BCBA Exam (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) — All Questions

Which goal is written in the most observable and measurable terms?

• a.Ana will develop better reading skills this year
• b.Ana will become confident when reading aloud
• c.Ana will read aloud 9 of 10 sight words correctly✓
• d.Ana will show understanding of sight words

An observable and measurable goal states a countable behavior and a criterion, as the goal of reading 9 of 10 sight words aloud does. Developing better skills, showing understanding and becoming confident name outcomes or inferred states without a behavior two observers could count, so progress on them cannot be measured reliably.

A child's hitting is maintained by escape from tasks. The team is choosing a replacement response to teach. Which feature makes the replacement most likely to compete with hitting?

• a.It is reinforced on a leaner schedule than hitting
• b.It produces the break as fast and easily as hitting✓
• c.It requires more effort than hitting so it is valued
• d.It produces a break only after a long delay

Horner and Day (1991) showed that a replacement response competes with problem behavior when it is more efficient: less effort, a denser schedule and shorter delay to the same reinforcer. A replacement that is more effortful, delayed or leaner than hitting leaves hitting as the more efficient route to escape, so hitting persists.

A BCBA is about to put a child's attention-maintained tantrums on extinction. What should the caregivers be told as part of planning for unwanted effects?

• a.Tantrums will stop within the first session
• b.Tantrums may get worse before they improve✓
• c.They should give attention if tantrums get louder
• d.Extinction has no side effects if done correctly

Extinction is often accompanied by a temporary increase in the frequency or intensity of the behavior (an extinction burst), and Lerman, Iwata and Wallace (1999) reported bursts and aggression in a share of cases. Caregivers who know this are less likely to give attention during a burst, which would reinforce more intense tantrums. Claiming immediate results or no side effects is inaccurate.

After successful functional communication training, a family goes on vacation and stops responding to the child's requests. The child's old problem behavior returns. This recurrence is best described as

• a.spontaneous recovery
• b.behavioral contrast
• c.resurgence✓
• d.stimulus generalization

Resurgence is the recurrence of a previously extinguished behavior when reinforcement for a more recent alternative behavior is reduced or ended; Volkert and colleagues (2009) demonstrated it after FCT when alternative responses went unreinforced. Spontaneous recovery is recurrence at the start of a new session during extinction, stimulus generalization is responding to new but similar stimuli, and behavioral contrast is a change in one component's rate when reinforcement changes in another.

Four weeks into a reinforcement-based plan, a student's problem behavior has not decreased. Before changing the intervention, the BCBA should first

• a.raise the reinforcer size for all students
• b.check the plan's implementation integrity✓
• c.add a punishment component to the plan
• d.end services since no benefit is seen

An intervention can only be judged ineffective if it was actually delivered as designed, so procedural integrity data come before a decision to modify the plan (TCO H.6-H.7; Code 2.18). Adding punishment before this check contradicts Code 2.15, ending services is premature, and changing reinforcers for everyone ignores the unexplained failure.

A BCBA asks parents whether the goals of their child's program matter to them, whether the procedures are acceptable, and whether they are satisfied with the results. This is an assessment of

• a.interobserver agreement
• b.treatment integrity
• c.internal validity
• d.social validity✓

Wolf (1978) described social validity as society's judgment of the significance of goals, the appropriateness of procedures, and the importance of effects, typically gathered from consumers such as parents. Treatment integrity concerns implementation, interobserver agreement concerns measurement, and internal validity concerns whether the intervention caused the change.

A single parent working two jobs says she cannot implement the 12-step home plan the BCBA wrote. Which response is most consistent with the Ethics Code?

• a.Revise the plan to fit the family's time and resources✓
• b.Keep the plan and remind the parent why it is important
• c.Discharge the family since the plan cannot be carried out
• d.Keep the plan and have the child's older sibling run it

Code 2.14 requires interventions that best meet the diverse needs, context and resources of the client and stakeholders, and the TCO lists contextual fit among the grounds for recommending interventions. Keeping an unworkable plan, or shifting it to a sibling, ignores that fit; discharge is premature when the plan can be adapted.

