How do maintenance trials generally trend over time?

Maintenance trials are designed to help individuals retain learned skills over time after they have been initially taught and mastered. Typically, these trials aim to assess and support the continued use of these skills in relevant contexts.

As time goes on, the frequency of maintenance trials may decrease, as individuals are expected to demonstrate their learned behaviors independently. The intention behind this trend is that once a skill has been established, consistent prompting and reinforcement are less necessary. Thus, it becomes typical for maintenance trials to occur less often as the individual becomes more proficient at utilizing the skills autonomously.

The concept of maintenance in behavior analysis emphasizes the importance of ensuring that learned behaviors persist, but administers them strategically to empower independence.