Discrete Trial

Teaching

Kelly Thorell M.A.

Discrete Trial Teaching

Fosters learning through repetition
Isolates skills and teaches them in small

components to foster learning through more

complex concepts
Makes contingencies as clear as possible
Measures skills by taking data

Discrete Trial

Discriminative Stimulus
Instruction

Childs Response

Consequence or
Reinforcement

Advantages of Discrete trial

Gains childs attention
The overall program is flexible and designed

to meet the needs of each individuals unique

set of circumstances and level of functioning
Develops a pattern of learning
Teaches a wide variety of skills and concepts
Skills are observable and measurable
Progresses at the child's rate of mastery

Example Of Discrete Trial

Trainer
Trainee
Instruction What is it?
Response: Ball
Give the client 3-5 seconds to respond
If correct give verbal praise, Good Job
If incorrect give an informational, no

Discrete trial : Instruction

SD
SD: Discriminative Stimulus- the instruction or

anything that invokes a response

Use clear and concise language
Only say directive before getting a response

Discrete Trial: Response

Response: What the child does immediately

after the SD
Correct Response: make sure that everyone is
accepting the same response
Prompted Response: Full or Partial
Incorrect Response: Non- Response, Behavior,
wrong answer

Discrete Trial: Consequence

Consequence: What happens after the

response
Must immediately follow the response
The more immediate the response, the better
connection the client will make between the
SD and the response
Correct Response: verbal praise/ Reinforcing
Stimulus
Incorrect Response: informational no

Reinforcement
Reinforcement is the procedure of using a

reinforcer to increase the rate of behavior

A reinforcer is anything that follows a
behavior and increases the probability of that
behavior
Reinforcement is the building block and the
foundation of an effective ABA program
Use continuous reinforcement for new skills
Use intermittent reinforcement to maintain
behaviors over time

Prompting
Prompting can be full or partial
Prompts is given after two incorrect responses
Timing of prompting is optimal
Prompts given are the least intrusive
Prompted trials are followed by unprompted trials
If a child was unsuccessful with initial prompts

given, a more intrusive prompt is given in

subsequent trials
Prompts are progressively and systematically
faded

Types of Prompts
Hand Over Hand
Verbal Prompt
Voice Inflection (e.g., touch MY nose)
Point Prompt (e.g., with ROLs to the card you want them to

pick)
Model Prompt (e.g., showing the child what you want them to
do)
Positioning
Reducing the Field
Forward chain/ Backward chain
Visual Prompts (e.g., written, pictures, dots)
Rehearsal (e.g., having the client repeat what he/she is going
to ask or do)