Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior

DRA compares two response-consequence relations

A complete DRA description names:

• the alternative response that contacts reinforcement
• the target or comparison response and its consequence
• the reinforcer, schedule, delay, quality, and magnitude for each response
• the conditions in which the arrangement applies
• prompts, fading, measurement, and safety rules

Reinforcement is defined by its effect on future behavior. Delivering a sticker, praise, break, conversation, item, or activity does not make it a reinforcer unless the relevant response strengthens or maintains under comparable conditions.

The ABAI basic-principles page lists differential reinforcement within higher-education content. The BACB BCBA Test Content Outline, 6th edition covers designing and evaluating differential-reinforcement procedures with and without extinction. These are training and exam-content sources, not individualized treatment instructions.

The alternative must work for the person

An alternative response should be within the person's current or teachable repertoire, physically accessible, recognizable to partners, and efficient enough to use when it matters. The response can involve speech, AAC, gesture, movement, writing, device activation, or another effective form.

When the target response produces escape, attention, access, or another specific outcome, an alternative that produces the same outcome often competes more directly. A break message will struggle if it requires many steps while leaving the room produces an immediate break. A help request will weaken if adults answer it slowly but respond quickly to a louder response.

Function matching is important, yet the person may select a broader goal. Environmental changes, freely available reinforcement, task redesign, medical care, or partner training may be more appropriate than teaching a new response. Avoid assigning all responsibility to the client when the barrier is inaccessible communication or an unreliable environment.

DRA, DRI, DRO, and FCT differ

• DRA reinforces a specified alternative response.
• DRI is a form of differential reinforcement in which the selected response is physically incompatible with the target response at the same moment.
• DRO delivers reinforcement after a defined interval or moment without the target response; it does not require a particular alternative skill.
• Functional communication training (FCT) teaches a recognizable communication response that produces the maintaining reinforcer and is commonly implemented through DRA.

The Tiger, Hanley, and Bruzek FCT review discusses response effort, recognizability, and partner responsiveness when selecting communication. The chosen response should function outside teaching sessions with ordinary partners and supports.

Extinction is one option, not part of the acronym

Many DRA arrangements place the target response on extinction, meaning its previously maintaining consequence no longer follows it. Extinction can produce escalation, variability, emotional responding, or safety problems, and it may be infeasible when the consequence cannot be safely withheld.

An experimental study of seven children by Athens and Vollmer evaluated DRA without extinction. Alternative responding was often favored by making its reinforcement more immediate, longer, higher quality, or stronger across several dimensions. The small studies support a design possibility, not a universal formula or outcome.

Plan the relative schedules explicitly. At first, make the alternative easy and reinforcement dense enough to establish success. Thin or delay only when data, client experience, and context support the change. A recent schedule-thinning review discusses extinction feasibility, concurrent-choice arrangements, and dimensions such as quality, magnitude, and immediacy.

Prompts and partners need their own plan

Define an independent alternative response and each prompt level. Prompt only as much as needed, provide time to respond, and fade prompts based on data. Report prompted and independent responding separately.

Measure whether partners notice and honor the response within the promised time. A high client-response score can hide a failing environment. Practice with different people and settings, and preserve useful supports rather than treating their removal as independence.

ASHA's AAC practice portal says AAC users should always have access to their communication tools or devices. Do not remove AAC to create motivation or require speech, eye contact, or a specific motor form before honoring clear communication.

A fictional DRA example

Noor is a fictional twelve-year-old who wants clearer updates during delays at a recreation program. An eligible opportunity begins when a chosen activity is delayed and the estimated wait is not visible. Noor can use speech or AAC to ask “update please.” Repeating the activity question and using the update message are scored separately before any prompt.

Across eight baseline opportunities, Noor repeats the activity question in 7 of 8 and uses the update message in 1 of 8. Staff provide wait information within ten seconds after 6 of 7 repeated questions and 0 of 1 update messages. Descriptive data suggest that rapid information may maintain the repeated question, but they do not establish function.

Noor chooses a DRA plan. Staff teach the update message, answer it immediately with a specific time or honest uncertainty, and display the estimate. Safety and needed information remain available after either response; the alternative receives the fastest, clearest update. Across ten later opportunities, Noor uses the message independently in 8 of 10, staff answer within ten seconds in 7 of 8, and repeated questions occur in 3 of 10.

The plan changes teaching, staff response, and visual information together. The pattern shows improved communication and partner follow-through under the package, not which component caused the change. Noor rates 9 of 10 waits workable, a separate outcome that supports keeping the routine.

Protect dignity, access, and relapse planning

Never make food, water, bathroom use, AAC, mobility, prescribed care, pain care, rest, relationships, or emergency help contingent on a trained response. Honor recognizable dissent, discomfort, and safety communication even when the exact teaching response is absent. Immediate danger and medical needs follow their own routes.

The current BACB Ethics Code applies to BCBA and BCaBA certificants and people who completed an application. It addresses competence, client involvement, consent and assent when applicable, assessment, medical needs, risk, positive reinforcement, data, and ongoing evaluation.

Test schedule changes, unavailable reinforcers, new partners, and other likely disruptions without manufacturing distress. Teach an honest delay or unavailable response, provide meaningful choices during waits, and plan recovery after lapses. Report alternative responding, target responding, partner fidelity, access, burden, and the person's experience rather than presenting response reduction alone as success.