Procedures for determining and then modifying the extinction component of multiple schedules for destructive behavior
A quick extinction probe plus toy distraction lets you thin FCT schedules to 10 % reinforcement in days, not weeks, and resurgence stays low.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four children who hurt themselves or others took part.
Each child first got a short test.
The test showed how long they could stay calm when adults stopped giving attention or escape.
Next the team used two cues.
A green card meant "requests get answers now." A red card meant "no answers now."
They moved the green time shorter and the red time longer across days.
While red was on, the child could play with a favorite toy instead of asking.
What they found
All four kids stopped problem behavior almost right away.
They reached the final lean plan (green only 10 % of the time) in 5 to 11 days.
No child showed a big bounce-back of problem behavior.
The toy kept them busy during red times.
How this fits with other research
Boyle et al. (2021) also thinned FCT, but they compared picture cues versus colored cards.
They saw mixed results: some kids kept the rule, one did not.
Miller adds a quick extinction test first and gives a toy during red, making the fade faster and safer.
Lovaas et al. (1969) showed that simple extinction can stop self-injury, yet resurgence is common when reinforcement returns.
Miller’s multiple schedule with built-in toy time appears to guard against that bounce, updating the old pure-extinction approach.
Why it matters
You can copy the 15-minute extinction test in your intake.
It tells you how long the child can tolerate "no" before you start thinning.
Then use green/red cards plus a competing toy to stretch the wait time without tears.
You may reach lean schedules in under two weeks instead of months.
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Join Free →Run a 15-minute extinction test, note the longest calm stretch, then start green/red cards with a toy during red.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
As a component of reinforcer schedule thinning following functional communication training, multiple schedules of reinforcement produce desirable rates and patterns of communication responses as an alternative response to destructive behavior. However, reinforcement schedule thinning is a gradual process that can take many sessions to obtain therapeutic goals. The desired outcome is that manding occurs only during signaled intervals of reinforcement with a sufficiently lean terminal schedule of reinforcement availability and low rates of destructive behavior. The purposes of this study were to (a) evaluate an assessment for informing the initial duration of extinction for alternative responding, (b) evaluate the utility of competing stimuli during extinction for alternative responding, and (c) assess a method for fading the availability of competing stimuli. With these procedures, all 4 participants experienced terminal schedules of reinforcement with rapid, robust reductions in destructive behavior soon after baseline. We discuss the implications and directions for future research.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2022 · doi:10.1002/jaba.896