Section C of the RBT Task List 3.0 focuses on Behavior Acquisition, previously known as Skill Acquisition. This is one of the most heavily tested sections on the RBT exam, with approximately 19 questions.
Behavior acquisition involves teaching new, appropriate, and functional behaviors. As an RBT, your role is to implement teaching plans designed by your supervising BCBA accurately, consistently, and with high procedural fidelity.
Reinforcement is one of the most fundamental concepts in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Reinforcement occurs only when a behavior increases in the future as a result of a consequence.
Conditioned reinforcers gain their value through pairing with other reinforcers. They are commonly used in ABA to support learning and motivation.
In a token economy, learners earn tokens for target behaviors and exchange them for backup reinforcers. RBTs must follow all procedures outlined by the supervisor.
Discrete-Trial Teaching is a structured teaching method that breaks skills into small, teachable units presented in repeated trials.
Prompts and error-correction procedures must be implemented exactly as outlined in the behavior plan.
Naturalistic teaching embeds learning opportunities into everyday activities and is driven by learner motivation.
Complex skills are taught by breaking them into smaller steps using task analysis and chaining procedures.
Discrimination training teaches learners to respond to specific stimuli while not responding to others.
Prompting assists learning while fading ensures independence. Procedures include errorless learning, least-to-most prompting, time delay, and stimulus fading.
Generalization ensures skills occur across settings, people, and stimuli without additional teaching.
Acquisition teaches new skills, while maintenance ensures skills continue over time with reduced support.
Shaping reinforces successive approximations toward a target behavior.
Token economies use conditioned reinforcers to increase desired behaviors through structured exchange systems.