's reinforcing value and makes behavior that produces it more likely. After a day without the puzzle game, Mateo is more likely to select it, so the RBT should note his recent access on the datasheet and share it with the supervisor. Satiation is the opposite condition; it follows recent heavy access and lowers an item's value, so it does not apply here. Losing interest after a short break is not what deprivation does; time away usually raises momentary value rather than erasing it. The claim that preferences stay the same ignores motivating operations, which is exactly why preferences shift from session to session and why assessments are repeated.
2. An RBT is administering a curriculum-based skills assessment to Priya in a clinic. The manual's discontinue rule for the receptive identification subtest says to stop after four consecutive errors, and Priya has just made her fourth error in a row.
What should the RBT do next?
Answer: D
A discontinue rule is a predetermined stopping point written into the assessment, here four consecutive errors. Once Priya meets it, the RBT stops administering that subtest and proceeds as the manual directs, which keeps the administration standardized and avoids frustrating her with items beyond her current skills. Finishing every remaining item ignores the rule and can produce inaccurate scores and unnecessary problem behavior. Prompting the remaining items would make her responses look correct but would no longer measure what she can do independently, which defeats the purpose of an assessment. Repeating missed items until she answers correctly changes the administration rules and inflates her score. Following the rule exactly, and reporting any concerns to the supervisor, keeps the results valid.
3. An RBT is collecting ABC data on Darnell's crying in a second-grade classroom. Today two classes have been combined in one room, the air conditioning is broken, and the noise level is much higher than usual.
What should the RBT do with these observations?
Answer: A
Descriptive assessment data are most useful when they capture the conditions surrounding behavior, so the RBT should write down the crowding, heat, and noise on the datasheet. Environmental variables like these may act as setting events, and recording them objectively gives the supervisor information to consider when analyzing the data. Leaving them off because only antecedents and consequences belong there is too narrow; many datasheets include setting or environmental notes for exactly this reason. Stopping and rescheduling discards real-world data and is a decision for the supervisor, not the RBT. Telling the teacher that heat and noise cause the crying is an interpretation of function, which is outside the RBT's role; the RBT records what was observed and lets the supervisor interpret it.
4. An RBT will help run a functional analysis for Rosa, who engages in self-injury. Before sessions begin, the supervisor reviews termination criteria, padded equipment, and emergency steps with the whole team.
Why do functional analysis sessions require these safeguards?
Answer: B
A functional analysis deliberately arranges conditions, such as withholding attention or presenting demands, that are likely to evoke problem behavior so the team can see which consequence maintains it. Because Rosa's self-injury is expected to occur, there are inherent risks, and safeguards like termination criteria, protective equipment, and emergency steps protect her and staff. Saying the sessions deliver punishment is incorrect; test conditions usually provide the suspected reinforcer, such as attention or a break, after the behavior. Uncontrolled natural settings describe descriptive assessment; a functional analysis is conducted in conditions the team arranges and controls. Teaching replacement behaviors belongs to treatment that follows assessment, not to the purpose of an FA, so it does not explain the safeguards.
5. During a language assessment at a clinic, an RBT probes Ari's tacts using common objects and pictures. The RBT holds up a picture of an apple and records how Ari responds on each trial.
Which response should the RBT record as an independent tact?
Answer: C
A tact is a label controlled by a nonverbal stimulus, so an independent tact occurs when Ari names the apple picture with no vocal prompt telling him what to say. Saying 'apple' when the RBT silently holds up the picture meets that standard. Repeating 'apple' right after the RBT says 'Say apple' is an echoic, because the RBT's words, not the picture, controlled the response. Finishing the word after the RBT models its first part is a prompted response, because a partial vocal prompt supplied part of the answer. Saying 'apple' while reaching for a real apple he wants is a mand, since motivation for the item controlled the response. Scoring only unprompted labels as independent keeps the assessment accurate for the supervisor.
6. A BCBA is directing a functional analysis, and an RBT is running the tangible condition with Kai at a clinic. As planned, the RBT gives Kai brief access to his tablet just before the session starts.
What should the RBT do once the session begins?
Answer: D
In the tangible condition, the preferred item is withheld and returned briefly only contingent on the target behavior, which tests whether access to tangibles maintains it. After pre-session access, the RBT removes the tablet and gives it back for a short period each time Kai engages in the target behavior, exactly as the BCBA planned. Letting Kai keep the tablet all session describes the play or control condition, where preferred items are freely available. Giving attention after the target behavior describes the attention condition, which tests a different consequence. Returning the tablet every 30 seconds regardless of behavior is a time-based schedule that breaks the contingency the condition is designed to test. The RBT implements the condition as written and leaves interpretation of results to the BCBA.
