What should staff or family do after the occurrence of the target replacement behavior?

• A. Implement a programmed response for the replacement behavior
• B. Ignore the behavior and continue activities
• C. Immediately administer a timeout from all activities
• D. Provide attention contingent on the problem behavior

Answer: (A)

When a replacement behavior occurs, the next step is to deliver the programmed response for that replacement behavior. This means providing the planned reinforcement or supportive consequence exactly as outlined in the plan. Reinforcing the alternative behavior strengthens it, making it more likely the learner will use the replacement in the future and less likely to resort to the problem behavior.

If you ignore the replacement or only reward the problem behavior, you’re not teaching the new skill and you may unintentionally reinforce the unwanted behavior. Providing attention only for the problem behavior sends the message that attention comes from the bad behavior, which undermines learning the replacement. Similarly, a timeout right after the replacement would not support strengthening the positive alternative and can interrupt the learning process.