Disruptive behaviors often occur as method to escape tasks. When we throw around the “escape-maintained behavior” term we need to be sure we are clear on why the escape is occurring. Is your students acting out because he can’t do the work or because he won’t do the work? There is a significant difference in these types of behaviors that will majorly impact the way you respond in the classroom.
Every decision is shaped by:
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the person’s skill and ability to perform the action
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the person’s motivation to act or to not act on particular options available
Such inferences are frequently inaccurate because they are based solely on casual observation. Don’t assume “he’s lazy” or “he doesn’t care.” Analyze the issue and determine the root cause. If you are able to more accurately determine if the behavior is a “won’t do” or “can’t do” – you will be able to decide the best strategy for improving student responding. Win/win.
Stay tuned for more on strategies to utilize for “won’t do” and “can’t do” behaviors! 🙂
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13 Responses
Sasha, YESSS! Keep the ideas coming. I have a won’t doer. Thanks!!! Love the website!!!
I found this interesting because my son’s teachers would say he wasn’t achieving a goal or benchmark because of his cognitive level….he’s 21 and graduated last year but goes to a program at Temple University for young adults with ID….he is also on the autism spectrum
I have a friend who refuses to come down from the playground when recess is over. Overall his transitions are his hardest consisting of running from adults, plopping on the floor or screaming/refusing/saying no/swatting at adults. I have seen him come right down off the playground once before, but when he refuses he refuses!!! I have been trying social stories, first/thens, an iPad timer to prep everyone…any other suggestions??! My room is a chocolate chip cookie for sure and “fun” follows recess so I’m not sure what to do! 😉
Thanks for reading, Sherra! Good luck with your won’t doer 😉
Hi Diane, I think that would be the same thing as “can’t do” – he doesn’t have he skills yet to accomplish that task. Hope this helps!
What about bringing a reinforcer to the playground so he can see it? The playground is chocolate chip cookie on steroids so unfortunately that fun of the slide and swings may be beating out your class right now 🙁
If he could see the reinforcer he is working for that might help. Or if there is a highly preferred edible, he can get one little piece for coming halfway down the playground equipment, another little piece for walking over to the end of the park, etc. Do you think something like that would work? It sounds definitely like a won’t do.
In addition to what Sasha said, I think it may be important to have a reinforcer that is only used at this transition. This makes it especially motivating to walk in safely from recess and less satiating!
Great suggestion!
I agree! My son is labelled gifted, yet he used to have huge difficulties completing assignments. His teacher, and his principle asked him what was going on and he said he didn’t care about the work. They took that at face value and pinned his trouble down as a “won’t do”. It took a lot of convincing from myself, the learning resource teacher, and the school board psychologist, for them to realize that this was a “can’t do”. We finally had him tested and he has a learning disability. I hope many teachers see this post and start to reassess the reasons for their students behaviour.
I have a “can’t do” boy. He was labelled as gifted after testing and was placed in a gifted class where he stayed until grade 8 grad. As work loads became greater, he was having difficulty completing school work. His teacher and principal were convinced that he was a “won’t do” after they asked and my son and he said he did’t care. For him it was easier to say that rather than to explain the reality, which he probably didn’t totally understand. After much convincing, they approved testing and it turns out that my son has a learning disability. Hopefully teachers can heed the advice from this post.
Yes! Incorrect assumptions happen all the time and then lead us down the wrong road. Glad you finally helped get it figured out for your son! He is lucky to have such a great advocate! 🙂
Hi Sasha,
I attended the webinar hosted by Autism Helper and How to ABA on October 18th. You shared this link to access materials related to webinar. I’ve been trying to follow the link, but no luck. Please help. Thanks a million https://theautismhelper.s3.useast2.amazonaws.com/Mermbes+Only+Mini+Conference/Can't+Do+or+Won't+Do+Handouts.zip
Hi Liliana, sorry about that! Please email [email protected] and she can help!