Unit 1 - A

Question 1

Skinner’s book, Verbal Behavior, may accurately be described as containing

a. Research findings along with some teaching techniques
b. Conceptual analysis but no research or teaching techniques
c. Conceptual analysis along with research findings
d. Conceptual analysis along with some teaching techniques

Answer 1

b. Conceptual analysis but no research or teaching techniques

Question 2

Skinner defines verbal behavior as behavior that

a. Provides a listener with information regarding a speaker’s internal state
b. Sends and/or receives messages in relation to another person
c. Communicates information effectively and efficiently
d. Is reinforced through the mediation of others

Answer 2

d. Is reinforced through the mediation of others

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT considered an antecedent condition that can evoke verbal behavior

a. The speaker experiencing a state of deprivation or aversive stimulation
b. Some non-verbal stimulus in the speaker’s environment
c. These are all considered antecedent conditions that can evoke verbal behavior
d. Verbal behavior by someone other than the speaker

Answer 3

c. These are all considered antecedent conditions that can evoke verbal behavior

Question 4

In Skinner’s analysis of language, the term, social reinforcement is sometimes referred to as education. Skinner’s uses the term education in this way based on his analysis that the verbal community:

a. Is trained by an educational system
b. Provides formal education via schools
c. Provides both social and automatic reinforcement
d. Enlists new members by teaching correct verbal responses

Answer 4

d. Enlists new members by teaching correct verbal responses

Question 5

Which of the following verbal operants is not necessarily under the control of any specific antecedent stimulus in the immediate environment?

a. Echoic
b. Tact
c. Intraverbal
d. Mand

Answer 5

d. Mand

Question 6

Tom sits next to his son Matt at the baseball game and Matt is eating a hotdog. Tom looks at Matt and says, “hot dog”, and Matt hands the hotdog to Tom, who happily takes a bite. Tom saying, “hot dog” to Matt is a(n)

a. Intraverbal-tact
b. Pure mand
c. Impure mand
d. Intraverbal-mand

Answer 6

c. Impure mand

Question 7

To teach the language of emotions to a learner, the teacher will do all of the following except:

a. Identify observable behaviors the learner will likely exhibit when experiencing a specific emotion
b. Assist the learner to tact private events
c. Label the emotion when the learner exhibits operationalized observable responses characteristic of that emotion
d. Purposefully trigger strong negative emotions in the learner, and then label those emotions for the learner

Answer 7

d. Purposefully trigger strong negative emotions in the learner, and then label those emotions for the learner

Question 8

According to Skinner, an autoclitic is behavior which is

a. Helpful to whomever utters it—“helping the self”
b. Self-referential – it refers to some aspect of itself
c. Based upon or depends upon other verbal behavior
d. The only form of verbal behavior reinforced by automatic reinforcement

Answer 8

c. Based upon or depends upon other verbal behavior

Question 9

According to Dr. Bondy, protocols change in the PECS system according to

a. A set sequence of mands—tacts—intraverbals—autoclitics—sentences
b. An analysis of pure and multiply controlled verbal operants
c. Random variation in the verbal behavior of the individual
d. Obtaining fluency first in mands, and moving to spontaneous utterances

Answer 9

b. An analysis of pure and multiply controlled verbal operants

Question 10

Which of the following approaches to communication teaches students to exchange pictures for those things they want?

a. Facilitated communication
b. All of these
c. ASL
d. PECS

Answer 10

d. PECS

Question 11

Which of the following statements is true: Teaching someone to initiate verbal behavior

a. Is key to an individual producing verbal behavior that does not become prompt dependent
b. Should generally occur only after the simple verbal operants have been mastered
c. Need not be considered during the early stages of mand training
d. Is often made easier when mands opportunities follow prompts such as, “what do you want?”

