Initial Suppression of Escape Behavior Across Three Behavioral Treatments

Prevalence reports continue to indicate that social‐negative reinforcement is the most likely reinforcer for challenging behavior. Although there are several well‐established, durable treatments for escape‐maintained challenging behavior, some situations require the immediate suppression of challenging behavior while working toward a return to instruction completion. Little is known about the initial suppressive effects of treatments. We randomly assigned 22 children with escape‐maintained challenging behavior to one of three treatments—differential negative reinforcement with escape extinction, differential positive reinforcement without escape extinction, or instructional fading without escape extinction—and evaluated the initial suppression of challenging behavior during the first 10 treatment sessions. Both interventions without escape extinction led to more rapid immediate suppression compared to differential negative reinforcement with escape extinction. Differential positive reinforcement or instructional fading may be preferential interventions when the goal is an immediate reduction of severe or dangerous challenging behavior.