A fourth-grade student with an emotional disturbance has recently transitioned to the general education classroom. Although the student has made gains in social skills and self-monitoring, the teacher notes frequent task refusals for difficult tasks. Which classroom approach is most likely to increase the student's willingness to engage in challenging activities?

• A. Ignoring the student's preferences and reinforcement opportunities.
• B. Removing access to preferred activities.
• C. Focusing on punishment for task refusals.
• D. Establishing a system in which the student can earn time in preferred scheduled activities, such as additional recess and free time.

Answer: (D)

This item emphasizes contingent positive reinforcement to increase engagement with challenging tasks. When a student can earn time in preferred activities—such as extra recess or free time—by starting and working through difficult tasks, the behavior of task engagement is directly linked to a valued payoff. This creates motivation to persist on hard work and helps the student see that effort leads to tangible rewards, which supports smoother transitions and better self-management in the classroom.

This approach is preferable to ignoring the student’s preferences, which removes a powerful source of motivation; removing access to preferred activities is a punishing consequence that can reduce engagement overall; and focusing on punishment for refusals may suppress the behavior temporarily but doesn’t teach a constructive alternative or build a reliable pattern of task persistence, and it can harm the student-teacher relationship.