Free RBT Flashcards — 79 Cards

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Aligned to the RBT Task List 3rd Edition (effective 1 January 2026) · Last content review: August 2026 · How we write our questions

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A. Data Collection and GraphingCard 1 of 79

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A. Data Collection and Graphing

15 cards · study guide · quiz

Frequency (event recording): A simple count of occurrences. Requires behavior with a clear beginning and end, and roughly consistent length. "He left his seat 12 times."
Rate: Frequency divided by the time of the observation. "12 occurrences in 40 minutes = 0.3 per minute." Use rate whenever sessions differ in length, because raw counts are not comparable across them.
Duration: How long the behavior lasts. Can be reported per occurrence or as a total across the session. Total duration is often converted to a percentage of session time.
Latency: Time from the onset of a stimulus (usually an instruction) to the onset of the response. It stops when the client starts, not when they finish — that is the single most common error on latency items.
Inter-response time (IRT): Time from the end of one response to the beginning of the next. Pairs naturally with DRL procedures, where you are trying to spread responding out.
Partial interval: Score the interval if the behavior occurred at any point during it. Overestimates. Typically used for behaviors you want to decrease.
Whole interval: Score the interval only if the behavior occurred throughout the entire interval. Underestimates. Typically used for behaviors you want to increase, such as on-task engagement.
Momentary time sampling: Score whether the behavior is occurring at the moment the interval ends. Frees the observer between moments, which makes it the practical choice for group settings and community outings.
A.1 — Describe behavior and environment in observable and measurable terms: Write what you actually saw, not what you think it meant. "Screamed for 12 seconds" is observable; "was frustrated" is an interpretation a second observer could not confirm.
A.2 — Prepare for data collection: Have the right datasheet, timer and materials ready before the session starts, and know which behaviors you are recording and by which procedure.
A.3 — Implement continuous measurement procedures: Frequency and rate, duration, latency, and inter-response time. Continuous means every occurrence in the observation period is captured.
A.4 — Implement discontinuous measurement procedures: Partial interval, whole interval and momentary time sampling. These sample behavior rather than capturing every instance, so each one over- or under-estimates in a predictable direction.
A.5 — Implement permanent-product recording procedures: Measure the lasting result of behavior instead of the behavior itself — worksheets completed, toys put away, dishes washed.
A.6 — Enter data and update graphs: Transfer session data accurately and on time, and plot it on the line graph your supervisor uses to make treatment decisions.
A.7 — Assist with interobserver agreement and data accuracy checks: Record independently alongside a second observer so agreement can be calculated, and follow procedures that keep data accurate and unbiased.

B. Behavior Assessment

10 cards · study guide · quiz

Free operant: The client has open access to an array; you record duration of engagement with each item. No items are removed, which makes it the right choice for a client who becomes distressed when things are taken away.
Single stimulus: One item presented at a time; you record approach or engagement. Useful for clients who cannot yet choose between options.
Paired stimulus (forced choice): Two items at a time, working through every possible pair. With n items the number of unique pairs is n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 — so four items gives six pairings.
MSWO: Multiple stimulus without replacement. Present an array, remove the selected item, re-present the smaller array. The order of selection produces a ranked hierarchy.
MSWR / MSW: Multiple stimulus with replacement. The selected item is returned to the array each trial, so array size stays constant.
B.1 — Assist with the assessment of the client's skills and behavior: Support the assessment process by collecting the data your supervisor specifies. Interpreting the results and designing the program are the supervisor’s job, not yours.
B.2 — Conduct preference assessments: Run paired-stimulus, MSWO, MSWWO, free-operant and single-stimulus assessments to identify what is likely to function as a reinforcer right now.
B.3 — Assist with individualized assessment procedures: Help administer curriculum-based, developmental and social-skills assessments under supervision.
B.4 — Assist with functional assessment procedures: Collect ABC and other descriptive data, and assist with functional analysis conditions when your supervisor directs it.
B.5 — Describe motivating operations and their effect on behavior: Recognise when deprivation or satiation has changed how valuable a reinforcer is, and how that changes behavior right now.

