The Role of School Personnel: Academic Support Strategies
Academic Support Strategies
In order to help students who have OCD get the most out of the classroom learning experience, some academic support strategies may be necessary. These accommodations and modifications will need to be based on the OCD symptoms the student is experiencing.
Some medical and education professionals believe that making accommodations and modifications for a person with OCD does not help that individual overcome his or her obsessions and compulsions. And it is true that working around a child’s OCD symptoms (e.g., allowing a student to do a test orally instead of in writing, reducing the amount of work a student is required to complete), rather than working through the symptoms, does not ultimately help to “fix” the OCD. But providing temporary accommodations and modifications can make the difference between a student keeping up with the class or getting hopelessly behind. With successful treatment, a child’s school-based OCD symptoms may be reduced to the point that educational supports will no longer be necessary. Cognitive Behavior Therapy, for example, will involve having the student work through his or her OCD symptoms to overcome difficulties related to writing and rewriting, checking and rechecking, etc. Until the child reaches that point, however, accommodations and modifications may be necessary to help the child function in school. In addition, students with OCD, like all other students with disabilities, have a legal right to accommodations and modifications under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or IDEA.
More information about laws and how they pertain to students who have OCD can be found in Understanding the Law as it Relates to Students with OCD section of this web site.
A number of different sources can be tapped to detrmine the specific kinds of academic strategies to use with students who have OCD. It may be helpful, for example, for school personnel to confer with one another to share ideas and resources that have been used successfully with these students. It is also essential to speak directly with the student about strategies that have helped him or her succeed academically. Sometimes, the student has devised a way or process to accommodate the difficulty he or she is having. Students -- especially older students -- can be surprisingly inventive, and they may have developed an accommodation that can be implemented easily in the classroom. Information from the student's parents and, whenever possible, the student's therapist can also be critical in developing academic support strategies. Collaboration among the parents, outside mental health providers, school personnel, and the student will lead to the most effective interventions possible for students with OCD. Other ideas can be found in some of the books and web sites listed in the Tools and Resources section of this web site.
Flexibility is important, too. OCD symptoms can wax and wane in young people. Academic accommodations and modifications may be needed when symptoms are greater, but can be set aside when the symptoms subside. School personnel should also be prepared to change the type of accommodations used based on the particular difficulty the student may be having at the time.
Following are some examples of academic support strategies that have been found to be successful with students who have OCD. Of note is that many of these academic support strategies can be helpful to students who exhibit difficulties similar to the student with OCD (e.g., problems with writing, reading, organization, etc.).
| What the student with OCD may be experiencing | Example of Academic Support Strategy |
|---|---|
| Difficulty with focusing; escalating fears of contamination related to normal classroom activities that involve sharing objects, passing items from student to student, and touching surfaces; may involve washing or other contamination rituals | Allow the student to be first to get any handouts - let him or her then hand the stack to another student, thus avoiding papers that were touched by others. Provide a separate set of classroom materials for the student, so he or she does not have to share them with others (book, jar of paste, paints, markers, crayons, etc.). During group activities, allow the student to use this set of materials. Provide a separate set of books for the student to use at home (child may fear bringing “contaminated” materials into the home). Allow the child to keep from being first in line to leave the room - this keeps the student from having to be the one to turn the door knob or handle. Allow the student to leave class a few minutes before passing time to avoid crowded hallways. Allow the student to take a limited number of trips to the bathroom, if this is an issue. You may want to determine the current number of times he or she goes to the bathroom to help set a reasonable limit, gradually reducing the number of bathroom trips; e.g., it would be difficult to go immediately from 10 visits to the bathroom (current number) to only one. |
| Difficulty with concentrating or focusing on what is being said | Provide the student with notes or an outline of what is covered in class. Allow the student with OCD to choose (or teacher can assign) another student to share notes or go over class work in preparation for homework or as part of homework. (Be certain student is comfortable with this arrangement.) Redirect the student's attention (using a predetermined signal, for example) to keep the student on track. |
| Difficulty or slowness with completing written assignments because student must write letters, numbers, words, or sentences over and over; everything has to be "just right" or "just so" (perfectionistic tendencies); revising work multiple times. Extreme fatigue may result from staying up late repeatedly rereading or writing and rewriting assignments) |
