Response cost

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · 1962

What it is

Response cost is not a stand-alone therapy, and it has no founder or manual. It is one procedure: the contingent loss of a set amount of a reinforcer the person already holds (points, tokens, minutes of free time, money, part of a privilege) after a defined target behaviour. It counts as response…

Format

• There is no manualised phase structure. The phases below are assembled from the usage guidelines in Cooper et al. (as summarised in the NM DDSD guidelines and course materials), the BACB code and Barkley's sequencing.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Phase 2: Introduce. Explain the rules and obtain consent and assent (BACB 2.11; NM DDSD step 5). In parent training, the earning system runs first. Barkley's sequence introduces the poker chip/point system in Step 4, and adds disciplinary consequences in Step 5, a week later. Whether Barkley tells parents to begin chip fines at Step 4 or Step 5 is.
• Outpatient parent training (Barkley): 10 weekly sessions of 1 hour individually or 2 hours in groups. Token earning and fines cover about two of those sessions, and fines are then used at home between sessions.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• under-reporting. Keep matching checks going until accuracy is stable. self-records agree with independent records, and the behaviour falls.
• peer pressure or scapegoating of the student who causes most losses, and a single student deliberately draining the reserve. If either occurs, move that student to an individual contingency. The…
• secondary aggression during handover, the plan becoming entrenched, and staff using it as an informal threat. fewer incidents, with no new challenging behaviour. Without both, NM DDSD treats the…
• staff drifting to fining only. In Iwata & Bailey (1974), the reward condition raised teacher approval comments, but the cost condition produced no change. So monitor adult praise rates as well as…
• the published case shows the risk. The student's target behaviour rose late in the study after rent was added and his money ran out. The authors suggest introducing rent more slowly and requiring…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.