C. Behavior Acquisition

24 cards · study guide · quiz

Continuous reinforcement (CRF / FR1): Every correct response reinforced. Fastest acquisition, least resistance to extinction. Use during acquisition, then thin.
Fixed ratio (FR): Reinforcement after a set number of responses. Produces a post-reinforcement pause after each delivery.
Variable ratio (VR): Reinforcement after an average number of responses. Highest, steadiest rate of responding and the greatest resistance to extinction.
Fixed interval (FI): Reinforces the first response after a set amount of time. Produces a scalloped pattern — little responding early, a burst near the end.
Variable interval (VI): Reinforces the first response after an average amount of time. Produces steady, moderate responding.
Most-to-least: Start with the most intrusive prompt that guarantees success, then reduce intrusiveness. Minimises errors, so it suits brand-new skills.
Least-to-most: Start with the least intrusive prompt and add assistance only after an error. Maximises independent opportunities, so it suits partially acquired skills.
Constant time delay: A fixed pause between the SD and the prompt on every trial.
Progressive time delay: The pause lengthens across successive trials — one second, then two, then three.
Prompt hierarchy (least → most intrusive): Gestural → verbal → model → partial physical → full physical.
Mand: A request. Controlled by a motivating operation, reinforced by receiving the specific thing requested. To create mand opportunities, place a preferred item in view but out of reach.
Tact: Labelling something present. Controlled by a non-verbal stimulus, reinforced socially.
Echoic: Repeating what a speaker just said. Point-to-point correspondence with a vocal-verbal stimulus.
Intraverbal: Verbal behavior controlled by someone else’s verbal behavior without point-to-point correspondence — answering questions, conversation, fill-in-the-blank.
C.1 — Identify the essential components of a written skill acquisition plan: Know what a plan must tell you: target skill, definition, teaching procedure, prompting and fading, reinforcement, mastery criteria and data collection.
C.2 — Prepare for the session as required by the skill acquisition plan: Gather materials, arrange the environment and set up reinforcers before the client arrives so teaching time is not lost.
C.3 — Use contingencies of reinforcement: Deliver reinforcement contingent on the target response, on the schedule the plan specifies — including conditioned and unconditioned reinforcers.
C.4 — Implement discrete-trial teaching procedures: Run structured trials: SD, prompt as needed, response, consequence, then the inter-trial interval, repeated to build fluency.
C.5 — Implement naturalistic teaching procedures: Teach inside the client’s ongoing activity, following their motivation and using natural reinforcers — incidental teaching, NET, mand training.
C.6 — Implement task analysis and chaining procedures: Break a multi-step skill into its components, then teach with forward, backward or total-task chaining.
C.7 — Implement discrimination training: Reinforce responding in the presence of the SD and withhold it in the presence of the S-delta so the right cue comes to control the behavior.
C.8 — Implement prompt and prompt-fading procedures: Use prompts to make responding successful, then systematically fade them — most-to-least, least-to-most, time delay — so control transfers to the natural SD.
C.9 — Implement shaping procedures: Differentially reinforce successive approximations toward a terminal behavior the client cannot yet perform.
C.10 — Implement generalization and maintenance procedures: Make sure the skill holds up across people, settings and materials, and keeps working after teaching stops.

