Preliminary Outcomes From a Brief Response Blocking Assessment

Phillips and team ran a five-minute probe. They blocked every response a child made.

They watched what happened inside that one short session. They did this with several kids.

No long treatment followed. The goal was to see if a quick block test could guide later plans.

Blocking did not always cut behavior. For some kids responses jumped. For others they dropped.

Some kids showed both up and down swings in the same five minutes. The effect was messy, not steady.

Tiger et al. (2021) also used brief blocking, but they added prompting and then ran a full treatment. Their package clearly reduced problem behavior. The new study shows blocking alone, without those extras, is unreliable.

Silbaugh et al. (2017) found blocking helped a picky eater accept new foods. That looks like a clash, but the difference is the goal. One study wanted more variety, the other wanted less responding. Blocking can increase or decrease behavior depending on what you block and why.

Haddock et al. (2020) reviewed competing-stimulus tests that often pair blocking with toys or tasks. The review says those combos usually predict later success. The 2025 data warn us to test blocking first, because the toy combo might fail if blocking itself spikes responding.

Before you build a whole plan around response blocking, run a five-minute probe. Watch the curve while you block. If responses climb, switch tactics or add prompts like Tiger did. This quick check saves hours of therapy that might accidentally strengthen the very behavior you want to stop.