Work refusal at school- writing

[Anonymous]

Request an FBA by a BCBA. Make the request in writing.

[Anonymous]

Seconding the FBA.

Also, look into therapy. CBT can help executive function issues. It’s also helpful for getting kids out of work refusal. The more the refusal “works” for your kid, the more the behavior gets reinforced.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the insight. What would an FBA do if we already know the function is to escape the work? He literally tells the teacher "I'm going to go under my desk so that I don't have to do writing. If I stay under here, I won't have to write". The teachers have also tried completely ignoring him after making the request for him to get to work. He will happily sit there and read. Also regarding typing, they have to monitor very closely because he will immediately go to other websites and try to play games, even when sitting directly across from a teacher who can see his screen.

[Anonymous]

Is he willing to copy? Formulating a new sentence based on something you have read takes up a lot of working memory.

Instead of reading a one page story and finding a fact, highlighting it and putting it in his own words can't he highlight a main idea. Then someone else writes the intro to the sentence and then he just copies the quote for the next sentence to support that idea. Like if he is reading a one page story about the 13 colonies. He is asked what the story is about. Someone writes an intro sentence based and then he writes a quote. Or can he be paired up and someone else writes the info and he finds supporting quotes and learns how to quote them correctly? That is an important skill.

[Anonymous]

You said he’d happily sit there and read instead. He should not be allowed to do that. My reading obsessed son was not allowed to have books in his desk, he had a special box near the teacher that he could access after he was finished with writing assignments.

Will he not dictate to a scribe? You can frame it that’s it’s not “writing”- it’s telling a story.

[Anonymous]

OP here:
-Yes, they have taken away books from his desk. He will just go to the class library and take a new one. Or sit in there and read. This is a cotaught class and he isn't the only student with an IEP in this room. He just gets up and walks away from the table and the teacher isn't his 1:1, she and the coteacher are working with multiple students so they can't be following him around 24/7.

- Yes, they have tried scribing. They are having him find 3 facts (after reading the article as a class and with read aloud access even though he doesn't need that). Once he finds 3 facts from the one page article, then the teacher goes through each fact and asks him to tell her what it means and helps him make a sentence. They will then type the sentence for him if he wants or write it so he cantype it. He STILL refuses to do this. He just doesn't want any part of it. All the strategies you mention they are trying/have tried. I'm not sure how much easier they can make it and he is doing all these steps sitting at a teacher table with basically 1:1 teacher support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here:
-Yes, they have taken away books from his desk. He will just go to the class library and take a new one. Or sit in there and read. This is a cotaught class and he isn't the only student with an IEP in this room. He just gets up and walks away from the table and the teacher isn't his 1:1, she and the coteacher are working with multiple students so they can't be following him around 24/7.

- Yes, they have tried scribing. They are having him find 3 facts (after reading the article as a class and with read aloud access even though he doesn't need that). Once he finds 3 facts from the one page article, then the teacher goes through each fact and asks him to tell her what it means and helps him make a sentence. They will then type the sentence for him if he wants or write it so he cantype it. He STILL refuses to do this. He just doesn't want any part of it. All the strategies you mention they are trying/have tried. I'm not sure how much easier they can make it and he is doing all these steps sitting at a teacher table with basically 1:1 teacher support.

He has smart enough to have figured out that there really is nothing they can do to him at school. They aren’t going to rip the book out of his hands, or physically stop him from getting up to get a book and go under his desk as he isn’t hurting anyone, and there isn’t a reward big enough at school to convince him to write. Everyone knows the function of the behavior, they are breaking down the task and probably gave rewards that just aren’t as motivating as reading since schools have limited rewards they can offer.
In that case I would be punishing him at home and taking away electronics, screen time, whatever he enjoys if you everytime you get a report from school that he got up and got a book instead of having someone scribe for him. And rewarding him with screen time when he does do the written work. The problem is that today it is writing, tomorrow maybe he stops doing something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the insight. What would an FBA do if we already know the function is to escape the work? He literally tells the teacher "I'm going to go under my desk so that I don't have to do writing. If I stay under here, I won't have to write". The teachers have also tried completely ignoring him after making the request for him to get to work. He will happily sit there and read. Also regarding typing, they have to monitor very closely because he will immediately go to other websites and try to play games, even when sitting directly across from a teacher who can see his screen.

then they need to get him a non-networked computer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here:
-Yes, they have taken away books from his desk. He will just go to the class library and take a new one. Or sit in there and read. This is a cotaught class and he isn't the only student with an IEP in this room. He just gets up and walks away from the table and the teacher isn't his 1:1, she and the coteacher are working with multiple students so they can't be following him around 24/7.

- Yes, they have tried scribing. They are having him find 3 facts (after reading the article as a class and with read aloud access even though he doesn't need that). Once he finds 3 facts from the one page article, then the teacher goes through each fact and asks him to tell her what it means and helps him make a sentence. They will then type the sentence for him if he wants or write it so he cantype it. He STILL refuses to do this. He just doesn't want any part of it. All the strategies you mention they are trying/have tried. I'm not sure how much easier they can make it and he is doing all these steps sitting at a teacher table with basically 1:1 teacher support.

He needs a 1:1 pullout for this, I think.

[Anonymous]

Get the FBA.

[Anonymous]

This may not work at all for you, but I would look at access to preferred games after school. Is there any? Could this be used successfully as an incentive to complete work?

I'm not assuming anything and am not trying to blame you. It's just something to think about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here:
-Yes, they have taken away books from his desk. He will just go to the class library and take a new one. Or sit in there and read. This is a cotaught class and he isn't the only student with an IEP in this room. He just gets up and walks away from the table and the teacher isn't his 1:1, she and the coteacher are working with multiple students so they can't be following him around 24/7.

- Yes, they have tried scribing. They are having him find 3 facts (after reading the article as a class and with read aloud access even though he doesn't need that). Once he finds 3 facts from the one page article, then the teacher goes through each fact and asks him to tell her what it means and helps him make a sentence. They will then type the sentence for him if he wants or write it so he cantype it. He STILL refuses to do this. He just doesn't want any part of it. All the strategies you mention they are trying/have tried. I'm not sure how much easier they can make it and he is doing all these steps sitting at a teacher table with basically 1:1 teacher support.

He needs a 1:1 pullout for this, I think.

+1