To quickly recap, reinforcement occurs when a stimulus follows a behaviour and, as a result, that behaviour increases in the future. Extinction occurs, when previously reinforced behaviour is no longer reinforced.
When we combine reinforcement and extinction, the resulting procedure is known as Differential Reinforcement.
When using differential reinforcement for a behaviour that challenges, we ensure that reinforcement is not provided for the challenging behaviour (extinction) and that we reinforce some other behaviour instead.
For example, imagine that a student engages in cursing and swearing in class to escape demands during difficult tasks. Using differential reinforcement in this scenario would mean ensuring that the student did not escape a demand when they engaged in cursing and swearing, but received reinforcement when they engaged in the demanding task or when they asked for a break instead.
If properly implemented, the result of such an intervention would be a decrease in cursing and swearing due to extinction and increase in carrying out difficult tasks and/or requesting breaks.
Types of Differential Reinforcement Procedures
There are four main types of Differential Reinforcement Procedures
- Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behaviours (DRA)
- Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviours (DRI)
- Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviours (DRO)
- Differential Reinforcement of High/Low rates of Behaviour (DRH/DRL)
Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behaviour
Differential Reinforcement of Alternative (DRA) Behaviour procedures are those in in which a problem behaviour is decreased by reinforcing a functionally equivalent alternative behaviour (a competing behaviour) to replace the problematic behaviour. The functionally equivalent alternative behavior is reinforced while the challenging behavior is placed on extinction.
The functionally equivalent replacement behavior chosen is often a communication response. For example, if somebody was engaging in challenging behaviour to gain attention, the functionally equivalent replacement behaviour might be to teach them to request attention in a more contextually appropriate manner.
Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviour
When using a differential reinforcement of incompatible (DRI) behaviour procedure, you start by identifying a behavior that is incompatible with the behavior that challenges. When we say that it is incompatible, we mean that it cannot occur at the same time
If the challenging behaviour was hitting other people, we might provide reinforcement when the client was keeping their hands in the pockets, by their side, or on a desk. This is because one cannot both hit somebody and, for example, keep their hands in their pockets at the same time.
Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviour
Differential Reinforcement of Other (DRO) Behaviour reinforces all other behaviour except the target behaviour. The target behaviour is placed on extinction. In effect, because you are reinforcing all other behaviour, a DRO involves reinforcing the absence or the non-occurrence of the problematic behavior. For this reason, they are sometimes called a DR0 (zero).
For example, in a classroom scenario, a teacher might use a classroom scenario where they divide a class into intervals. If the student has not engaged in challenging behaviour at the end of the interval, they reinforce the next behaviour that occurs so long as it is not the target challenging behaviour.
Differential Reinforcement of High/Low rates of Behaviour
The other differential reinforcement procedures we examined all aimed to eliminate a behaviour that challenges. However, sometimes a behaviour that is generally functional, may become challenging because it occurs at levels that are either too high or too low.
Take for example, a child who asks to go to the toilet during class. This is, generally speaking, a functional, contextually appropriate behaviour. However, imagine a child who asks to go to the toilet many, many times during class. A functional assessment might reveal that this behavior is maintained by escape from classroom demands. However, it would not be appropriate to eliminate this behaviour. In this circumstance, a differential reinforcement of low rates of behaviour procedure might be appropriate.
You would start by identifying the current rate at which the target behaviour occurs and then identify a contextually appropriate level for that behaviour and individual. In our example of a child asking to go to the toilet too often, they might be asking 6 times across the day and the appropriate level might be two. You would start by providing the child with reinforcement (e.g. time on the classroom computer) if they asked for the toilet 5 times or less during the day. Once they were successful at meeting this goal, you might reduce it to 4 times a day. If they met this new target, the following goal would be three times and the final goal would be two times.
A DRH procedure is similar to a DRI. However you would use a DRH when somebody is engaging in a behaviour but at a level that is too low. For example, imagine somebody who could feed themselves, but typically ate a very, very slow pace. The impact of such a slow pace could become cold or lukewarm and unpleasant or they might have less time to engage in valuable activities that are important to them. With a DRH, you would first establish the pace at which somebody was eating. For example, they might take a bit every 5 minutes. They goal might be for the client to take a bite five times in 5 minutes (i.e. 1 bite per minute). With a DRH, we might initially set the first goal at two bites in 5 minutes, then 3 bites, then four bites and then 5 bites. The presentation of reinforcement would be contingent on the client meeting the target while no reinforcement would be provided if they did not meet it.
Summary
When addressing behaviours that challenge, a differential reinforcement procedure typically seeks to increase functional behaviours via reinforcement and decrease behaviours that challenge through extinction.
We may seek to reinforce an alternative behaviour such as a communication response (DRA), an incompatible behaviour (DRI) or the non-occurrence of a behaviour (DRO). In some cases, it is the rate at which a behaviour occurs that poses a challenge and so we may use differential reinforcement to increase (DRH) or decrease (DRL) the rate at which it is occurring.
Within the context of a behaviour support plan, more than one of these procedures may be used. They are often used in conjunction with antecedent interventions you learned about earlier.