Extinction

Description of the Strategy

Extinction is a reductive procedure in which maintaining reinforcement is no longer delivered following a behavior that was previously reinforced. For example, consider the student who blurts out answers despite teacher requests to raise his hand and wait to be called upon. If the teacher responds to his answers or comments when the student does not wait to be called upon, then blurting out is reinforced with teacher attention. Extinction occurs when the teacher no longer responds to the blurting out (i.e., maintaining reinforcer is removed) and behavior occurrences decrease in frequency. In this example, teacher attention for talking out of turn is withheld.

The goal of extinction is to eliminate an undesirable behavior from occurring in the future. If implemented with consistency, extinction results in a decreased rate for the undesirable behavior as compared to preintervention levels. In other words, the student will blurt out answers less often if the teacher does not respond to these incidences of talking out. However, this decrease is not immediate, as extinction takes time to achieve the desired results.

When using extinction, it is important to (a) determine all reinforcers for the target behavior, (b) delineate the conditions under which extinction will occur, (c) withhold all sources of reinforcement when the target behavior occurs, and (d) consider combining extinction with other procedures (e.g., differential reinforcement) to teach more desirable, functionally equivalent behaviors.

Determine Reinforcers. Extinction requires all sources of maintaining reinforcement to be withheld when the target behavior occurs. Direct observations can be conducted to identify sources of reinforcement. The goal of these observations is to determine what is setting the stage for the behavior to occur (antecedents) and what is happening following the target behavior (consequences) to encourage the behavior to occur in the future. This information can be analyzed to determine the source(s) of reinforcement.

Delineate Conditions. After the sources of reinforcement (e.g., teacher or peer attention, sensory stimulation) have been identified, the conditions under which extinction will occur need to be established. If the student is verbal, extinction conditions may be communicated to the student. For example, in the case of the student who blurts out, the teacher needs to tell the student his expectation for classroom discussions and what will occur if the student does not adhere to the expectations (e.g., “Frank, when it is time for classroom discussion, you need to raise your hand and wait to be called upon. If you blurt out the answer or raise your hand and blurt out the answer, I will not respond to what you say. I will only respond if you raise your hand and wait to be called upon”).

Withhold Reinforcement. After sources of reinforcement have been identified and the conditions communicated, reinforcement should be withheld consistently, every time the target (undesirable) behavior occurs. It is imperative that reinforcement be withheld consistently. In our previous example, if the teacher occasionally responds to the student when he talks out, intermittent reinforcement is provided that can promote response maintenance. Therefore, teachers must not “cave in.” Otherwise, the target behavior is likely to persist.

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