Reinforcement schedule thinning following treatment with functional communication training

We evaluated four methods for increasing the practicality of functional com munication training (FCT) by decreasing the frequency of reinforcement for alternative behavior. Three participants whose problem behaviors were maint ained by positive reinforcement were created successfully with FCT in which reinforcement for alternative behavior was initially delivered on fixed-ra tio (FR) 1 schedules. One participant was then exposed to increasing delays to reinforcement under FR 1, a graduated fixed-interval (FI) schedule, and a graduated multiple-schedule arrangement in which signaled periods of rei nforcement and extinction were alternated. Results showed that (a) increasi ng delays resulted in extinction of the alternative behavior, (b) the FI sc hedule produced undesirably high rates of the alternative behavior, and (c) the multiple schedule resulted in moderate and stable levels of the altern ative behavior as the duration of the extinction component was increased. T he other 2 participants were exposed to graduated mixed-schedule (unsignale d alternation between reinforcement and extinction components) and multiple -schedule (signaled alternation between reinforcement and extinction compon ents) arrangements in which the durations of the reinforcement and extincti on components were modified. Results obtained for these 2 participants indi cated that the use of discriminative stimuli in the multiple schedule facil itated reinforcement schedule thinning. Upon completion of treatment, probl em behavior remained low (or at zero), whereas alternative behavior was mai ntained as well as differentiated during a multiple-schedule arrangement co nsisting of a 4-min extinction period followed by a 1-min reinforcement per iod.