7. Ellie has mastered naming colors with her RBT using flashcards at the clinic table. Her supervisor now asks the RBT to run a generalization probe for this skill during the next session.
Which probe BEST fits the supervisor's request?
Answer: A
A generalization probe checks whether a learned skill occurs with novel stimuli, people, or settings that were not part of teaching. Asking Ellie to name the colors of toys in the playroom tests new materials in a new setting, so it directly answers the supervisor's request. Showing the same flashcards at the same table a month later checks maintenance, meaning whether the skill lasts over time, not whether it transfers to new conditions. Using the same flashcards with a model prompt on each trial tests nothing new and adds prompts, so it cannot show independent performance. Teaching three new colors is skill acquisition for new targets rather than a probe of the mastered skill, so it does not test generalization at all.
8. During a functional analysis of severe biting, Marcus's supervisor assigned the RBT padded arm guards for every session. After several sessions with no biting, the RBT finds the guards hot and thinks they slow down data recording.
What should the RBT do?
Answer: B
Protective equipment assigned by the supervisor is part of the safety plan for a functional analysis, which deliberately creates conditions that can evoke severe behavior. The RBT keeps wearing the arm guards in every session and raises the comfort and data-recording concern with the supervisor, who decides whether changes are appropriate. Removing the guards because biting has not occurred recently is unsafe, since an FA is designed to evoke the behavior and biting could happen at any time. Substituting thinner sleeves on the RBT's own judgment changes the safety plan without approval and may not prevent injury. Wearing the guards only in conditions where biting seems likely requires predicting the outcome of the assessment, which is the very thing the FA is meant to determine.
9. In a playroom stocked with several toys, an RBT is conducting a free operant preference assessment with Noah. Noah has been building quietly with blocks for two minutes while the RBT records how long he engages with each item.
Which action by the RBT is consistent with this assessment?
Answer: C
During a free operant assessment, the RBT stays neutral and does not initiate conversation or deliver social attention, so the time Noah spends with each item reflects his preference for the items themselves. Observing quietly and recording engagement is therefore correct. Praising his building adds social attention, which could keep him on the blocks because of the praise rather than the toy, distorting the results. Asking questions about what he is building is also interaction initiated by the RBT and can shift his engagement toward the adult. Prompting him to try each toy interrupts free access; in this format the learner moves among items freely, and any sampling the supervisor wants happens before timing begins, not during the assessment.
10. During a small-group social skills assessment at school, a BCBA asks an RBT to probe peer imitation for Leo. Three classmates are seated with Leo at a table, and the RBT has a datasheet ready.
Which trial arrangement fits a peer imitation probe?
Answer: D
A peer imitation probe checks whether Leo copies a physical action modeled by another child, so the trial needs a classmate as the model and an action for Leo to imitate. A classmate clapping twice, followed by Leo being cued to copy it, meets both requirements. The RBT clapping twice is still imitation, but the model is an adult, so it tests adult imitation rather than peer imitation. A classmate waving hello with Leo cued to say hello back tests responding to a greeting, which is a social exchange, not copying an action. A classmate telling Leo to clap tests following a peer's spoken direction, a listener skill, because Leo responds to words rather than to a modeled movement.
11. An RBT arrives at the clinic to serve as therapist in functional analysis sessions for Tanya, who engages in severe hitting and kicking. The RBT realizes the shin guards required by the safety plan were left at home.
What is the BEST action for the RBT to take?
Answer: A
Required personal protective equipment is a condition for participating in a functional analysis of severe aggression, because the sessions are designed to evoke the behavior. Without the shin guards, the RBT should tell the supervisor and not run sessions until the required equipment is worn. Running the sessions anyway and staying out of reach is unsafe and may also change how the conditions are delivered, which can affect the data. Running only the play condition is a decision about the assessment that belongs to the supervisor, and aggression can still occur in any condition. Asking a parent to step in exposes an untrained person to injury and does not replace the protective equipment the safety plan requires.
12. Ava is stacking cups on the floor at home when an RBT begins probing her response to her name as part of a developmental skills assessment. The RBT stands about four feet away to start the first trial.
Which response should the RBT score as correct?
Answer: B
An orienting response probe checks whether Ava looks toward the person who says her name, so turning to look at the RBT right after hearing her name is the response to score as correct. Looking only after a shoulder tap means a physical prompt produced the orienting, so the response was not controlled by her name alone. Looking after the RBT holds a toy near the RBT's face means a visual prompt drew her attention, which again does not show a response to her name. Looking when her brother's name is called suggests she is turning toward any voice rather than discriminating her own name, so it should not be scored as correct. Recording prompted or nonspecific responses as correct would overstate the skill.
Prefer your phone? Scan to get the RBT app.