Escape Extinction

[Guest guest]

Here is another one.

According to Jack in Concepts and Principles, True Escape extinctions

means not allowing escape to occur. The question then becomes what is escape?

If a child, starts to get up from the task and is physically stopped from

getting up and is immediately either forced back through the task or immediately

blocked and then chooses the task, this would be true escape extinction as I

read the principle.

However, that is not the only thing that is currently being called escape

extinction. Often when a child attempts to escape, he is capable whether

through speed, strength, or surprise to be able to get away from the task and in

effect avoid it for several minutes and sometimes much longer. The act of

keeping the demand on the child (usually by repeating the SD over and over and

limiting his movement away from the task is also being called escape

extinction).

However, here is my problem with that. If a child gets up from a task and walks

to the other side of the room and starts laughing and enjoying the teacher

trying to get them to return (even if the the teacher begins some sort of

nagging procedure immediately until the child decides to come back and finish

the task). Can this really also be called escape extinction. Isn't escape

extinction the process of not allowing escape behavior to be reinforced with

escape? To me, this child has escaped the task and may remain in avoidance of

the task for what can become a long period of time. In this instance, would it

not be more appropriate to say the child has escaped the demand but that the

escape behavior is now being punished with nagging. The fact that escape is now

being punished by Nagging leading to the child's reduced use of escape in the

future to me seems more of a positive punishment procedure than the escape

extinction it is commonly being

labelled.

After all extinction is defined as not allowing a previously reinforced behavior

to be reinforced. And Nagging a child is something that is added to the

environment after the child has escaped.

Does this discussion get anyone's gears a movin?

Just curious what you think as the answer to this will have major effect on the

way i label what we are doing with step 7 of instructional control (from my 7 -

steps to instructional control) in the 2nd Edition of ETR I am currently working

on.

I Would love to hear the opinions on this and any support they can offer to

those opinions from the BCBA's on this Group.

Thanks in advance,

_________________________________

Schramm, MA, BCBA

Author of Educate Toward Recovery:

Turning the Tables on Autism

www.lulu.com/knospe-aba

www.knospe-aba.com

_________________________________

" There is no greater testament to character than

the selfless act designed to go unnoticed "

________________________________

From: " jwilson16@... " <jwilson16@...>

Schramm <knospeaba_robert@...>

Sent: Sat, November 14, 2009 1:18:25 AM

Subject: Re: [ ] Re:differential reinforcement

Differential Reinforcement: The occurrence of a reinforcement on a selected

occasion as or after one topography of a performance as opposed to another

topography, is called differential reinforcement. For example, one may

differentially reinforce performances which exert a great deal of force on the

lever as opposed to performances which operate it lightly.

Ferster, C.B., & Perrot, M.C. (1968). Behavior Principles

, BCABA

[ ] Re:differential reinforcement

Reg Reynolds

Some consequences are likely to be more desirable, from the perspective of the

person receiving them, and hence likely to be more reinforcing, than other

consequences. Differential reinforcement refers to providing more desirable

consequences for more desirable behaviours, e.g., for closer approximations to,

or better performance of, the behaviour that you want the person to learn.