Extinction– When should I use an extinction procedure?

These are questions for parents and teachers to ask before deciding to use extinction to reduce or stop a behavior:

1. Can the behavior be tolerated temporarily based on its description and how often it occurs? (Think about swearing, talking out in class, hitting others-can you tolerate it for awhile?)

2. Can it be tolerated if it increases? (Again, think of some of the above mentioned behaviors!)

3. Will others imitate the behavior?

4. Have reinforcers been identified? Reinforcers are those people, items or activities that produce a positive effect on behavior and increase a desired behavior or decrease an undesirable behavior.

5. Can these reinforcers be withheld?

6. Have alternative behaviors been identified as ones that would receive reinforcement?

The use of the Motivational Assessment Scale (Durand, V.M) can be very helpful in determining why an individual may be engaging in a behavior and if extinction is truly the most effective way in dealing with it. This scale helps individuals look at a behavior and determine if the behavior is occurring because of sensory issues, communication difficulties, avoidance behaviors or attention seeking. Let's look at a couple of scenarios for examples of when and how extinction might or might not be used.

Scene 1: Max is 5 years old and extremely limited in his expressive verbal skills. When at the playground with his mother, another child takes one of his toy cars. His mother had been talking with another parent and did not notice. Max begins to yell and scream, but his mother, after determining that he did not appear to be hurt, ignores him and continues talking. Max not only continues with the yelling and screaming, he escalates to hitting. At this point his mother recognizes that ignoring will not help. Max is having a meltdown due to his communication difficulty. Attempting to use extinction with this type of problem will likely result in a more aggressive and frustrated child. When looking at WHY Max got upset, it is because of his lack of communication and his inability to verbalize that someone took his toy.

Scene 2: Lacey is in middle school. In her literature class, which she enjoys, she is often out of seat, waving her hands wildly to get her teacher's attention as she calls to her. Her teacher decides to implement an extinction program to decrease the out of seat behavior. She is careful to observe when Lacey is seated at her desk and working and requesting attention. She responds immediately when Lacey's hand goes up and she is seated at her desk. If the teacher is busy with another student and Lacey gets out of her seat, calls loudly and waves her hands, the teacher ignores her. She does, however, watch for the moment that Lacey sits at her desk and is quiet for a brief time, and immediately reinforces Lacey by attending to her at that time. In this case, the well-planned extinction program should result in the desired behavior over a period of time. The teacher recognizes that Lacey's behavior will increase in loudness and persistence initially until Lacey makes the connection between getting attention for in-seat behavior and being ignored for out of seat behavior.

As with any behavior program, individuals should be educated and trained in the methods they use, and they should monitor and analyze why a program is not working before discontinuing it.