Mastery criteria and the maintenance of skills in children with developmental disabilities
Set DTT mastery at 100 % accuracy if you want the skill to stick weeks later.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team taught four children with autism to read new words using DTT.
They compared three mastery rules: 80 % correct, 90 % correct, or 100 % correct.
Each child got all three rules in turn, and the researchers tracked who still knew the words four weeks later.
What they found
Kids who had to hit 100 % accuracy kept every word a month later.
Children who stopped at 80 % or 90 % forgot more words over time.
The 100 % rule won for long-term memory even though it took a few extra trials.
How this fits with other research
Older DTT tweaks still matter. Allison et al. (1980) showed that switching tasks within a session keeps kids accurate and happy. Pitts adds a new layer: once you pick the task, stay until 100 % is reached.
Nottingham et al. (2017) crammed extra targets into the same trials to save time. Their method pairs well with Pitts: teach more items, but demand 100 % on each one before moving on.
Yanchik et al. (2024) blended DTT with natural-environment play for toddlers. They found the mix helps adaptive skills. Pitts says if you do keep some table-top DTT, set the bar at 100 % so the skill survives.
Why it matters
You can borrow both lessons. Keep sessions lively with varied tasks and reinforcers, but do not let the child leave the table at 90 %. Push to 100 % once, then probe next week. You will spend a handful more trials today and save re-teaching time tomorrow.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AbstractBehavior analysts typically set a criterion for correct responding to determine when a skill is considered mastered. Practitioners often preset the criteria arbitrarily as there is little empirical evidence about the effects of differing mastery criteria on the maintenance of skills. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effects of differing mastery criteria on skill maintenance. The impact of 80%, 90%, and 100% correct responding on the maintenance of sets of skills taught during discrete trial teaching was evaluated. Four children aged between 5‐ and 9‐years‐old with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder participated in the research. Participants were taught to recognize words. Sets of words were taught until each of the three criteria were met, skill maintenance was probed after 1 week, and again once per week for another 3 weeks. Results demonstrated that skills were maintained at a response accuracy similar to the mastery criteria employed; with mastery criteria of 100% reliably producing higher levels of accurate responding during maintenance than a mastery criteria of 80% and 90%.
Behavioral Interventions, 2021 · doi:10.1002/bin.1778