Selecting and Implementing Interventions

11% of the BCBA exam · blueprint Test Content Outline 6th ed. (since 2025)

Short answer

Domain H is 20 of 175 scored questions (11%). It covers choosing socially significant goals, selecting procedures on the basis of assessed function, the evidence base, client preference, contextual fit and available resources, planning generalization and maintenance from the start, monitoring treatment integrity, making data-based decisions to continue, modify or fade, and collaborating with caregivers and other professionals.

Why it matters on this exam

This is the domain that separates a technician who can run a procedure from an analyst who can choose one.

Key concepts

Goal selection: socially significant, age-appropriate and functional in the client's real environment. Habilitation, not compliance.
Selection criteria: function first, then evidence base, least restrictive effective option, client and caregiver preference, and contextual fit with the people who will actually implement it.
Generalization planning: teach loosely, program common stimuli, train sufficient exemplars, recruit natural communities of reinforcement. Planned before mastery, not after.
Maintenance: thin the schedule, probe intermittently, fade prompts and artificial reinforcers.
Treatment integrity: measure it. A poor outcome with low integrity tells you nothing about the procedure.
Data-based decisions: continue when improving, modify when flat with high integrity, fade when the criterion is met and maintained.

Common mistakes

Escalating restrictiveness after two poor data points without checking integrity.
Writing generalization as a final phase instead of designing it into teaching.

Worked example

A caregiver-run program shows no change in three weeks; integrity data show it ran on 40% of opportunities. The correct decision is retraining and support, not a new intervention.

Original practice questions

Selecting and Implementing InterventionsDifficulty 3/5

After three weeks, a caregiver-implemented plan shows no improvement. Integrity data show the plan was implemented on 40% of opportunities. What is the appropriate next step?

ARetrain and support the caregiver, then re-evaluate with integrity data
BConclude the function was misidentified and repeat the functional analysis
CDiscontinue services because three weeks without change indicates non-response
DSelect a more intrusive intervention that is likely to overcome the resistance

Show answer and rationale

Correct: A. With low treatment integrity the data cannot evaluate the intervention. Improving implementation through training and support comes before changing the intervention or re-assessing function.

D — Escalating restrictiveness on uninterpretable data is both ineffective and ethically questionable.
B — Function cannot be ruled in or out when the procedure was rarely run.
C — Discontinuation is unwarranted and abandons the client.

Selecting and Implementing InterventionsDifficulty 2/5

Which strategy best promotes generalization of a newly acquired greeting response?

AIncrease reinforcement magnitude in the teaching setting to strengthen the response
BTrain sufficient exemplars across people and settings and recruit natural reinforcement
CRun more massed trials with the same therapist until responding is fluent
DDelay generalization work until mastery in the teaching setting is documented

Show answer and rationale

Correct: B. Programming common stimuli, training multiple exemplars and recruiting natural communities of reinforcement are established generalization tactics. Concentrating practice in one context narrows stimulus control.

A — Stronger reinforcement in one setting does not transfer stimulus control.
C — More of the same context strengthens the narrow control.
D — Generalization is designed into teaching, not appended afterwards.

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Primary references

BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.), in effect since 2025 — Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) · primary · retrieved 2026-09-22, verified 2026-09-22

Last reviewed: 2026-10-18Next review by: 2026-12-17Reviewed by: Openverse editorial team, Authoring and fact verificationHow we verify facts