Planning for the generalization of behavior change is an integral part of the treatment strategy for a child who exhibits aggressive behavior toward a sibling. Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) is a behavioral intervention strategy meant to decrease problematic behaviors by providing reinforcement regardless of an individual’s behavior. Changes in behavior need to persist over time and happen not only in the therapeutic setting but in all areas of the child’s life.
Response maintenance is a longer-term behavior shift; to achieve it, the intervention would first focus on detaching the aggressive behavior from the attention it craves by offering frequent and consistent reinforcement. It would be wise to switch to an intermittent reinforcement schedule when the aggressive behaviors diminish (Cooper et al., 2019). As the behavior improves, the frequency of reinforcement could be extended to 15 minutes, then 20 minutes, and so on, to prevent the child from learning when to expect the next reward. This gradual shift mimics the natural reinforcement contingencies of the real world.
For the behavior change to occur outside the controlled environment where NCR is initially applied, setting/situation generalization strategies are employed. The child’s behavior is less likely to be disturbed by changes in the environment when the context is varied within these environments—a practice known as teaching loosely (Stokes & Baer, 1977). Examining the child’s behavior in untrained environments to assess generalization helps determine how well the intervention works in various contexts.
Response generalization—the term used to describe the spread of behavior shift across various behaviors—is also relevant (Cooper et al., 2019). The child may be taught to express their emotions instead of using violence, as well as participate in other constructive activities like drawing or playing cooperative games with their sibling. The child is shown that there are various appropriate ways to communicate needs and feelings by being given reinforcement for these alternative behaviors when they emerge on their own (Cooper et al., 2019). Rewards for various positive behaviors teach the child that there are several ways to accomplish the desired result of receiving attention.
References
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Stokes, T. F., & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10(2), 349–367.