Behavior Reduction Interventions Flashcards

A client engages in severe self-injurious behavior (SIB) maintained by automatic reinforcement. The behavior analyst implements a non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) schedule using preferred stimulation every 2 minutes. After 3 weeks, the SIB has not decreased. Which modification is MOST consistent with the function-based intervention logic?

Answer: Identify whether the automatic reinforcement is sensory or pain-attenuation based before modifying

When NCR fails for automatically maintained SIB, the critical next step is to determine the specific nature of the automatic reinforcement. SIB maintained by pain attenuation (negative automatic reinforcement) requires a fundamentally different intervention than SIB maintained by sensory stimulation (positive automatic reinforcement). Simply increasing NCR density or adding response blocking without understanding this distinction could be ineffective or even contraindicated. Identifying the specific reinforcer allows for a properly matched abolishing operation or alternative stimulation strategy.

During a functional analysis, a 10-year-old client's aggression occurs at high rates across ALL conditions, including the control (play) condition. Which interpretation and next step is MOST appropriate?

Answer: The undifferentiated pattern may indicate automatic reinforcement or a problem with the control condition; conduct an extended analysis or latency-based FA

An undifferentiated FA result — where behavior is elevated across all conditions including the control — does not automatically confirm multiple control. It may indicate automatic reinforcement (behavior occurs regardless of social consequences), a flawed control condition (e.g., preferred items are inadvertently reinforcing in play), or that session parameters were insufficient. The appropriate response is to conduct further assessment, such as an extended analysis, a synthesized contingency analysis, or a latency-based FA, before drawing functional conclusions and designing treatment.

A behavior analyst is using extinction for a behavior previously reinforced by escape. The client's problem behavior escalates dramatically during the first week (extinction burst). A new BCBA-trainee suggests temporarily re-introducing the escape contingency to protect rapport. What is the PRIMARY ethical and clinical concern with this approach?

Answer: It would intermittently reinforce the escalated behavior, potentially increasing its future intensity and resistance to extinction

Reinstating the escape contingency during an extinction burst is clinically dangerous primarily because it provides intermittent reinforcement for the escalated behavior. Intermittent reinforcement schedules produce behavior that is far more resistant to extinction and potentially more intense. The client learns that escalating behavior beyond a certain threshold produces escape, which shapes increasingly severe forms of the behavior. While the other options represent real concerns, the most critical clinical risk is the creation of a thicker, more resilient reinforcement history for high-intensity problem behavior.

A practitioner implements a DRO (differential reinforcement of other behavior) schedule for a client's stereotypy. The interval is set at 30 seconds based on the mean inter-response time from baseline. After two weeks, the DRO is succeeding at reducing stereotypy, but the client has begun engaging in a new low-level disruptive behavior (tapping objects) that was not previously a concern. Which explanation and response is MOST clinically accurate?

Answer: The new behavior may be a functionally equivalent replacement emerging because the original reinforcer has been withheld; assess its function before intervening

When a new behavior emerges following DRO implementation, a critical consideration is that the original reinforcer is being withheld, which may increase the motivation (EO) for that reinforcer and occasion novel behavior that serves the same function. Before intervening on the tapping, the clinician must assess its function. If it serves the same function as the stereotypy, suppressing it without providing a functional replacement could produce further behavioral cycling. Simply adding it to the DRO or assuming extinction will resolve it ignores the underlying motivational variable.

A behavior analyst is designing a punishment-based intervention (response cost) for a client who has not responded to multiple reinforcement-based procedures for dangerous elopement. According to both ethical guidelines and behavior analytic science, which condition is LEAST sufficient on its own to justify proceeding with the punishment procedure?

Answer: Informed consent has been obtained from the legal guardian

Informed consent, while absolutely necessary, is not sufficient on its own to justify a punishment-based procedure. BACB ethical code and best practice require a convergence of conditions: prior ineffective reinforcement-based attempts, a completed FBA, least restrictive treatment consideration, ongoing monitoring, and typically peer review or human rights committee oversight for restrictive procedures. Consent from a guardian who may not fully understand behavior analytic principles does not substitute for the clinical and ethical safeguards required. Each of the other options represents a more substantive safeguard than consent alone.

A BCBA is supervising an RBT implementing extinction for attention-maintained aggression. The RBT reports that during sessions, other staff members are inconsistently applying the extinction procedure — sometimes providing attention after aggression. The BCBA notices that the aggression data shows a bimodal distribution across days. Which concept BEST explains the observed data pattern and its implication for the intervention?

Answer: The inconsistent application is creating a variable-ratio-like schedule, making the aggression more resistant to extinction; staff training is urgent

When extinction is inconsistently applied across caregivers, the result is functionally equivalent to intermittent reinforcement — specifically approximating a variable-ratio schedule based on which staff member is present and how they respond. Variable-ratio schedules produce behavior that is highly resistant to extinction and maintained at high, steady rates. A bimodal data distribution (high on some days, lower on others) is consistent with discrimination between staff who do and do not reinforce, but the deeper problem is that inconsistent reinforcement is strengthening the behavior overall. Immediate staff training across all implementers is the clinically urgent response — not waiting or focusing only on the RBT.