A first-grade student has mastered taking turns and sharing but does not greet classmates in the morning. This demonstrates which type of deficit?

A first-grade student has mastered taking turns and sharing but does not greet classmates in the morning. This demonstrates which type of deficit?

• A. Discrimination deficit
• B. Selective mutism
• C. Skill-based deficit
• D. Learned helplessness

Answer: (C)

This item focuses on whether a difficulty is a missing, teachable skill in social communication. The student can take turns and share, showing some social skills are in place, but not greeting classmates in the morning indicates a specific initiation behavior hasn’t been learned yet. That points to a skill-based deficit—the person needs to acquire a discrete skill (greeting) that can be taught and practiced, with modeling, prompting, and reinforcement to build it into routines. The other possibilities don’t fit as well: a discrimination deficit would involve trouble distinguishing when to respond, which isn’t described here; selective mutism would imply a pervasive inability to speak in certain settings, often with broader patterns than a single greeting; learned helplessness would show a pattern of giving up due to repeated failure, which isn’t indicated by the isolated greeting issue.

This item focuses on whether a difficulty is a missing, teachable skill in social communication. The student can take turns and share, showing some social skills are in place, but not greeting classmates in the morning indicates a specific initiation behavior hasn’t been learned yet. That points to a skill-based deficit—the person needs to acquire a discrete skill (greeting) that can be taught and practiced, with modeling, prompting, and reinforcement to build it into routines. The other possibilities don’t fit as well: a discrimination deficit would involve trouble distinguishing when to respond, which isn’t described here; selective mutism would imply a pervasive inability to speak in certain settings, often with broader patterns than a single greeting; learned helplessness would show a pattern of giving up due to repeated failure, which isn’t indicated by the isolated greeting issue.