
Be patient and don’t expect miracles overnight.If you stay determined through this phase, you will eventually experience your desired behavior. And if it does, what is important is how you choose to respond to the negative behavior the first few times. Whether it is a child’s tantrum or a wailing baby, outbursts can still happen. Stay consistent in how you react or respond.If the unwanted behavior is reinforced the child will see a response to their negative behavior and will continue to escalate the undesired behavior.
Instead, stay strong, grit your teeth, or do something to distract yourself, but try your best to not succumb to the temptation to react as you normally would.
Do not reinforce the maladaptive or undesirable behavior by responding to it. But eventually, extinction bursts should lessen. This can be a difficult task for parents to stick with especially when their child is crying. The child will possibly start to tantrum because the parent is no longer picking up the toy. Because of this, the parent is advised to not pick up the toy. The child begins to throw the toy on the ground on purpose. For example, a parent would always pick up a toy that the child drops on the ground. Extinction burst(s) typically occur when the parent(s) begins using these techniques by cutting off the traditional response the child is used to. Ultimately the child will realize that their cries will not provide them the attention they are seeking and will cease the behavior. For example, in the scenario previously mentioned, the child would have cried louder in an effort to push the parent to their breaking point. What is an Extinction Burst?Īn extinction burst occurs when there is an increase in the frequency or intensity of the unwanted behavior when the extinction method is being used. Afterwards, the parent will give the child the attention he/she desires once they have stopped crying. Over time, the child realizes that crying is not getting them the results they are seeking (attention) and will eventually stop. A parent implementing extinction may instead ignore the child’s cry.
The assumption is that a child cries at night because he/she gets the parent’s attention. The idea of letting a child cry it out is an example of an extinction approach. It is used to condition a child to reduce or even completely stop a certain behavior by no longer providing reinforcements for it.
Extinction, an intervention procedure that has been found to be effective in reducing tantrum problems or other maladaptive behaviors.Įxtinction helps an individual overcome a certain behavior that was previously reinforced but is no longer being supported.