DRI vs DRO vs DRA in ABA (Plus DRL and DRH)

Differential reinforcement is an ABA procedure that delivers positive reinforcement for one behavior while withholding it for another, so the useful behavior grows and the interfering one fades. DRI reinforces a behavior that cannot physically happen at the same time as the problem behavior. DRO reinforces the absence of the problem behavior for a set period of time. DRA reinforces a different, appropriate behavior that meets the same need. DRL reinforces a lower rate of a behavior that is fine in small amounts. DRH reinforces a higher rate of a behavior you want to see more often. All five are the same idea applied to different goals, which is why a well written ABA therapy plan states the goal before it names the procedure.

DRI vs DRO vs DRA vs DRL vs DRH: comparison table

Differential reinforcement is not one technique. It is a family of five, and picking the wrong member is the most common reason a behavior plan stalls. Use the table to match your goal to the procedure, then read the section for the one you need.

Procedure	What is reinforced	When to use	Example	Common pitfall
DRO (other behavior)	The absence of the target behavior for a set interval	You want the behavior gone and you do not yet have a replacement to teach	A child earns a token after every 5 minutes without hitting	The interval is set too long at the start, so the child almost never earns anything
DRA (alternative behavior)	A different, appropriate behavior that gets the same result	You know why the behavior happens and can teach a better way to get it	A child who screams for help is reinforced for handing over a help card	The replacement is harder or slower than the problem behavior, so the child keeps screaming
DRI (incompatible behavior)	A behavior that cannot occur at the same time as the target behavior	There is a physically incompatible behavior available	Hands in lap is reinforced to reduce hitting	No genuinely incompatible behavior exists, so the two happen together anyway
DRL (low rates)	The behavior happening at or below a set rate	The behavior is fine in small amounts but disruptive at high rates	Three questions per lesson instead of thirty	The first criterion is set far below baseline, so the child never meets it
DRH (high rates)	The behavior happening at or above a set rate	An appropriate behavior needs to happen more often	Ten math problems in ten minutes instead of two	Rate is pushed up faster than the skill can keep pace, and accuracy drops

Differential reinforcement is an evidence-based practice for autistic learners from preschool through age 22, with 25 single case design studies behind it, and the same review lays out the decision rule in one line: choose DRO to eliminate a behavior, DRL to reduce it, and DRA or DRI to replace it.

What makes a differential reinforcement plan fail

Most failed plans are not failures of the procedure. They are failures of setup and consistency.

The definition is fuzzy. If two adults would score the same moment differently, the data is not usable. Write the target behavior in observable terms before anything else.
The baseline is skipped. DRO intervals and DRL criteria are both calculated from baseline. Without it you are guessing.
Reinforcement is inconsistent across people. Procedural fidelity research on DRO found the procedure still worked when it was run correctly 60 percent of the time or more, and generally stopped working at 40 percent and below. Every adult in the room has to run it the same way, which is why the structure of each session matters as much as the plan on paper.
The reinforcer is available anyway. If the child can get the same item outside the procedure, it is not a reinforcer for this plan.
Progress is not monitored. Differential reinforcement only counts as good practice when it is data driven and generalized, not run on impression.

What is DRO in ABA?

DRO stands for differential reinforcement of other behavior. Reinforcement is delivered when the target behavior has not occurred during a defined period of time. The child does not have to do anything in particular to earn it. They simply have to not do the one thing you are targeting.

A worked example. Liam pinches his classmates during circle time, on average about once every three minutes. His teacher sets a two minute DRO interval. Every two minutes without a pinch, Liam gets a sticker on his chart. After four consecutive successful days, the interval moves to three minutes, then five.

Interval DRO and momentary DRO

There are two ways to check.

Whole interval DRO requires the behavior to be absent for the entire interval. This is the stricter and more common version, and it is what most people mean by DRO.
Momentary DRO checks only at the moment the interval ends. If the behavior is not happening right then, reinforcement is delivered. It is easier to run in a busy classroom and useful once the behavior is already reducing, but it is weaker at the start because a child can engage in the behavior for most of the interval and still earn.

Resetting the interval

If the behavior occurs partway through a whole interval DRO, you have two options. A resetting DRO restarts the clock from zero at the moment of the behavior, so the child must produce a full clean interval before earning. A fixed DRO lets the current interval expire without reinforcement and starts the next one on schedule. Resetting is more powerful but can be discouraging when intervals are long, so most plans start fixed and move to resetting as the behavior drops.

How to run a DRO

Define the target behavior so that any two observers would record it the same way.
Take baseline data and calculate the average time between occurrences. An ABC data sheet is the simplest way to gather this at home or in class.
Set the first interval slightly shorter than that average, so the child succeeds from day one.
Choose a reinforcer the child cannot access outside the procedure.
Deliver reinforcement at the end of every clean interval, and say nothing punitive when an interval is missed. Just note it and start the next one.
Lengthen the interval gradually as the child succeeds, and keep taking data so you can see whether the rate is actually dropping. Practical walkthroughs of the DRO procedure are useful when you are training a new team member.

DRO vs DRA: which one? Choose DRO when your goal is simply for the behavior to stop and you have no replacement ready to teach; choose DRA when you know what the child was trying to get and can teach a better way to get it.

What is DRA in ABA?

DRA stands for differential reinforcement of alternative behavior. You reinforce a specific, appropriate behavior that achieves the same outcome as the problem behavior, and you stop the problem behavior from achieving that outcome. DRA is the most functional of the five because it teaches something rather than only suppressing something.

That makes it entirely dependent on knowing why the behavior is happening. The four functions of behavior, attention, escape, access to items, and sensory input, determine what the alternative has to deliver. If a child yells to escape a worksheet and you reinforce them for saying “please,” you have taught a polite behavior that does not work, and the yelling will stay.

