Layered EducationWhat it looks like
- Asks to leave when a certain task begins
- Jokes, argues, or puts head down at work time
- Is absent or late for one class or subject
Getting Started and Staying With It
Avoidance Behaviors
When a behavior keeps working to get the student out of a task.
Why it happens
Avoidance usually means the task feels too hard, too long, unclear, or risky in front of peers. If the behavior gets the student out of it, the behavior is working and will continue.
Try this tomorrow
- Note what was asked right before each avoidance
- Check whether the student can read and do the task
- Shorten the task or offer two ways to do it
- Teach a respectful way to ask for help or a break
- Notice and name it when the student stays with hard work
If two of you are in the room
Co-teaching pairs can split this between them, and swap who takes which part so both teachers work with every student.
One teacher
Teaches and adjusts the task: length, choice, or access supports.
The other teacher
Notes what happens before and after the behavior, then shares the pattern.
What the research can and cannot tell us
Matching a support to the reason behind a behavior is well supported. Most studies involve individual students with disabilities, often in elementary grades or separate settings.
Keep in mind
A pattern of serious or lasting avoidance is a reason to involve the student's case manager or the student support team. A formal functional behavioral assessment is a team process and may require family consent.
Resources
8 resources for this topic, drawn from 5 organizations. Everything opens free, and the ones from other organizations open on their own sites.
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Antecedent Modification
Change what happens before the behavior: choice menus, simpler directions, task changes, and prompts.
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Function-Based Intervention Strategies
Scan a list of strategies sorted by why the behavior happens, including a section on escape and avoidance.
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Choice Making (Secondary)
Offer two or three choices within or between tasks. Especially useful when a student avoids non-preferred work.
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Replacement Behavior
Learn how to pick and teach an acceptable behavior that meets the same need, such as asking for a break.
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Check-In Check-Out for Escape
See how to adjust a check-in routine for students who avoid work, with break requests and work tracking.
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Understanding Behavior: The ABC Model
Start the FBA module here to see how what happens before and after a behavior keeps it going.
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Behavioral Intervention Plans (Secondary)
Work through choosing replacement behaviors and matching supports to the reason for the behavior.
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Function-Based Support: An Overview
Read how function-based thinking fits at every tier, from whole-class prevention to individual plans.
These resources are shared for professional learning and planning. They are meant to inform your professional judgment, not replace it. Each student's IEP and your district, state and federal requirements always come first. Listing a resource here is not an endorsement by Layered Education. This is educational information only, not legal advice.
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Want help putting this to work?
Facilitated co-planning days give a pair protected time to pick a focal student, choose one thing to try, and plan who does what. The first call is free.