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, academic support strategies are frequently necessary. These supports and accommodations will need to be based on the OCD symptoms the student is experiencing.
Some medical and education professionals are concerned that providing accommodations and other educational supports for individuals with OCD doesn't help them overcome their 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 wheelchairs don't "fix" physical disabilities, nor do hearing aids "fix" deafness. Yet students with these disabilities -- outwardly visible disabilities -- would be unable to function in the school setting or access the general education curriculum without them. And it would be difficult to imagine that anyone would question or deny a student the use of a wheelchair or hearing aid. But because their disability is hidden, young people with OCD do not look "different." Yet their need for educational supports is no less real than that of students with observable disabilities. Providing temporary accommodations and support strategies can make the difference between a student's 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, involves 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 supports may be necessary to help the child function in school. For example, within the context of Cognitive Behavior Therapy, a student may have a goal of being able to read a simple paragraph without counting every period at the end of each sentence. Until he or she is able to achieve this goal, it may be necessary for the student to have the text read to him or her by another individual or to listen to a pre-recorded CD of the material.
In addition, students with OCD, like all other students with disabilities, have a legal right to accommodations and support strategies 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 determine 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. In many cases, the student has devised a way to accommodate the difficulty he or she is having. Students -- especially older students -- can be surprisingly inventive, and they may have developed strategies 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 supports may be needed when symptoms worsen (wax), but can be set aside when the symptoms subside (wane). School personnel should also be prepared to change the type of accommodations used based on the specific difficulty the student may be having at the time.
Following are some examples of academic accommodations and support strategies that have been found to be successful with students who have OCD. Of note is that many of these strategies can be helpful to students who exhibit difficulties similar to the student with OCD (e.g., problems with writing, reading, organization, etc.). Included is a section on assistive technology (AT) that may be beneficial for students who have OCD. This section has been excerpted from Students with OCD: A Handbook for School Personnel by Dr. Gail Adams (see Tools and Resources section of this web site).
| What the Student with OCD May Be Experiencing | Example of Academic Accommodation or Support Strategy |
|---|---|
| Difficulty with 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; he or she can hand the stack to another student, thus avoiding papers that were touched by others. Allow the student to use hand sanitizer in lieu of going to the bathroom constantly to wash. (**Note: It would be most advantageous if the teacher, a school mental health professional such as the school psychologist or social worker, the parents, and the student collaborated to design and implement an intervention of this nature.) |
| Difficulty with concentrating or focusing on what is being said |
Ask the student if he or she would find it helpful if a signal, such as a code word, was used to redirect his or her attention. If so, be sure to involve the student in the choice of signal. Seat the student closer to the teacher to redirect the student's attention, as appropriate. Provide the student with notes or an outline of what is covered in class. Give directions that are clear and short and use visuals to accompany verbal directions (e.g., have directions written on a chart). Also, capture students' attention prior to giving directions, e.g., tell students they need to listen carefully; modulate voice; provide a signal such as a hand clap. |
| Difficulty or slowness with writing, 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 writing and rewriting assignments) |
Reduce the amount of written homework assigned. 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. |
| Difficulty with reading (e.g., student may need to reread a sentence until it feels "just right"; may need to count how many lowercase "a's" are in a sentence, etc.) |
Allow another individual to read to the student (peer, paraprofessional, other) unless the student with OCD (or peer) is uncomfortable with this arrangement. Reduce the amount of material to be read: assign a shorter reading assignment or photocopy the reading assignment and highlight the sections of the text that must be read. Divide reading assignments into shorter segments and allow breaks in between. |
| Difficulty with organization (e.g., organizing materials, time) |
Provide the student direct instruction in organizational skills. Have the student use an assignment book that parents and teachers check daily. Allow space for teachers and parents to make written comments, thereby promoting communication. Use visual organizing systems such as color-coded folders (e.g., math folder is red; reading is blue). |
| Difficulty with longer assignments/long term projects (student may procrastinate because work has to be done "perfectly"); student has difficulty making decisions (e.g., fears making "wrong" decision) |
Model how to break longer assignments into smaller sections that are easier to handle. For a science project, the sections might include: topic selection; explanation of the approach they will take; researching the topic; writing up an outline of what the display will cover; making the display, etc. 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. Use charts, outlines, other graphic organizers to provide cues for completing the assignment. Contract -- with the student -- deadlines for each section. Smaller deliverables with jointly determined due dates can make a seemingly overwhelming project easier to manage. 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. 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 an assignment. Parents can also write notes for the teacher in the notebook, and the teacher should check the notebook daily to foster communication between the school and parents. |
| Difficulty with note-taking |
Provide the student direct instruction in note-taking strategies, e.g., Cornell System for taking notes. Provide student partial notes that contain the main ideas of the lecture; leave space for student to write additional notes. Allow student to review positive examples of notes (e.g., examples of good notes taken by other students). |
| Difficulty with studying (including studying for tests) |
Suggest that the student study with a partner or in groups. Encourage the student to spread studying out over a period of time (e.g., each night before a test) rather than cram (e.g., trying to complete all the necessary studying the night before an exam). Teach students strategies for aiding memorization (mnemonic devices) such as acronyms (e.g., HOMES to remember all the great lakes) or acrostics -- taking the first letter of each word in the sentence "All cows eat grass" to remember the spaces in the bass clef: A, C, E, G. |