D. Behavior Reduction

15 cards · study guide · quiz

Non-contingent reinforcement (NCR): Deliver the maintaining reinforcer on a time schedule regardless of behavior. Abolishes the motivating operation — the client no longer has to act out to get it.
High-probability request sequence: Several easy, high-compliance requests immediately before a difficult one. Also called behavioral momentum.
Choice: Offering a choice between acceptable options before work begins.
Priming: Preparing the client for what is coming — reviewing the schedule, a visual timer before a transition.
MO manipulation: Changing the value of the maintaining reinforcer, for example shortening work intervals when the behavior is escape-maintained.
DRA — alternative: Reinforce a specific alternative response that produces the same reinforcer as the problem behavior. For it to work, the alternative must be at least as easy and as reliable as the problem behavior.
DRI — incompatible: Reinforce a response that physically cannot co-occur with the problem behavior. Hands in lap versus hand-flapping.
DRO — other: Reinforce the *absence* of the behavior across an interval. If the behavior occurs, the interval typically resets and no reinforcer is delivered.
DRL — low rates: Reinforce the behavior when it occurs at or below a specified rate. For behaviors that are fine in moderation but problematic in excess.
D.1 — Identify the essential components of a written behavior reduction plan: Know what the plan must contain: operational definition, function, antecedent strategies, replacement behavior, consequence procedures and data collection.
D.2 — Describe common functions of behavior: Attention, escape or avoidance, access to tangibles, and automatic reinforcement — and why the same-looking behavior can serve different functions.
D.3 — Implement interventions based on modification of antecedents: Change what happens before the behavior: NCR, high-probability request sequences, choice, priming, and changes to motivating operations.
D.4 — Implement differential reinforcement procedures: DRA, DRI, DRO and DRL — reinforce one class of responding while withholding reinforcement for the problem behavior.
D.5 — Implement extinction procedures: Withhold the reinforcer that has been maintaining the behavior, and be ready for the extinction burst and spontaneous recovery that follow.
D.6 — Implement crisis and emergency procedures: Follow the written safety plan, protect the client and others, and report the incident as required.

E. Documentation and Reporting

5 cards · study guide · quiz

E.1 — Report variables that might affect the client: Tell your supervisor about illness, medication changes, sleep, a new sibling, a schedule change — anything that could explain a shift in the data.
E.2 — Generate objective session notes for service verification: Write what happened in observable terms: what was targeted, what the data showed, what you did, without opinion or diagnosis.
E.3 — Comply with legal, regulatory and workplace requirements for data collection, storage, transport and documentation: Handle records the way HIPAA and your employer require — no client data on personal devices, no unsecured transport, no unauthorised disclosure.
E.4 — Communicate with stakeholders as authorized: Share only what you are authorised to share, with the people authorised to receive it, and refer clinical questions to your supervisor.
E.5 — Report data and observations accurately and in a timely manner: Submit real data, on schedule. Never reconstruct, estimate or back-fill numbers you did not actually record.

F. Ethics

10 cards · study guide · quiz

F.1 — Describe the RBT's role in the service delivery system: You implement plans designed and monitored by a supervisor. You do not design, modify or interpret them.
F.2 — Respond appropriately to feedback and maintain or improve performance: Take supervisory feedback without defensiveness and actually change what you do in the next session.
F.3 — Communicate with stakeholders within the scope of the RBT role: Answer what is yours to answer and route clinical, diagnostic and prognosis questions to the supervisor.
F.4 — Maintain professional boundaries and avoid multiple relationships: No babysitting, no gifts of significant value, no social media connections with client families, no personal relationships that compromise objectivity.
F.5 — Maintain client dignity: Protect privacy, offer choice, speak about clients respectfully, and never discuss them where they or others can overhear.
F.6 — Comply with supervision requirements: Meet the required supervision percentage each month, including direct observation with a client, and stop practising if supervision lapses.
F.7 — Maintain confidentiality and comply with privacy requirements: Client information is disclosed only with authorisation — including anonymised details, which are often still identifying in a small community.
F.8 — Comply with the RBT Ethics Code and reporting requirements: Follow the code, and report to the BACB and to authorities where required — including mandated reporting of suspected abuse or neglect.
F.9 — Maintain certification requirements: Keep renewal, the annual renewal competency assessment and supervision current. An expired credential means you may not practise as an RBT.
F.10 — Practise within scope of competence with cultural humility and responsiveness: New in the 3rd Edition. Recognise the limits of your training, and adapt respectfully to the family’s culture, language and values.

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