At our group home we taught Ralph to touch a graphic symbol that serves as a request for a break. Teaching this alternative response to a tantrum worked very well. Unfortunately, all of the staff members have noticed that Ralph is now using the break request more and more often and it’s hard for him to sustain in any activity that is not fairly reinforcing. What should we do?

Overusing communicative alternatives to problem behavior is not an uncommon challenge. One solution to this problem involves the use of competing schedules of reinforcement. The scenario that follows is an example of that strategy.

Interventionist Fred noticed that within 30 seconds of returning from a break John was requesting another. Because staff members were so happy about John’s decrease in problem behavior, they had been diligently reinforcing each break request. Fred decided to offer John a choice. John could either have a 30 second break whenever he wanted. Alternatively if he worked for 10 minutes he could take a 3-minute break that also gave him access to his favorite video game. It did not take John long to determine that he would prefer a longer break with video. By adjusting the value of breaks, it was possible to offer John a choice without getting into a power struggle that could have occurred if Fred simply said “no” to the break request.