Apps
T for Task Avoidance: Positive Behaviour Support
Some children will continually try to only partially complete or totally avoid the assigned task by using a range of behaviours such as:
Buy on Amazon- Actively refusing to follow directions (e.g. saying ‘No’, ‘I won’t’, or ‘You can’t make me’).
- Acting bored (e.g. saying ‘This is dumb’ or rolling their eyes).
- Spending excessive time looking for work or materials.
- Stalling or dawdling.
- Producing work that is poor quality (e.g. messy, carelessly done).
- Not finishing work.
- Making comments (e.g. saying ‘I don’t care’, ‘Why do I need to do this?’).
- Walking away or leaving the room.
- Shutting down or staring into space.
- Rushing through the task and making careless mistakes.
- Taking a long time to complete the task.
- Asking for help when they’re capable of doing it themselves.
- Asking others to carry out the activity or deal with it.
Task avoidance can occur across different contexts (e.g. within a childcare setting, early childhood centre or school, primary or secondary school, disability support services, or youth services). When a child begins to persistently exhibit task avoidance behaviour, the climate of the surroundings in which the behaviour occurs can change dramatically. A considerable amount of time and energy can be spent on the child showing the task avoidance behaviour, which can have a deleterious effect on the quality of the learning experience for all the children. Telling a child to stop avoiding a task rarely works because we need to address the underlying reason.
Based on the evidence-based Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) approach, this user-friendly guide, T for Task Avoidance will help you step-by-step. You will learn how to do the following:
- Identify the reasons why your child is exhibiting task avoidance (assess),
- Respond appropriately when your child exhibits task avoidance (manage), and
- Minimise or eliminate task avoidance behaviour (prevent).
Use the comprehensive checklists and tools provided to develop PBS plans that can be used to support children of all ages consistently in all contexts. This invaluable resource is useful for parents, caregivers, childcare educators, primary and secondary educators, supervisory, allied health professionals, and mental health professionals.
Download Accompanying Forms Resource