Discrete Trial Training

Abstract

Discrete trial training, also known as discrete trial teaching, is the most widely recognized behavior analytic teaching approach. It is a simple and systematic teaching procedure that is aligned to the antecedent--behavior--consequence paradigm. A discrete trial begins by securing the client's attention, presenting the discriminative stimulus, prompting the desired response, and responding by reinforcing correct responses or correcting errors. After a brief intertrial interval, the trial is repeated. During this chapter, you will ensure that your supervisees have a firm conceptual understanding of the behavioral principles involved in DTT. During the group supervision meeting, your supervisees will be introduced to terminology and practice writing goals to distinguish between a discriminative stimulus and potential prompts to occasion the correct response. Your supervisee will select a goal to target with discrete trial training. During the individual supervision meetings, your supervisee will role-play implementing discrete trial training before implementing DTT with their client.