By Free RBT Practice Test Editorial Team | Updated September 2026
The question
A learner waits for the technician to always say “say hello” before greeting anyone. Even after months of teaching, greetings don’t occur independently. What issue is this an example of?
A. Stimulus control transfer
B. Prompt dependency
C. Reinforcement thinning
D. Least-to-most prompting hierarchy
The answer: B, prompt dependency
The learner’s greeting is under the control of the technician’s verbal prompt (“say hello”) instead of the natural cue (a person arriving, making eye contact, saying hi). When a response keeps needing the prompt long after it should have transferred to the natural antecedent, that is prompt dependency. The clue in the stem is “even after months”: time has passed, the skill has been practiced, and the prompt is still required.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Stimulus control transfer is the goal, not the problem. It describes the process of moving control from the prompt to the natural discriminative stimulus. The stem describes that transfer failing.
- C. Reinforcement thinning is about reducing how often reinforcement is delivered (for example moving from FR1 to VR3). Nothing in the stem mentions reinforcement schedules.
- D. Least-to-most hierarchy is a prompting procedure (start with the least intrusive prompt, escalate only if needed). It is a method you might use to fix the problem, not the name of the problem.
What you would do about it in session
- Tell your BCBA; the skill acquisition plan may need a prompt-fading change.
- Fade the verbal prompt: move from “say hello” to a partial prompt (“say…”), to an expectant look, to no prompt, following the plan’s fading steps.
- Use a time delay: when someone arrives, wait 3 to 5 seconds before prompting so the learner has the chance to respond to the natural cue first.
- Reinforce independent greetings more richly than prompted ones (differential reinforcement of unprompted responses).
- Record prompted versus independent responses separately so the BCBA can see whether independence is increasing.
Related terms the exam pairs with this one
- Prompt fading versus prompt dependency: fading is the procedure; dependency is what happens when fading doesn’t.
- Time delay (constant and progressive): the most common fix for verbal-prompt dependency.
- Most-to-least versus least-to-most: both are hierarchies; neither is a diagnosis.
Practice variation
A learner only puts on his coat after the RBT touches his shoulder, even in cold weather when everyone else is dressing. Same issue? Yes: the physical prompt has become the cue. Same fix: fade the touch and add a time delay before prompting.
This skill sits under Area C (Behavior Acquisition), task C.7 of the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd Edition): implement stimulus and response prompts with appropriate fading procedures. Try more prompting scenarios in our Behavior Acquisition quiz or the last-minute practice test.
Practice the whole exam with our free RBT practice tests (five 75-question mocks and six area quizzes), or look up any term in the RBT Exam Glossary.
