Don’t Quit Cold Turkey: Systematic Fading to Promote Sustained Behavioral Change

Recent national efforts for using data to drive intervention decisions have focused primarily on how to intensify interventions for students who are nonresponsive. Less attention, however, has been paid to how data-based decisions are made for responders to interventions. Research demonstrates simply stopping an intervention after the student experiences success does not mean improved behavior will continue. Instead, gradually reducing or removing intervention components is recommended. To aid teachers, we present strategies for systematically fading interventions with the goal of achieving sustained behavioral change.