Identifying the educative and suppressive effects of positive practice and restitutional overcorrection.
Use positive practice that copies the target skill if you want to teach, not just suppress.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team compared three overcorrection routines for adults with intellectual disability.
Each adult got restitutional overcorrection, top-similar positive practice, and top-dissimilar practice on separate days.
They watched which version cut problem behavior and which one also built new skills.
What they found
Top-similar positive practice was the only package that did two things at once.
It lowered the unwanted acts and lifted the correct acts during the same session.
Restitution and dissimilar practice only suppressed; they did not teach.
How this fits with other research
Davis et al. (1974) had already shown that restitution alone can wipe out stealing in four days.
Galbicka et al. (1981) now says restitution is just half the tool; add similar practice if you want new skills.
Davison et al. (1991) later renamed academic versions "directed rehearsal," agreeing the teaching piece matters more than the punishment label.
Together the chain moves from "stop the act" (1974) to "stop and teach" (1981) to "call it rehearsal" (1991).
Why it matters
When you write a behavior plan, pick the practice that looks like the skill you want.
If you only need suppression, restitution still works.
If you also need the client to do something new, make the extra practice copy the target shape.
Check your procedure sheet today: does the positive practice look like the goal behavior? If not, tweak it.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Flip your positive practice step so the client performs the correct form three times, not a random task.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Two major features of the overcorrection procedure, restitution and positive practice, were analyzed for their educative and suppressive properties in the treatment of profoundly retarded adults. Positive practice techniques that were topographically similar and dissimilar to the target behavior were studied. Eating behavior and puzzle performance were observed. Restitutional overcorrection and both forms of positive practice were effective for suppressing inappropriate behaviors. Even when appropriate behaviors had been acquired by positive practice, restitution and dissimilar positive practice were generally ineffective for increasing their rate of occurrence. However, topographically similar positive practice was successful as a means of teaching new appropriate behaviors.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1981 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1981.14-71