Earlier in this course we learned about extinction. When using extinction, a previously reinforced behaviour is no longer reinforced. As a result, it decreases in frequency.
One example we looked at was that of Joy and her baby:
Joy?s baby used to drop her toy on the floor very often. Joy used to respond to this by picking up the toy, smiling and giving the toy back to her baby. Joy decided to stop picking up the toys. After a couple of days, her baby stopped dropping toys on the floor. The behaviour of dropping toys stopped receiving reinforcement. As a result, extinction occurred.
Now that we?ve learned about the functions of behaviour, let?s look at some simple function-based extinction based procedures for behaviours that challenge.
Access Based Extinction
When an access based extinction procedure is put into place, the client is not longer given access to the reinforcer in the form of tangibles or attention following a behaviour that challenges.
For example, Sally is Adrianna?s mother. At meal times, Adrianna used to cry when presented with food. When Adrianna cried, Sally would offer her candies until she calmed down. A functional assessment indicated that the function of Adrianna?s crying was to gain access to candies. Sally placed Adrianna?s crying on extinction and stopped providing candies when she cried.
Another example: When Jerry picked his nose in class, his teacher would react by making a disgusted expression and telling him to stop immediately. The function of Jerry?s behaviour was his teacher?s attention (more specifically, he found her reaction funny!). Jerry?s teacher put the behaviour on extinction, by ignoring his behavior* ? that is, she continued interacting with Jerry and his classmates as though the behavior was not occurring.
*This form of extinction for attention maintained behaviour is often called ?planned ignoring?. Note that in this case, Jerry did not ignore Jerry but ignored his behaviour. Remember, that the thing you are ignoring when you use ?planned ignoring? is not the person, but the behaviour you are trying to decrease.
Sensory Extinction
If the behaviour to be placed on extinction was previously reinforced by allowing one to gain automatic reinforcement in the form of sensory input, extinction can be applied by not allowing the client to gain automatic reinforcement (sensory input) after the behaviour occurs.
For example, Luigi picks the skin near his finger nails until they bleed. His doctor has expressed concern about infections. The function of the behaviour was access to positive sensory/automatic reinforcement. Luigi?s mother made him wear gloves so the behaviour could not longer be reinforced i.e. it was placed on sensory extinction.
Another example: Tyler shares a room with his bother Roman. Roman complains to his father that during the night, Tyler gets up and flicks the lights on and off for long periods of time. A functional assessment identifies the function of the behaviour as positive sensory/automatic reinforcement. Tyler and Roman?s father decides to place Tyler?s behaviour on extinction, by removing the lightbulb each night after the boys fall asleep.
Escape Extinction
If a challenging behaviour was previously reinforced by allowing a person to escape from tasks, items or events, the behaviour will be placed on extinction by not allowing the person to escape from them as a result of the behaviour that challenges.
For example, in Oscar?s school any incidence of cursing or swearing results in students being ejected from the classroom and being directed to stand outside the door. Oscar dislikes Woodwork so he would curse and swear when near his teacher in order to escape the demands of Woodwork class. The function of the behaviour is to escape demands, so to place the behaviour of swearing on escape extinction, his teachers would need to stop sending him outside the classroom when he engaged in cursing/swearing.
Another example, Anita is a mother to Irene. When Irene goes to the dentist, she hits her mother in order. When this happens, Anita takes Irene home. The function of Irene?s behaviour is to escape the demand of going to the dentist. If you wanted to run an escape extinction procedure in this scenario, you would need to ensure that hitting no longer resulted in leaving the dentist?s office.
Using Extinction in Practice
In practice, behaviour analysts never use extinction on its own. When used, it is typically one component in a multi-element plan than includes antecedent and direct interventions. When used, extinction procedures are usually used as part of differential reinforcement procedures. These procedures combine reinforcement for functional, contextually appropriate behaviour while placing other behaviours on extinction.
However, in order to use an extinction procedure appropriately, we need to look at some phenomenon related to the use of extinction.
Extinction Bursts
When behaviours are first placed on extinction, we typically see an increase in the in the frequency, duration, or intensity of the behaviour before it decreases. It is also associated with the emergence of novel forms of behaviour. In layman?s terms, when using extinction, things tend to get worse just before they get better. Let?s look at some examples of extinction bursts.
For example, you use the vending machine in your staff canteen and the food item does not come out. You try pressing the button several times, but nothing happens. You try pressing the button for harder and longer, but nothing happened. Next, you slap the front of the vending machine but the item is still not released. Perhaps, at this point you hit it harder or kick it.
In this example, the behaviour of using the vending machine has a history of reinforcement. As the machine is broken, your behaviour has been put on extinction. Your reaction was to increase the frequency of the behaviour (repeatedly pressing the buttons) and intensity (pressing it harder) and for longer (pressing it for longer). Your next actions of hitting and kicking the machine, represent novel behaviours.
Let?s look at another example:
Nelly is a teacher in a classroom for children with special needs. The results of a functional assessment for one of her students ? Karen ? indicate that Karen screams in order to get attention from Nelly. When Nelly puts the behaviour on extinction, Karen initially screams for longer periods and at a louder volume.
