RBT Extinction: Withholding the Maintaining Reinforcer

Withhold the thing that has been working, not every human response

Extinction withholds the reinforcer that has been maintaining a behavior. It is not ignoring every behavior, and it is not punishment. Name the functional consequence that must stop occurring →. ABC and functions tell you which consequence that is. Reduction is the domain. DRA/DRO/DRI often runs beside extinction so a replacement can be fed.

If hitting has produced adult attention, extinction means that hitting no longer produces attention. You may still block safety risks as the plan requires. If hitting has produced escape from work, extinction means work continues (escape extinction) as written—not a lecture and a walk away.

Punishment adds or removes a stimulus to decrease behavior (as defined in the plan). Extinction is the maintaining reinforcer not occurring. See reinforcement versus punishment.

Burst, spontaneous recovery, and safety

Plans often warn that behavior may temporarily increase (extinction burst) or reappear later (spontaneous recovery). That is not a reason to abandon the procedure on your own. It is a reason to follow the safety plan and call the supervisor if the burst exceeds the written stop rules.

Original teaching sketch: A client screams for a tablet. If screaming has always produced the tablet, extinction means the tablet does not follow screaming. A burst of louder screaming can occur. Handing the tablet over “just this once” restarts the contingency.

These sketches are original.

When ignore-everything versus functional withholding still swaps, use stems that only change the identified function →.

What technicians do not do

Do not run escape extinction on a procedure you were not trained to implement safely.

Do not combine a new aversive with extinction because you are frustrated. That is not the plan.

Do not withhold warmth from unrelated appropriate behavior. That is not extinction of the target. That is a starved session.

The what-to-study guide keeps this in Domain D and ethics in Domain F.

If burst versus punishment is the miss, keep an extinction-only block →.

Safety blocking can occur during extinction. Blocking is not the same as delivering the functional reinforcer.

Then mix extinction with DRA items → so withholding and teaching stay paired the way most plans require.