Student Behavior Plan Template: Work Refusal in Elementary
A finished behavior plan for an elementary student who refuses written work: the escape function named, a starter-dose replacement, and respond steps that keep the task from growing or vanishing.
- Behavior Plan
- Ages 7-10
- Third grade general education with resource support
- 2 pages
- Free printable PDF
Page 1 of 2. Page 2 is the same-day quick log.
What’s inside this behavior plan
What it looks like: Within one minute of receiving independent written work, the student pushes materials away, puts his head down, or states a refusal, and does not make a mark on the page for at least two minutes. Asking for the folded page counts as starting, not refusing.
The function it serves: Escape, from work that looks too long to finish.
The replacement: Ask for a starter dose: fold the page, do the first row, then check in with the teacher.
- 4 prevent strategies that set up the day
- 3 teaching steps for the replacement
- 4 respond steps every adult runs the same way
Page 2 runs the day: a tally-style quick log by time block with incident lines, the reinforcer notes, the safety net (get help when, never do, who to call), and the review box the next team meeting reads. For ongoing ABC data beyond the same-day log, the free Data Sheet Maker on this site prints a matching behavior tracking sheet.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you write a behavior plan for work refusal?
- Start from the function. Refusal that spikes on long assignments is usually escape from work that looks unfinishable, so the plan shrinks the visible dose, teaches the student to ask for a starter dose, and makes starting pay off immediately while refusing changes nothing about the task.
- Does shrinking the assignment lower expectations?
- No. The student does the same problems in the same subject; the fold only changes how much is visible at once. The plan fades the fold as the data improves, which is the opposite of quietly dropping the work.
- What data should I take on a refusal behavior?
- Time to start, rows finished, and incidents per time block. The quick log on page two captures all three as tallies plus a line per incident, which is enough to see the trend the review meeting needs.
- Does this work in a general education classroom?
- Yes. This example is written for a third grader in general education with resource support. Every strategy on it runs at a regular desk without singling the student out publicly.
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