A child's speech-language pathologist teaches mands with a picture system, while the ABA team uses sign. The child is confused and progress has stalled. The BCBA should

• a.continue sign, as it is the behavioral method
• b.switch to pictures at ABA sessions without discussing it
• c.tell the parents to choose one of the two providers
• d.meet with the SLP to agree on one consistent approach✓

Code 2.10 requires behavior analysts to collaborate with colleagues from other professions in the client's best interest, compromising when possible, and Code 2.18 requires addressing services by another professional that affect the intervention with that professional. Insisting on one system, forcing the family to choose, or switching without discussion all avoid collaboration.

A student works quickly for edible reinforcers early in each session but slows down later as he eats more. Which change best addresses this unwanted effect?

• a.Use one favorite edible for every response
• b.Vary reinforcers and use small amounts✓
• c.Give all edibles at the start of the session
• d.Increase the size of each edible reinforcer

Slowing as the reinforcer is consumed is consistent with satiation, a decline in the reinforcer's effectiveness as the motivating operation weakens. Varying reinforcers and using small amounts reduce satiation. Delivering everything at the start, relying on a single item, or giving larger portions all speed satiation.

After eight sessions with high procedural integrity, a learner's correct responding on a target has stayed flat near 20%. What is the most appropriate data-based decision?

• a.Stop recording data on this target
• b.Continue the same procedure unchanged
• c.Modify the teaching procedure✓
• d.Mark the target as mastered

Code 2.17 requires using data to decide whether to continue, modify or terminate services, and Code 2.18 calls for corrective action when desired outcomes are not being realized. With integrity confirmed, a flat trend near 20% indicates the procedure is not working and should be modified. Continuing unchanged ignores the data, mastery is clearly not met, and stopping data collection removes the basis for decisions.

A client's self-injury is maintained by attention. Which intervention best reflects Code 2.14's priority on positive reinforcement procedures?

• a.Use a response-cost procedure for each self-injury
• b.Use contingent verbal reprimands for self-injury
• c.Use a brief contingent restraint after each self-injury
• d.Reinforce appropriate requests for attention and withhold it for self-injury✓

Code 2.14 directs behavior analysts to design interventions based on assessment results that prioritize positive reinforcement procedures, and Code 2.15 reserves restrictive or punishment-based procedures for when less intrusive means have not worked or risk of harm demands it. Reinforcing an appropriate way to get attention is function-based and reinforcement-based. Restraint and response cost are restrictive or punishment-based, and reprimands deliver attention, which could reinforce the behavior.

A behavior plan relies on reinforcing requests for attention. Which step best reduces the risk that problem behavior will return after services end?

• a.Stop all reinforcement for requests at discharge
• b.Withhold caregiver training until discharge
• c.Keep services at the clinic only
• d.Teach caregivers to keep reinforcing the requests✓

Resurgence research, including Volkert et al. (2009), shows that problem behavior can return when reinforcement for the alternative response is reduced or discontinued. Training caregivers to maintain reinforcement for the alternative in daily life reduces that risk, and Code 2.14 asks for outcomes likely to maintain under naturalistic conditions. Ending reinforcement at discharge, delaying caregiver training, or keeping services in the clinic work against maintenance.

A token system for a student would require staff to track points every minute, and classroom staff say they have no time for that. Under the TCO's criteria for recommending interventions, which factor is the BCBA weighing?

• a.Internal validity
• b.Interobserver agreement
• c.Stimulus control
• d.Contextual fit✓

TCO H.2 lists assessment results, scientific evidence, client preferences and contextual fit (for example the expertise required and environmental resources) as bases for recommending interventions. Whether staff have the time and resources to implement a plan is contextual fit. Internal validity, interobserver agreement and stimulus control are measurement or principle concepts, not selection criteria.