Reduce the amount of written homework assigned Refrain from sending class work home that the student has been unable to complete in school due to writing difficulties. This can create additional stress for the student who is already distressed by OCD symptoms. Allow the student to use a computer to type assignments. Allow the student to use a tape recorder to record a class assignment (such as a book report). Give the student the option of taking a test orally instead of writing answers to questions. This way the teacher will know if the student knows the material, but the student does not labor over how the words or letters look on the test answers. Assign fewer questions on a test -- allow the student to write the answers to every other question, or write very short answers. Alternatively, produce a multiple-choice test format so the student does not need to write long essay questions and answers. Provide alternatives to tests with fill-in-the circle responses to mark answers or permit the student to write directly on the test sheet/booklet. Provide a written outline of the lecture for the student. Allow the student to use a preferred handwriting method (e.g., permit the student to print if cursive writing is problematic). Allow the student to dictate answers, a report, etc. to someone who will write the information. Grade a student's work on content rather than neatness. Allow the student with OCD to choose (or teacher can assign) another student to share written notes. (Be certain the student is comfortable with this arrangement.) Provide the student with alternatives to written assignments, e.g., permit him or her to demonstrate his or her knowledge by drawing a picture, mural, etc. in lieu of writing an essay. Allow the student to use assistive technologies to help the student with writing, e.g., Co:Writer, Write:OutLoud, Draft:Builder. |
| Difficulty with procrastination | Try breaking a longer assignment into smaller pieces and establishing deadlines for each part. For example, for a science project consider breaking the project into sections such as topic selection; explanation of the approach they will take to the work; researching the topic; writing up an outline of what the display will cover; making the display; etc. Smaller deliverables with due dates can make a seemingly overwhelming project easier to manage. For a book report, sections could be: reading the book (divided into several chapters at a time); outline of important points to cover in the report; first draft; final draft. Try to establish limits on how much time should be spent on any part of a project. Communicate with parents to enlist their help in limiting the time spent. Have the student set up a notebook or other system for organizing his or her work. Monitor progress and make suggestions as to how to break down a big project into smaller sections that are easier to handle. Use this notebook or “log” to send notes home to parents concerning the student’s progress or indicate where extra attention may be needed to finish or understand reading material or a class assignment. Parents also can make notes for the teacher in the notebook, and the teacher checks the notebook daily to keep communication open between the school and parents. |
| Difficulty with checking and rechecking assignments due to doubt that they have been completed correctly or that they have been completed "just right" | Allow the student to use the spelling checker on the computer to limit worry over spelling errors (limit number of times spelling words are checked). Allow the student to use a calculator to check math answers one time after he or she has completed the assignment or test by hand. |
| Difficulty with checking and rechecking that books and school materials (pens, pencils, assignment sheets, books, etc.) are in their book bag or desk; anxiety over whether items are organized or present in the book bag or desk | Work with parents to provide the student with two sets of materials and books -- one for working in school and one for working at home. This alleviates stress over whether the student has the right materials to work with in each location. Make duplicate assignment sheets -- one to keep at school and one to take home. Allow the student some time during the day to organize his or her materials. By providing a set time to do this, some of the anxiety over whether all materials are properly organized is reduced. Check the student’s book bag or have an aide do so, to make sure the correct assignment sheets are going home with the student -- and if the student is supposed to leave certain supplies at school because he or she has a duplicate set at home, to make sure the school set of materials stays at school. |
| Difficulty with reassurance-seeking; asking questions repeatedly; asking the teacher to confirm that the student understands the assignment or has completed an assignment correctly | Answer questions, but avoid answering the same question over and over. It can be helpful to limit the number of questions that the student can ask, per class period, per assignment, or per day. You may want to determine the current number of questions he or she asks to help set a reasonable limit, gradually reducing the number of questions asked. After the question has been asked and answered, confirm to the student that he or she knows the answer now, and move on. It’s important to differentiate, however, between legitimate questions concerning points in an assignment or chapter and questions asked for the purpose of continually seeking reassurance. |
| Difficulty with test taking | Encourage the student to skip around on the test and answer the easy questions first. Give the student untimed tests, extra time to complete the test, or require the student to answer only certain questions (identified with an asterisk, or every other question, etc.) if the time limit is a trigger for anxiety. Place the student in a different (quiet) location to take the test if distraction is a problem. Provide breaks during testing. Allow the student an alternative method for producing test answers if writing is problematic: record answers on tape recorder; write answers on computer or other assistive technology device; produce answers orally; produce answers on an alternate test format (e.g., multiple choice, short answer, fill-in-the-blanks). Allow the student to write answers directly on test sheet/booklet if filling in circles is a problem. Teacher may transfer student responses to answer sheet (e.g., teacher may use student’s responses to fill in circles on computerized answer sheet). |
| Difficulty making decisions | Assign a took, topic, etc., instead of asking the student to select it. Give the student a choice of two topics, items, etc. to choose from. |
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