Extinction in ABA: What It Is and When to Use It

Extinction means you stop reinforcing a behavior that used to pay off. Over time, the behavior fades because it no longer works. It is one of the oldest tools in behavior analysis. It is also one of the most misused.

This topic matters for every BCBA, RBT, teacher, and parent. Used well, extinction helps a person learn new skills. Used carelessly, it can be unsafe or even cruel. The experts below show both sides. They agree it needs care and thought.

Extinction also comes in different forms. Escape extinction blocks a person from getting away from a task. Attention extinction removes the attention a behavior once earned. Each form works on the same basic idea. You break the tie between the behavior and its payoff. The details change how safe and kind the plan feels.

How extinction actually works#

At its core, extinction cuts the link between a behavior and its reward. Every time the behavior happens, nothing follows. Matt Harrington describes this in terms of contingency strength. That is a number for how well a behavior predicts a reward.

Extinction at 100% fidelity doesn't just weaken the contingency strength. It breaks that sucker apart. It completely shatters the contingency, right? From the talk — Matt Harrington

So at full strength, extinction is powerful. The behavior no longer earns anything at all. That is the ideal on paper. Real life rarely stays that clean.

Why fidelity is the whole game#

The danger is that extinction is fragile. It only works if you hold the line every single time. Slip even a little and the behavior can come roaring back. Matt Harrington shows this with numbers from his talk. At a lower fidelity, contingency strength only drops part way. He points to values near 0.23 or 0.27 as still strong enough to sustain behavior.

So a mostly-good plan can still fail. As soon as fidelity drops, the behavior starts showing up again. This is why extinction is risky with severe behavior. One accidental reward can teach the person to try harder. That is called intermittent reinforcement, and it makes behavior stubborn. Matt Harrington notes that extinction was often not an option in his career. The behavior was too severe or the team could not sustain it. In those cases, he reached for other tools instead.

The risk of pure extinction#

Pure extinction means you only withhold the reward. You do not teach a better skill at the same time. Lindsay Anderson warns about this in sleep cases.

extinction is definitely not all bad... pure extinction without teaching the skills necessary to fall asleep can a lot of times lead to kids who maybe aren't having those big behaviors anymore or aren't coming out of their room. But they also just aren't sleeping any better. From the talk. Lindsay Anderson

The child stops protesting, but the real problem stays. They still cannot fall asleep on their own. Extinction suppressed the noise, not the need. So pairing it with teaching almost always beats using it alone.

Lindsay Anderson raises another sleep risk. A tired parent may give in after a long night. Walking a crying child back to bed ten times is hard. If the parent finally caves, the behavior gets rewarded on a hard schedule. That accidental reward can make the night waking worse over time.

When extinction is the wrong choice#

Some situations call for help, not withholding. Brian Middleton makes this point with a sharp example. The type of reward changes everything.

He notes that most extinction examples use small stuff. Think of a vending machine or a doorbell. Those are learned rewards, not survival needs. The math flips when the reward is a primary one like air or safety.

When you're drowning, air is a primary reinforcer. You're not going to go, use your words. Then I'll throw you the rope. Throw them the damn rope. Get them out of that situation. From the talk. Brian Middleton

The lesson is clear. If a person truly needs something urgent, help them. Do not withhold a survival-level reward to run a procedure. Ethics come before the technique.

Extinction as part of shaping#

Extinction is not always a dramatic event. Often it hides inside everyday teaching. Matt Harrington reframes it as a normal part of shaping.

If we are learning how to tolerate hard things, it involves not reinforcing a time of 10 seconds and reinforcing a time of 15 seconds. Those are all mini extinctions. From the talk — Matt Harrington

Each small step up the ladder involves a tiny extinction. You stop rewarding the old, smaller response. You reward the new, bigger one instead. Penny Holloway draws a firm line around this idea.

So for me, that's the place of extinction, not I'm going to hold my demand and watch you have a meltdown for three hours. From the talk. Penny Holloway

For her, extinction shapes the next step. It is not a tool to force a long meltdown.

What the research says#

New studies point toward gentler options. One team taught children to cooperate with nasal swabs without escape extinction. They used reinforcement and slow stimulus fading instead, and it worked for all five participants (Briere et al., 2025). This suggests you can often reach goals without withholding escape.

Research also helps with the extinction burst. That is the brief spike in behavior right after reinforcement stops. In a rat model, the burst was smaller when other reinforcement was available (Shahan & Avellaneda, 2025). A larger alternative reward shrank it even more. Other work looked at resurgence, when an old behavior returns. Contingency discrimination training reduced or removed resurgence, even with shorter extinction periods (Shahan et al., 2025). Together these studies favor adding reinforcement, not just removing it.

FAQ#

What is extinction in ABA? Extinction means no longer reinforcing a behavior that once earned a reward. Over time the behavior fades because it stops working. It can target attention, escape, or access to items. It works best when paired with teaching a new skill.

What is an extinction burst? An extinction burst is a short rise in the behavior after reinforcement stops. The person tries harder before the behavior fades. Research shows the burst is smaller when other reinforcement is available. Planning for it helps teams stay consistent.

Is extinction safe to use? It depends on the behavior and the setting. Extinction is risky with severe or unsafe behavior. It is also wrong when a person needs urgent help. Pairing it with reinforcement makes it safer and kinder.

For the math behind these ideas, the Math Behind Behavior Reduction talk walks through the numbers step by step.