A Case Study in Applied Behavior Analysis: Using Prevent-Teach-Reinforce Strategies to Decrease a Student’s Task Refusal

Task refusal might hinder academic performance (e.g., grades, test scores, etc.); however,one model that has been proven to help decrease problem behaviors is the Prevent-TeachReinforce (PTR) model. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the PTR model on the assessment and treatment of problem behavior for one high school student’s task refusal. Results demonstrated the PTR model helped identify plausible functions of task refusal; furthermore, the PTR model led to the development of an effective intervention that was feasible, function-based, and resulted in decreasing task refusal. Keywords: classrooms, function-based intervention, prevent-teach-reinforce, task refusa