G.9: Design and evaluate modeling procedures.
Free practice questions for this part of the BCBA, with an explanation for every option.
A BCBA wants to use peer modeling to teach a 7-year-old to start conversations at recess. Which model selection is most likely to produce imitation?
- A. An adult staff member the child does not know wellModels who are similar to the learner and familiar to them tend to be imitated more than unfamiliar adults.
- B. A same-age peer the child is familiar with, whose conversational starts are visibly reinforced by other childrenCorrect. Similarity, familiarity, and observed reinforcement for the model's behavior all increase the likelihood of imitation.
- C. A cartoon character on a video, chosen for noveltyNovelty can draw attention, but a cartoon is less similar to the child, and no reinforcement contingency is shown.
- D. An older teen who models the skill once without visible consequencesA single model with no visible consequences gives weak conditions for observational learning.
A program uses video modeling to teach play skills to a child with autism. After 15 sessions, the child watches the videos but does not imitate any modeled actions. Probes show the child also does not imitate simple live gross-motor models. What should the BCBA do next?
- A. Show the video more times per sessionMore exposure is unlikely to help a learner who lacks the imitation repertoire that modeling depends on.
- B. Replace the video with a live adult model of the same play skillsLive models will also fail if the child does not imitate in general.
- C. Teach generalized imitation directly (for example, prompted imitation with differential reinforcement across many models) before continuing modeling-based instructionCorrect. Modeling procedures require an imitation repertoire. Generalized imitation should be taught directly through prompting and reinforcement across multiple exemplars.
- D. Add a token system for watching the videoReinforcing watching does not teach the child to imitate.
In a social skills group for teens, the group leader praises a peer each time he politely asks to join a game. Over the next few sessions, another teen who watched these exchanges also starts asking politely to join games. Which feature of the arrangement most likely helped produce her behavior?
- A. She saw the peer's asking produce reinforcementCorrect. Seeing a model's behavior produce reinforcement makes imitation by the observer more likely (observational learning). Arranging for the model's behavior to be reinforced is one of the main features of effective modeling.
- B. The peer's behavior was described to her in written rulesNo rules or written descriptions were used. She learned by watching.
- C. The peer was physically prompted to ask before each gamePhysical prompting of the model is not described. Even if it had happened, it would not explain why the observer imitated.
- D. She received tokens each time she watched the peer modelNothing in the scenario says that watching itself was reinforced. Her imitation followed from what happened to the model.