Demand fading
An antecedent procedure in which demands are temporarily reduced or removed and then gradually reintroduced as long as problem behavior stays low.
Demand fading is used mainly with escape-maintained problem behavior. Because demands are the condition that sets off the behavior, the supervisor's plan first lowers them a lot, sometimes to none or to a very small number per session. With demands low, the motivation to escape is low and problem behavior drops. The number, difficulty or length of demands is then increased in small steps, and each step is kept until problem behavior remains low before moving on.
Demand fading is often combined with escape extinction and with reinforcement for compliance, so that by the time demands are back at their usual level, problem behavior no longer produces escape. Using demand fading this way can reduce the extinction burst and emotional responding that sometimes come with escape extinction alone.
The supervisor sets the starting level, the size of each step and the rule for moving forward or back. The RBT presents exactly the number and type of demands written for the current step, records problem behavior and compliance, and reports the data so the supervisor can decide when to advance. Increasing demands faster than the plan allows, or dropping back on a bad day without guidance, can undo progress.
Demand fading is a change in how many or how hard the demands are. It is different from prompt fading, which reduces the help given for a response.
Example and non-example
| Example | A teen's aggression occurs during vocational tasks. The plan starts with 2 sorting tasks per session and adds 2 more each time aggression stays at zero for 3 sessions, until the teen completes a full 30-minute work period. |
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| Non-example | An RBT gives a full physical prompt, then a partial physical prompt, then a gesture for the same task. The demand stays the same while the help is reduced, which is prompt fading. |
Don't confuse it with
| Prompt fading | Prompt fading reduces assistance for a response, while demand fading changes how many or how difficult the demands are. |
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| Escape extinction | Escape extinction keeps demands in place so problem behavior no longer ends them, while demand fading first lowers demands and then raises them gradually. |
Test yourself
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Question 1What is demand fading?
Show answer
C: Cutting demands, then adding them back gradually. Demand fading starts with few or no demands and increases them in small steps as problem behavior stays low. It is often used for escape-maintained behavior.
- A: Easy requests before a hard one is a high-p request sequence.
- B: Time-based delivery of a reinforcer is NCR.
- D: Fading prompts is prompt fading, a skill-acquisition procedure.
Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 2A child's plan has the RBT present one worksheet problem in early sessions, then two, then four, as long as problem behavior stays low. Which procedure is this?
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A: Demand fading. The number of demands starts low and increases in steps as problem behavior stays low, which is demand fading.
- B: A high-p sequence presents easy requests before a hard one in the same moment.
- C: NCR delivers a reinforcer on a time schedule.
- D: Task interspersal mixes easy tasks among harder ones; it does not raise the number of demands over sessions.
Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3Demand fading is most often used for problem behavior maintained by which function?
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A: Escape from demands. Demand fading reduces the aversive demands that evoke escape-maintained behavior and then reintroduces them gradually.
- B: Attention-maintained behavior is addressed by changing access to attention, not by changing demands.
- C: Tangible-maintained behavior is tied to access to items.
- D: Automatically reinforced behavior is not maintained by removal of demands.
Task D.2 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task D.2 Antecedent interventions in content area D, Behavior Reduction, which is 14 of the 75 scored questions.