Differential Reinforcement

This procedure combines two of the foundational procedures inABA: reinforcement and extinction. Combining these two procedurescan be very powerful when working on skill acquisition and behaviorreduction skills.

Our book discusses a handful of differential reinforcementprocedures, including:

Differential Reinforcement of Other behavior(DRO)

• Reinforcing the absence of a specific behavior targeted forreduction, sometimes using interval schedules - extinguishing thepresence of the target behavior

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior(DRA)

• Reinforcing the presence of a specific alternate behavior whileextinguishing all other behaviors

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior(DRI)

• Reinforcing a specific incompatible behavior with the targetbehavior
  • Think: hands in pockets instead of hitting, chewing gum insteadof smoking, being silent instead of talking

For our discussion ~

Choose a procedure that you have either used or would use toassist in a behavior change program. Get creative! This may be withany type of client - from your puppy, to your 2 year old or even adementia patient you care for on weekends.

Example ~

A student earns 10 minute breaks between work tasks in hiscubby. While in cubby, he earns tokens for particpating in thelessons presented. To get him to go into cubby, we use a timer as acue instead of him learning to tune out the teachers' voices. Onoccasion, he would hop like a frog over to cubby. If he did, nomind was paid attention to it - teaching began as soon as he satdown. However, if he walked in appropriately, he would earn a tokentoward getting out and be given verbal praise for walkingappropriately.

This is an example of a DRA procedure: the student's walkingbehavior was reinforced (a specific alternate behavior) and thehopping like a frog was placed on extinction.