A worked example. Maya throws her workbook when a writing task gets long. A functional assessment shows the throwing gets her out of the task. Her BCBA teaches her to hand over a break card, which buys a two minute break, delivered immediately and every single time at the start. Throwing the workbook no longer ends the task.

How to run a DRA

Identify the function of the problem behavior through a functional behavior assessment.
Pick an alternative that serves that exact function and that the child can already do, or can learn quickly.
Make the alternative easier than the problem behavior. Less effort, faster payoff, every time.
Reinforce it continuously at first, then thin the schedule once it is established.
Withhold the old payoff for the problem behavior, which is where extinction in ABA comes in, and plan for the temporary increase in behavior that often follows.
Track both behaviors, not just the problem one. You want to see the alternative going up as clearly as the problem goes down.

DRA is usually paired with extinction, but it does not have to be. Research on DRA without extinction shows the procedure can still reduce problem behavior when the reinforcer for the alternative is bigger, faster or better in quality than the one the problem behavior produces. That matters in settings where withholding the reinforcer is not safe or not realistic, such as a classroom where peer attention cannot be controlled.

DRO vs DRA: which one? If you can name the replacement behavior and the function it serves, use DRA; if you cannot, start with DRO and add DRA once an assessment tells you what to teach.

What is DRI in ABA?

DRI stands for differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior. It is a narrower version of DRA. The behavior you reinforce is not just an alternative, it is one that physically cannot occur at the same time as the problem behavior. Hands in lap and hitting cannot coexist. Sitting and running cannot coexist. That physical impossibility is what makes DRI strong when it fits, and useless when it does not.

A worked example. Noah gets out of his seat repeatedly during independent work. His teacher reinforces “feet on the floor, bottom in the chair” with a check mark every two minutes, cashed in for computer time. Staying seated and leaving the seat cannot happen together, so as one goes up the other goes down. School based behavior intervention modules from the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt use this same seated work example because it is so easy to run in a general education classroom.

How to run a DRI

Step	What you do
Assess	Run a functional behavior assessment to identify the problem behavior and its triggers
Select	Choose an incompatible behavior the child can already perform
Plan reinforcement	Tie a specific reinforcer to that incompatible behavior
Measure	Collect data on both the incompatible behavior and the problem behavior
Adapt	Thin the reinforcement schedule as the incompatible behavior becomes routine

The catch is step two. Plenty of behaviors have no true incompatible counterpart, and forcing one produces a plan that looks rigorous and does nothing. When no incompatible behavior exists, DRA is the better fit. DRI also sits comfortably alongside the other ABA therapy techniques a team is already using, such as prompting and shaping, since the incompatible behavior often needs teaching before it can be reinforced.

DRO vs DRA: which one? Neither, if a physically incompatible behavior is available and the child can already do it, because DRI gets you the reduction and the replacement at the same time.

What are DRL and DRH in ABA?

These two are about rate rather than presence or absence, and they are the reason “just stop the behavior” is often the wrong goal.

DRL, differential reinforcement of low rates, reinforces a behavior when it occurs at or below a set number. The behavior itself is acceptable. The frequency is the problem. A student who asks thirty questions a lesson is not doing anything wrong by asking questions, so eliminating the behavior would be a bad outcome. Set the first criterion at the baseline average, for example twelve questions, reinforce meeting it, then lower the criterion gradually toward a reasonable rate such as three. DRL suits behaviors that are non violent and not self injurious: asking questions, talking to a neighbor, requesting bathroom breaks, checking the schedule.

DRH, differential reinforcement of high rates, does the opposite. It reinforces a behavior when it occurs at or above a set rate, and it is used to build fluency rather than to reduce anything. A child who completes two math problems in ten minutes might earn reinforcement for completing five, then eight, then twelve. DRH works for behaviors the child can already do accurately but does too slowly or too rarely, such as work completion, peer greetings, or self care steps in a morning routine. Push the criterion up too fast and accuracy suffers, so raise it only after the current rate is stable.

Both need the same thing DRO needs: a real baseline. A criterion pulled out of the air is either impossible or meaningless.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does DRO stand for?

Differential reinforcement of other behavior. You reinforce the absence of a target behavior across a set interval of time.

Is DRO or DRA better for attention-maintained behavior?

DRA is usually better. It teaches the child an appropriate way to get attention, while DRO only reinforces going without it.

Can you combine DRA with extinction?

Yes, and the pairing is standard practice. DRA can still work without extinction if the reinforcer for the alternative behavior is stronger, faster or larger.

How do I decide whether to use DRI, DRO, or DRA for a specific case?

Start with your goal. Eliminate the behavior with no replacement ready, use DRO. Replace it with a functionally equivalent behavior, use DRA. Replace it with something physically incompatible, use DRI.

Can DRI, DRO, and DRA be effectively combined in a treatment plan?

Yes. Many plans run DRA for the replacement skill and DRO for interval-based reinforcement while the skill is still being taught.

What are the most common mistakes when implementing these techniques?

Vague behavior definitions, intervals or criteria set without baseline data, delayed reinforcement, and adults running the plan differently from one another.

How does differential reinforcement complement other ABA strategies?

It gives prompting, shaping and functional communication training something to reinforce. Those methods teach the skill, differential reinforcement maintains it.

Are there any ethical considerations practitioners should be aware of when using these methods?

Yes. Get informed consent, use the least restrictive procedure that works, protect the child’s access to basic needs, and never withhold something the child is entitled to.

What are the professional training requirements for implementing DRI, DRO, and DRA?

RBTs can implement these under supervision. Designing and modifying them is the responsibility of a BCBA, who holds a graduate degree, supervised fieldwork hours and board certification.