ABA Exam CoachLessons · G. Behavior-Change Procedures
G.16 · Making behavior change last
Your client finally nails the skill, then three weeks after you pull back the reinforcers it's gone. Let's look at how to plan for maintenance from day one so the progress actually lasts.
Key takeaway
Maintenance means the behavior keeps going over time after some or all of the intervention is changed or removed. Plan for it from the start. Thin reinforcement gradually from continuous to intermittent, shift control to natural reinforcers (behavioral traps, recruiting), and use indiscriminable contingencies or self-management. Then check with probes and follow-up data, because reaching mastery during acquisition doesn't prove the behavior will maintain.
Maintenance means the behavior keeps going over time after some or all of the intervention is changed or removed. Plan for it from the start. Thin reinforcement gradually from continuous to intermittent, shift control to natural reinforcers (behavioral traps, recruiting), and use indiscriminable contingencies or self-management. Then check with probes and follow-up data, because reaching mastery during acquisition doesn't prove the behavior will maintain.
Members get the full lesson video, notes and a 5-question test
The video walks through the idea, worked examples, the trap people fall into and an exam-style question. The notes and the checkpoint come with it, and your results feed your Where to focus plan.