Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA)
Reinforcing a specific appropriate behavior that is an alternative to problem behavior while placing the problem behavior on extinction.
In DRA, the supervisor selects an appropriate alternative behavior and the RBT reinforces it whenever it occurs (or on the schedule in the plan), while problem behavior no longer produces that reinforcer. The alternative behavior is often already in the client's repertoire, or is taught first, so it can contact reinforcement quickly. Ideally it produces the same reinforcer as the problem behavior and is easier and faster to do, so the client has a better way to get what they want.
The alternative does not have to be physically incompatible with the problem behavior. A child could ask for a break and also scream at the same time; the point is that asking is reinforced and screaming is not. When the alternative is physically impossible to do at the same time as the problem behavior, the procedure is called DRI. When the alternative is a communication response that serves the same function, it is functional communication training, which is a type of DRA.
DRA usually starts with a dense schedule of reinforcement for the alternative behavior, which the supervisor later thins to a level the natural environment can support. Problems arise if the alternative behavior is harder or slower than the problem behavior, or if the problem behavior is still reinforced sometimes.
The RBT delivers the reinforcer immediately after the alternative behavior, withholds it after problem behavior, and records both behaviors.
Example and non-example
| Example | A client hits peers to get them to move away. The plan teaches the client to say "Space, please," and the RBT has peers step back each time the client says it, while hitting no longer makes peers move away. |
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| Non-example | An RBT gives a client a sticker for every 5 minutes without hitting, regardless of what else the client does. Reinforcement depends on the absence of hitting, which is DRO, not DRA. |
Don't confuse it with
| Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI) | In DRI the reinforced behavior must be physically impossible to do at the same time as the problem behavior; in DRA it need not be. |
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| Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) | DRO reinforces the absence of problem behavior for an interval, while DRA reinforces a specific alternative behavior. |
Test yourself
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Question 1During several weeks when an RBT carried out a client's DRA plan inconsistently, the data showed no improvement. The supervisor, unaware of the inconsistency, concluded the plan does not work and ended it. Which risk does this illustrate?
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B: A possibly effective intervention may be wrongly discontinued. Poor fidelity can make a sound plan look ineffective. The team may then drop it and lose an intervention that would have worked if implemented as written.
- A: That describes observer drift, which concerns recording rather than implementation.
- C: That describes reactivity, which the scenario does not mention.
- D: Here the plan was stopped, not continued.
Task A.8 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 2A client's plan reinforces asking for help instead of throwing work materials, and throwing never produces reinforcement. The requirement for asking stays the same throughout. Is this shaping?
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C: No; it is differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior. Shaping requires reinforcing a series of successive approximations with a changing criterion. Here a single alternative behavior is reinforced at a fixed standard, which is DRA.
- A: Shaping uses differential reinforcement, but not every use of differential reinforcement is shaping.
- B: Throwing is a different behavior, not a closer form of asking for help.
- D: Backward chaining teaches the last step of a sequence first, which is not described.
Task C.10 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3Which of these is a consequence-based procedure rather than an antecedent intervention?
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B: DRA. DRA delivers reinforcement after a specific alternative behavior, so it is a consequence procedure. The other three change conditions before behavior.
- A: NCR is time-based and is classed as an antecedent intervention.
- C: The high-p sequence arranges requests before the low-p request.
- D: Demand fading changes the demands presented before behavior.
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.3 Differential reinforcement in content area D, Behavior Reduction, which is 14 of the 75 scored questions.