Time-out (from positive reinforcement)
A negative punishment procedure in which access to positive reinforcement is removed for a specified period contingent on a behavior, decreasing that behavior.
The full name is time-out from positive reinforcement. Contingent on the target behavior, the client loses access to reinforcers for a set, usually brief, period. Time-out can be nonexclusionary, where the client stays in the setting but reinforcement is withheld, or exclusionary, where the client is removed from the setting. It is a form of negative punishment, so it counts as time-out only if the behavior decreases.
Time-out works only when the "time-in" environment is rich in reinforcement. If the activity the client is removed from is boring or difficult, time-out may function as escape and strengthen the behavior. That is why time-out is generally not used for escape-maintained behavior. The plan should define the behavior, the type of time-out, where it happens, how long it lasts, and the release criteria, such as being calm for the last few seconds.
Common errors include talking to the client during time-out, extending the duration unpredictably, and using time-out for behaviors not listed in the plan. Exclusionary forms, especially those involving a separate room, are restrictive and are tightly regulated in many places. Under the RBT Ethics Code (2.0), RBTs use punishment-based or restrictive procedures only when they are in the documented plan and after the supervisor has verified competence.
The RBT carries out time-out calmly and as written, times it accurately, records each use and its length, and reports patterns to the supervisor.
Example and non-example
| Example | During a game a child is enjoying, the child throws pieces at a peer. The plan says to have the child sit out of the game for 1 minute, at the side of the room, with no attention. The RBT times the minute and then lets the child rejoin. |
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| Non-example | A client screams during a hard writing task and is sent to the hallway for 5 minutes, where they sit quietly away from the task. Leaving the task removes work, so for escape-maintained behavior this may reinforce screaming rather than act as time-out from positive reinforcement. |
Don't confuse it with
| Response cost | Response cost removes a set amount of a reinforcer, while time-out removes access to reinforcement for a period of time. |
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| Extinction | Extinction withholds only the reinforcer that maintains the behavior, while time-out removes access to positive reinforcement more generally for a time. |
Test yourself
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Question 1A student's classroom disruptions are maintained by escape from reading tasks. A substitute teacher sends the student out of the room after each disruption. What is the likely effect on disruptions?
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B: They may increase, because leaving the room lets the student escape reading. For escape-maintained behavior, removal from the task is the reinforcer. Sending the student out after disruptions gives that reinforcer, so disruptions may increase.
- A: Time-out only works if time away is less reinforcing than being in class; here, leaving gives escape from reading.
- C: The consequence is directly related: it delivers the escape that maintains the behavior.
- D: Removal from an aversive task is reinforcing for this student, not a loss.
Task D.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A
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Question 2What does time-out from positive reinforcement mean?
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B: Brief loss of access to reinforcers after the target behavior. Time-out is negative punishment: for a brief, set period after the behavior, the client loses access to reinforcers. It can be done with or without removing the client from the setting.
- A: A break given after a request is reinforcement of that request, not time-out.
- C: Letting the client leave a task can reinforce escape; it is not time-out.
- D: Requiring effortful behavior is overcorrection, a positive punishment procedure.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3During group art, a student throws paint. As the plan states, the RBT takes the student to a chair in an adjoining room, where the RBT supervises them for two minutes before they return. Which procedure is this?
Show answer
A: Exclusionary time-out. In exclusionary time-out, the client is removed from the setting where reinforcement is available for a brief period, while staff keep watching them.
- B: In nonexclusionary time-out the client stays in the setting; here the student leaves the room.
- C: Response cost removes a set amount of a reinforcer, such as tokens.
- D: Overcorrection requires effortful corrective behavior, such as cleaning or practicing.
Task D.5 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task D.5 Positive and negative punishment in content area D, Behavior Reduction, which is 14 of the 75 scored questions.