Valerie M. Volkert, Dorothea C. Lerman, Nathan A. Call, & Nicole Trosclair-Lasserre. (2009).
An evaluation of resurgence during treatment
with functional communication training.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
42, 145-160.
Extinction-induced resurgence is the recurrence of previously reinforced
behavior when another behavior is placed on extinction (Lieving, Hagopian,
Long, & O’Connor, 2004). This phenomenon may account for some instances
of treatment relapse when problem behavior recovers during extinction-based
treatments. The current study sought to determine whether resurgence of
problem behavior would reliably occur with 5 participants who received
treatment with FCT. Results showed that problem behavior reemerged for
all but 1 participant when the communicative response was exposed to
extinction or thin schedules of reinforcement. These findings suggest that resurgence
may account for some instances of response recovery during treatment, and
that the described procedure may be useful for the further study of resurgence
and eventual prevention of this phenomenon.
DESCRIPTORS: autism, extinction, functional communication training, problem behavior, resurgence