Answer 11

a. Is key to an individual producing verbal behavior that does not become prompt dependent

Question 12

The pyramid approach to education is a way to:

a. Promote the use of hierarchical teaching procedures in regular schools
b. Organize and prioritize strategies to teach students effectively
c. Emphasize the use of pictures as the most effective way to communicate
d. Ensure the best students make it to the top of the national education system

Answer 12

b. Organize and prioritize strategies to teach students effectively

Question 13

Functional activities, powerful reinforcers, functional communication, and contextually inappropriate behaviors are all considered to be _______ elements of the pyramid approach to education.

a. Base
b. Middle
c. Top
d. Core

Answer 13

a. Base

Question 14

Which of the following is not an element of the pyramid approach to education?

a. Functional activities
b. Relational frames
c. Functional communication
d. Data collection

Answer 14

b. Relational frames

Question 15

PECS is considered a form of functional communication approach because it:

a. Is based on an experimental analysis of functional relations
b. Teaches topographically different communicative responses
c. Arranges alternative reinforcement contingencies
d. Requires an interaction with a listener

Answer 15

d. Requires an interaction with a listener

Question 16

All of the following are advantages of PECS, except:

a. Requires an interaction with others
b. Encourages initiation in communication
c. Facilitates the emergence of listener behavior
d. Based on a functional analysis of language

Answer 16

c. Facilitates the emergence of listener behavior

Question 17

Teaching students to communicate with PECS typically requires:

X = A communicative partner

Y = A physical prompter

Z = A reinforcer

a. X and Z
b. X, Y, and Z
c. X and Y
d. Z only

Answer 17

b. X, Y, and Z

Question 18

Rob is hired to work with Jon, a non-verbal child with developmental disabilities. Rob asks Jon’s mother to hold a small pretzel in front of Jon. When Jon reaches for the pretzel, Rob prompts Jon to get a picture, reach towards his mother, and release the picture to gain access to the pretzel. On subsequent trials, Rob only prompts Jon to get the picture and reach towards his mother. Soon after, he only prompts Jon to get the picture. Jon begins to follow these steps independently by the end of the session. Rob is using ___ to teach Jon to ___.

a. Graduated guidance; Increase spontaneity and range
b. Shaping; Increase spontaneity and range
c. Backward chaining; Initiate communication
d. Forward chaining; Initiate communication

Answer 18

c. Backward chaining; Initiate communication

Question 19

What is the goal of phase II of learning to communicate with PECS?

a. Build sentences
b. Initiate communication
c. Increase spontaneity and range
d. Make conditional discriminations

Answer 19

c. Increase spontaneity and range

Question 20

Maria has already taught Bart to initiate communication with PECS. Her goal now is to teach Bart to travel longer distance towards communicative partners and/or to retrieve PECS. To do this, she gradually moves away from him and waits for him to initiate communication without prompts. What phase of PECS training is Maria following with Bart?

a. Reminders
b. Increasing spontaneity and range
c. Building sentences
d. Conditional discrimination

Answer 20

b. Increasing spontaneity and range

Question 21

Simple discrimination is taught in which phase of PECS training?

a. Phase IIB
b. Throughout all phases of PECS training
c. Phase IV
d. Phase III

Answer 21

d. Phase III

Question 22

Which of these satisfies the requirements of Phase IIIA of PECS training? Mike loves salty items, but dislikes sweets. Liana should present Mike with a picture of potato chips and a picture of

a. Water
b. Pretzels
c. Popcorn
d. Chocolate

Answer 22

d. Chocolate

Question 23

Liana presents Mike with a picture of one of his favorite comic books, and a picture of a mascara brush, in which he has never shown an interest. When Mike selects one of the pictures, Liana gives him the pictured item. When he selects the picture of the mascara brush, and then rejects the actual mascara brush, Liana prompts him to touch the picture of the comic book. As soon as he touches it, she provides brief verbal praise for selecting a picture, and waits as he hands her the picture independently. At this point, she presents him with the comic book. Which phase of PECS training does this scenario exemplify?

a. Phase IV
b. Phase IIIA
c. Phase I
d. Phase IIIB

Answer 23

b. Phase IIIA

Question 24

When the learner points to the non-preferred or neutral item during simple discrimination training, the simplest correct teacher response is to

a. Frown and make a disapproving sound, (versus a smile and a happy sound following selection of a preferred item)
b. Re-present the Sd, “What do you want”
c. Give the non-preferred item to the student.
d. Say “no, that’s not what you want”

Answer 24

c. Give the non-preferred item to the student.

