Initial Suppression of Escape Behavior Across Three Behavioral Treatments
Use praise, toys, or bite-sized tasks first—escape extinction can wait.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Twenty-two kids who tried to leave tasks were split into three groups. Each group got a different first-line treatment for ten sessions.
Group A got differential positive reinforcement: finish a bit of work, earn a fun toy or snack. Group B got instructional fading: tasks started tiny and grew only after success. Group C got differential negative reinforcement plus escape extinction: brief breaks for working, but no break for trying to leave.
What they found
Positive reinforcement and instructional fading cut escape attempts to near-zero in about half the time. The escape-extinction group still showed lots of trying to leave in the first ten sessions.
By session ten, the two non-extinction groups were calm and compliant; the extinction group still needed many more trials to reach the same calm.
How this fits with other research
Pubylski-Yanofchick et al. (2022) saw the same thing with food refusal in an adult: positive reinforcement beat negative. Together the studies say "start nice, get results faster" across very different problems.
McConnell et al. (2020) looks like it disagrees; they added escape extinction to dental training and saw quick calm. The key difference is timing. McConnell used extinction after graduated exposure had already made the client comfortable. Slocum used extinction right away. The papers line up: soften the context first, then if needed, add extinction.
Gaucher et al. (2020) and Leif et al. (2020) show kids with autism can learn under differential-reinforcement schedules when you also prompt and fade. Slocum’s data say you can skip the heavy extinction at the start and still get fast suppression.
Why it matters
You can spare clients the stress of early escape extinction. Start with preferred items or tiny tasks, then grow demands. If problem behavior stays low, you may never need extinction. Save the stricter procedures for later, or for cases where faster suppression outweighs the initial spike in behavior.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Begin the next escape case with five-minute tasks and a bowl of high-preference edibles—deliver only after task completion.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
ABSTRACT Prevalence reports continue to indicate that social‐negative reinforcement is the most likely reinforcer for challenging behavior. Although there are several well‐established, durable treatments for escape‐maintained challenging behavior, some situations require the immediate suppression of challenging behavior while working toward a return to instruction completion. Little is known about the initial suppressive effects of treatments. We randomly assigned 22 children with escape‐maintained challenging behavior to one of three treatments—differential negative reinforcement with escape extinction, differential positive reinforcement without escape extinction, or instructional fading without escape extinction—and evaluated the initial suppression of challenging behavior during the first 10 treatment sessions. Both interventions without escape extinction led to more rapid immediate suppression compared to differential negative reinforcement with escape extinction. Differential positive reinforcement or instructional fading may be preferential interventions when the goal is an immediate reduction of severe or dangerous challenging behavior.
Behavioral Interventions, 2025 · doi:10.1002/bin.70036