Mastery criterion

A criterion is a decision rule

“Mastered” can hide several choices. A team might mean accurate responses during teaching, independent use in ordinary opportunities, performance with another person, or maintenance weeks later. Those observations answer different questions.

Write the criterion before reviewing the outcome. Name what happens after it is met, missed, or rendered invalid by changed conditions. A criterion can trigger a probe, prompt reduction, new setting, maintenance check, or clinical review. It should never operate as an automatic discharge decision.

State the complete rule

A buildable mastery criterion specifies:

• the observable response and acceptable variations
• the cue, opportunity, materials, and setting
• ordinary supports that remain available
• prompt level and response window
• numerator, denominator, and minimum opportunity count
• number and spacing of sessions or days
• people, examples, or settings to sample
• generalization, maintenance, and review steps

“Eighty percent for three sessions” remains incomplete until each term is defined. Eight of ten opportunities differs from four of five, even though both equal 80 percent.

Use a criterion worksheet

Put the response, eligible opportunity, natural cue, ordinary supports, prompt boundary, response window, invalid-event rule, minimum sample, threshold, and required time span in one row. Add the generalization sample, maintenance date, responsible reviewer, and next decision. This creates a shared reference for the family, clinician, and data collector.

Test the row with three fictional records before using it. Include one independent success, one prompted response, and one missing opportunity. Each reviewer should classify them the same way. Then test an edge case, such as an interrupted routine or unavailable device. Revise ambiguous language before the criterion affects teaching. Keep the worksheet version with the results so a later reader knows which rule produced the reported percentage.

Include the clinical reason for each threshold and the evidence expected at follow-up. Review the completed row with the person and family.

Independence can include ordinary supports

Independent performance means completion without the added teaching prompt defined by the plan. It can include a wheelchair, glasses, written schedule, sensory support, calculator, AAC, or another tool that belongs in everyday performance.

ASHA's AAC guidance says AAC users should always have access to their tools or devices. Removing a useful support to test “true independence” changes the task and may reduce access. Record the support conditions instead.

Generalization and maintenance need new evidence

Criterion performance in one teaching arrangement does not establish use with other people, materials, settings, or natural cues. Generalization probes sample the variations that matter. Maintenance probes ask whether performance continues after time or reduced teaching.

A review of skill-acquisition reporting found that many included articles did not report a specific mastery-criterion method or maintenance probes. The review describes reporting practices in selected journals. It does not identify a universal best criterion.

A fictional library example

Ravi chooses a goal of using a neighborhood library checkout station with his ordinary visual checklist. The team defines 12 eligible checkout opportunities across three days, two staff members, and two item types. Success means completing the four agreed steps without an added teaching prompt.

Ravi completes 10 of 12 opportunities independently. One includes a gesture prompt and one station is unavailable. The unavailable station is recorded as an environmental failure and remains outside the eligible denominator under the prewritten rule. A later maintenance sample uses its own denominator. These counts do not show permanent mastery or causation.

Respond to a missed criterion with analysis

A missed criterion supplies information. Review whether the opportunity occurred, the response was accessible, the cue was clear, the prompt faded too quickly, the denominator was representative, or health and environmental conditions changed.

Avoid endless repetition of an unchanged procedure. A qualified clinician can revise the task, teaching arrangement, support, pace, or criterion with the person and family. Report the revision date so results from different rules are not pooled.

Keep the goal meaningful

The CASP ABA Practice Guidelines public page places assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation within individualized ABA treatment for autistic people. The BACB Test Content Outline includes measurement, socially significant goals, prompting, generalization, maintenance, and evaluation as examination content. Neither source selects a criterion for one person.

The current BACB Ethics Code addresses client involvement, consent and assent when applicable, assessment, risk, and continual evaluation for covered professionals. Ask whether the skill improves daily life and remains worth the effort after the number is reached.