In ABA maintenance assessment, what is the purpose of probe sessions?

• A. To assess continued performance over time after fading support
• B. To train new skills
• C. To fade reinforcement completely
• D. To evaluate generalization to new settings

Answer: (A)

Maintenance assessment focuses on whether a skill remains in the learner’s repertoire after fading prompts and supports. Probe sessions are brief test bouts where prompts are minimized or withheld to observe whether the learner can perform the target behavior independently. Repeating probes over time lets you track the stability of performance; if accuracy stays high across probes, maintenance is achieved and you can plan booster sessions or continued fading accordingly. If performance drops, you may need to reintroduce prompting or adjust the fading plan. This approach isn’t about teaching new skills, nor about fading reinforcement completely, and generalization to new settings is evaluated separately.