One of the most common mistakes clinicians make relating to work refusal is waiting until the moment it happens to manage it.
The student refuses to start, so the adult explains what needs to happen.
The student pushes back, so the adult explains why. Then the conversation shifts to consequences, rewards, or what the student will lose if they don’t get their work done.
Sometimes the boundaries shift, and the student comes to the realization that their basic responsibilities are up for negotiation.
At that point, you’re asking a dysregulated student to process language, anticipate future outcomes, weigh different choices, and self-regulate while the task they’re trying to avoid is in front of them.
That’s a lot of executive functioning to expect at the exact moment their executive functioning is breaking down.
This was one of the problems we had to address with a fifth grader I worked with who would argue and negotiate through an entire study hall to avoid writing.
At that point, everyone was focused on one thing: We need to get some work done.
So we’d start helping.
We’d ask questions to help him generate ideas. We’d help organize his thoughts. We’d walk him through the graphic organizer and prompt him to figure out what sentence should come next.
Sometimes, all of that support “worked”.
He’d finish the assignment.
The problem was that the finished assignment made it look like we were making more progress than we actually were.
Because if you looked closely at what had happened, the adults had done a significant amount of the planning, organizing, and problem-solving required to produce that piece of writing.
He had completed the assignment, but he still didn’t know how to get himself through the process without someone sitting beside him.
That realization forced us to change what we were measuring.
Instead of asking, “Did he finish the five-paragraph essay?”, we started asking different questions.
Things got worse at first.
But then they got MUCH better, and not just in writing. In all the other academic areas he was avoiding.
I walk through all three changes we made to get him there in a video that just went live on my YouTube channel.
The timing, the language, and how the adults responded in the moment all mattered.
Watch the video here:
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
▶️ Free training: How to Be Evidence-Based and Neurodiversity-Affirming by Supporting Executive Functioning: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/efleadership
▶️ The 5-Part Framework That Ends Demand Avoidance and Prompt Dependence for Your School Caseload: https://youtu.be/BV-0fm12o90
▶️ Why “Demand Avoidant” Students Don’t Need You to Build Motivation First: https://youtu.be/sp3EyJLGSWM
▶️ Task Execution and Planning Protocol: https://drkarenspeech.lpages.co/task-planning-execution-protocol-26-yt-1/
