1When a child digs in, try reading it as frightened rather than difficult. Most of them want to get this right and simply do not yet know how.
Refusal that looks like defiance is usually fear sitting on top of a missing skill, and those two call for different responses. Treat it as defiance and you end up enforcing. Treat it as fear and you end up teaching. Children tend to read which one you have settled on well before you say it out loud.
Islamic evidence
God wishes to lighten your burden; man was created weak (Quran 4:28). Human weakness is spoken of here as something to be met with lightening rather than with pressure.
“God wishes to lighten your burden; man was created weak”
Qur'an 4:28
Psychological evidence
Reviews of how exposure works describe it as new learning rather than simple wearing down, built by varying the setting, letting go of safety props and allowing expectations to be proved wrong. A separate review reports that neither the amount fear drops during a session nor the fear level at the end predicts outcome, so visible distress is a poor read on whether the work is landing. Both are theoretical reviews of mechanism, not trials of what a therapist's stance does.
Craske MG, Treanor M, Conway CC, Zbozinek T, Vervliet B. (2014). Behaviour research and therapy · doi
Craske MG, Kircanski K, Zelikowsky M, Mystkowski J, Chowdhury N, Baker A. (2008). Behaviour research and therapy · doi
Review detail
Why it works. A child who can tell you think they are trying has much less reason to fight you.
When not to. Reading every refusal as fear can miss a child who is refusing because something outside the room is wrong and needs looking into.