Extinction Bursts and Behaviour Support Planning
When considering using extinction as a component of a behaviour support plan, we need to consider whether or not we can tolerate an extinction burst. While an extinction burst for some behaviours, might be relatively safe and easy to deal with, for others, it could pose a risk to the client or those around them.
Consider a client who engages in self-injurious behaviour in order to gain attention. If you placed this behaviour on extinction (i.e. you planned to ignore it), then the frequency, duration and intensity of the behaviour might increase. This could pose a substantial risk to your client. As an RBT, you have a duty of care towards your clients and might need to intervene.
Similarly, consider a client who engages in some form of aggression towards his carers (e.g. pinching) in order to access attention. If the client?s carers attempted to put this behaviour on extinction, they might be willing to tolerate an increase in intensity or frequency, but it is also possible they could accidentally shape up a new form of challenging behaviour. If pinches (the previously reinforced aggressive behaviour) were placed on extinction, but the carers were unable to avoid reinforcing punches with attention, then while pinches would decrease, punches would increase.
Spontaneous Recovery
Another phenomenon related to the use of extinction is Spontaneous Recovery. The term is used to describe the reappearance of a behaviour after it has diminished to its pre-reinforcement level or stopped entirely. In other words, when a behaviour has been extinguished, the behaviour may occur again in the future in circumstances in which it was previously reinforced.
When using extinction, it is important to ensure that you prepare for spontaneous recovery. Even if the behaviour has not happened for some time, you should ensure that you are ready to run the extinction procedure, should it happen.
For example, imagine a child at nursery. His name is Matthew. Matthew used to run away from the nursery staff to gain access to the kitchen where he would steal sweets that other children had brought for lunch. The staff decided to put the behaviour on extinction by locking the kitchen door. Matthew initially went through an extinction burst ? pulling hard at the lock and hitting the door to try to access the kitchen, but then the behaviour reduces to zero levels. Two weeks later, spontaneous recovery occurred. The staff had stopped locking the kitchen door and so Matthew gained access and ate the sweets.
What do you think happened next?
That?s right, the behaviour increased in frequency. In effect, the nursery team had accidentally placed the challenging behaviour on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement. And as we learned in earlier modules, behaviours that are on thin schedules of reinforcement (e.g. only reinforced after a number of occurrences) tend to maintain for longer periods of time and resist extinction.
Alternatives to extinction
Minimise Reinforcement for the Challenging Behaviour
In some situations, an extinction procedure may not be practical. For example, if a dangerous self-injurious behaviour was maintained by access to attention, it would most likely not be practical (or ethical) to place it on extinction.
In such situations, one can reduce the quantity or quality of reinforcement received for the behaviour that challenges. For a self-injurious behaviour maintained by attention, you might minimise the attention provided for the behaviour (e.g. reduce language use and reduce contact).
If an alternative means of accessing a similar form of reinforcement, for example reinforcing requests for attention, results in a similar or higher level and quality of attention, and requires less effort, then the challenging behaviour should also decrease.
Diversion ? Interruption and Redirection
When a learner begins to exhibit a behavior that challenges, technicians interrupt the learner?s attempts by using blocking.
If a behaviour is dangerous, you might be required to physically block it (e.g. if a learner was trying to put something dangerous into their mouth, you might place your hand 1-2 inches in front of the learner?s mouth). If using physical blocking, it is important to use the least amount of physical assistance required and remember that blocking only requires physical interaction for 1-2 seconds.
With verbal blocking, you issue an instruction interrupt the behaviour that challenges with a verbal instruction. For example, if a learner was trying to access an unsafe area, you might say ?Stop? or ?Wait?.
Next, instruct the learner to engage in an alternative behaviour and prompt the correct response (e.g. if a learner was trying to hit themselves to gain access to a break from demands, you could prompt them to ask for a break using most to least prompting).
Capitulation
Many challenging behaviours occur as part of a chain. For example, a person who engages in self-injury to escape demands at school may characteristically engage in scripting (repeating a certain phrase from a TV show or movie) before starting to pinch themselves, before starting to hit their head off a hard surface.
If the function of self-injury is to escape demands, then it makes more sense to reinforce scripting with an escape from demand rather than reinforcing pinching or hitting a head off a hard surface. In this case, you give the person what they want to stop the behaviour that challenge from occurring.
Summary
Extinction procedures can reduce the future occurrence of behaviours that challenge. This makes them very valuable when seeking to address behaviours that negatively impact somebody?s quality of life. However, unlike antecedent interventions, they do not make the behaviour less likely to occur in the first instance and unlike reinforcement based procedures, they do not reinforce the non-occurrence of the behaviour or teach new ways of accessing it. When considering the use of extinction, you should be prepared for an extinction burst and ensure that you can implement the procedure safely and in a socially valid way. Remember, that just because a behaviour has not happened for some time, it does not mean that spontaneous recovery cannot occur. If a behaviour re-emerges, it is important the you continue to use the extinction procedure.
Whether you are using extinction or any other procedure, your supervisor will provide you with detailed guidelines on how to react to behaviours that challenge. The successful implementation and evaluation of the intervention depends on the technician following such guidelines with fidelity, collecting all relevant data and reporting back to their supervisor.