Question 25

In the 4th step of the 4-step error correction procedure, the teacher prompts and obtains a correct response from the learner. Thus the learner has engaged in at least one incorrect response and one correct response during this 4-step sequence. In terms of data collection, how many trials does this represent?

a. Always two trials (one incorrect and one correct)
b. Two or more trials, depending on how many incorrect responses the learner was able to do before correctly responding to the prompt.
c. Sometimes only one trial and sometimes two trials, depending on the task
d. Always only one trial (incorrect)

Answer 25

d. Always only one trial (incorrect)

Question 26

If the learner tends to play with any item or picture they are presented, an effective alternative strategy for early trials in teaching discrimination in the presence of two pictures is to use

a. A blank card as the distractor
b. Smaller pictures
c. One item and one picture
d. Larger pictures, closer together

Answer 26

a. A blank card as the distractor

Question 27

Phase IV of PECS training is known as

a. Answering ‘What do you want”
b. Building Sentences
c. Increasing Spontaneity and Range
d. Simple Discrimination

Answer 27

b. Building Sentences

Question 28

Before teaching the use of attributes in making requests, it is MOST important that the student

a. Can respond to “what do you want”.
b. Has access to cards representing all the possible attributes.
c. Correctly discriminates the attribute
d. Has receptive mastery.

Answer 28

c. Correctly discriminates the attribute

Question 29

When teaching attributes, we teach where to place the picture, and also teach:

a. The meaning of the sentence strip in functional communication.
b. Discrimination between variations of specific attributes.
c. The grammatical order in which the pictures must be placed.
d. That only picture responses are reinforced, never any emergent vocal approximations

Answer 29

b. Discrimination between variations of specific attributes.

Question 30

Which of the following is NOT true of phase 5 of PECS training?

a. This is the phase known as the “What do you want?” phase
b. Mastery of this phase can lead into the “commenting” phase
c. Self-initiated mands no longer need to be encouraged during this phase
d. This is the very first phase where the student should be asked, “What do you want?”

Answer 30

c. Self-initiated mands no longer need to be encouraged during this phase

Question 31

When teaching commenting, the PECS teacher should provide _________, contingent on a student making a correct comment (usually regarding a stimulus).

a. Socially mediated negative reinforcement
b. Social reinforcement (such as praise)other than access to the item itself
c. A prompt for the response
d. Access to the item itself

Answer 31

b. Social reinforcement (such as praise)other than access to the item itself

Question 32

If Billy is transitioning from using PECS to engaging in vocal speech, which of these would be considered a successfully completed transition? If Billy fluently uses picture cards to say, “I want half a banana”, then when he engages in vocal speech….

a. Billy says, “I wanna nanner”
b. Billy signs for “banana” as he says, “banna”
c. Billy says, “want banana”
d. None of these would be considered a successful transition

Answer 32

d. None of these would be considered a successful transition

Question 33

Dr. Bondy discussed the Schreibman and Stahmer (2013) study, comparing test subject acquisition of words when using Pivotal Response Training versus words acquired using PECS. Their results indicated that:

a. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the number of words acquired
b. ALL PRT participants increased in number of words acquired, but only some PECS participants improved
c. PECS was more effective in terms of mean words acquired
d. PRT was more effective in terms of mean words acquired

Answer 33

a. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the number of words acquired

Question 34

Which of the following is a common misconception about PECS?

a. Using pictures can facilitate speech acquisition
b. PECS communication can result in a reduction of problem behavior
c. Picture communication is often easily understood in the community
d. Any use of pictures constitutes a form of PECS

Answer 34

d. Any use of pictures constitutes a form of PECS

Question 35

What is Dr. Bondy’s critique of categorizing verbal behavior as either topography-based or selection-based?

a. There are no issues, this is an important distinction
b. The verbal behavioral analysis of the response unit does not require the distinction
c. The unit of analysis is different for topography-based behavior versus selection-based behavior
d. The functional control for topography-based behavior is different than selection-based verbal behavior

Answer 35

b. The verbal behavioral analysis of the response unit does not require the distinction