| Difficulty with checking and rechecking due to obsessive doubting; repetitive checking to see that all assignments have been completed correctly or "just right"; checking to be certain that all the necessary books and school materials (pens, pencils, assignment sheets, etc.) are in the book bag, desk, or locker and/or organized properly |
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. Work with parents to provide the student with two sets of materials and books -- one for school and one for home -- to alleviate 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 a paraprofessional do so, to make sure the correct assignment sheets are going home with the student. If the student is supposed to leave certain supplies at school because he or she has a duplicate set at home, make sure the school set of materials stays at school. A simple form could be devised that lists materials that need to go home/stay at school each day. |
| 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 will need to determine the current number of questions he or she asks in order to set a reasonable limit, gradually reducing the number of questions asked.** (**Note: It would be most advantageous if the teacher, a school mental health professional such as the school psychologist or social worker, the parents, and the student collaborated to design an intervention of this nature.) After a question has been asked and answered, confirm to the student that he or she knows the answer now, and move on. Be careful to differentiate 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 easiest 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 time limits are 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; produce answers orally; produce answers in an alternate test format (e.g., multiple choice, short answer, fill-in-the-blanks) in lieu of essay tests. These options will allow the student to demonstrate his or her knowledge of the material without having to labor over how the words or letters look on the test answers. Assign fewer questions on a test or allow the student to write the answers to every other question. 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 book, topic, etc., instead of asking the student to select it. Give the student a choice of two topics, items, etc. to choose from. |
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
One of the requirements of IDEA 1997 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 is that students with disabilities have access to assistive technology (AT) devices and/or services. These laws also state that AT must be considered for all students eligible for special education services. Assistive technology devices are items, pieces of equipment or product systems (acquired commercially or off the shelf, modified, or customized) that are used to improve or maintain the functional capabilities of children with disabilities. Assistive technology services refer to any services that directly help a child with a disability select, acquire, or use an assistive technology device. Assistive technology is used by individuals with disabilities to allow them to perform tasks that otherwise might be difficult if not impossible. AT can create new opportunities, break down barriers, and level the playing field for students with OCD and other disabilities.
Currently, there is no scientific evidence related specifically to the use of assistive technology with students who have OCD. Because these students frequently experience difficulty in the areas of reading, writing, and organization, however, a list of various assistive technologies addressing problems in these areas is provided below. As is the case with any accommodation or support strategy for students with OCD, one type of assistive technology may be extremely effective for one student but ineffective with another. The word processor, for instance, has been a tremendous assist for many students who experience writing rituals. Other students with paper-and-pencil writing rituals, however, have been known to get "stuck" on the computer, as well.
The following sections contain pieces of information from three articles on assistive technology by Kristin Stanberry and Marshall Raskind: (1) Assistive Technology for Kids with Learning Disabilities: An Overview (2009); (2) Assistive Technology Tools: Writing (2009); and (3) Assistive Technology: Reading (2009). All three articles appear on the web site for LD Online. Inclusion of a specific AT in the following list does not suggest an endorsement, and the list is not exhaustive.
Difficulties with reading
- Audio books and electronic publications: user listens to recorded books/other text materials via audiocassettes, CDs, Daisy readers, computers, and MP3 players. Available through the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, Audible.com, Project Gutenberg, Kindle, Bookshare;
- Optical character recognition: user scans printed material into a computer/handheld unit; text is read aloud by means of a speech synthesis/screen reading system. Examples: Kirzweil 3000, Read and Write Gold, Wynn software, Quicktionary 2 (a pen-like, hand-held scanner that can scan a word or line of text; immediate word-by-word translation is provided);
- Paper-based computer pen: user takes notes while recording a speaker (e.g., teacher). User later can listen to any part of the recording by touching the pen to the corresponding section of notes. Has many other features, as well. Example: Pulse Smartpen by Livescribe;
- Speech synthesizers/screen readers: display and read aloud text (typed, scanned, Internet print) on a computer screen. Examples: AspireReader, Read:Outloud, Write:OutLoud, Kurzweil 3000, Read and Write Gold, Wynn Software; and
- Variable speed control (VSC) tape recorders: user may listen to prerecorded text or tape a speaker (e.g., teacher) and listen to it later. Playback rate may be sped up or slowed down without a voice distortion. Available through MaxiAids.com, Independentliving.com.
Difficulties with writing/expressive writing
- Text expanders: in conjunction with a word processor, user develops, stores, and reuses abbreviations for commonly-used words and phrases. Saves the writer keystrokes and promotes correct spelling of words and phrases that have been coded. Examples: TypeIt4Me (available through Shareware), ActiveWords;
- Alternative keyboards: standard keyboard customized by adding graphics to keys, grouping keys by color/location, etc. Examples: Intellikeys, Big Keys;
- Portable word processors; keyboard devices that are lightweight and easy to transport. Examples: AlphaSmart, Neo, Fusion, Quickpad, Netbook;
- Graphic organizers and outlining programs: user organizes unstructured information into appropriate categories and order. Examples: Inspiration, Kidspiration, Draft:Builder;
- Paper-based computer pen: user takes notes while recording a speaker (e.g., teacher). User later can listen to any part of the recording by touching the pen to the corresponding section of notes. Has many other features, as well. Example: Pulse Smartpen by Livescribe;
- Speech recognition software programs: in conjunction with word processor, user speaks into a microphone and spoken words appear on computer screen as text. Examples: Dragon Naturally Speaking, Microsoft Windows (XP. Vista. Windows 7), Speech Recognition, SpeakQ. Macspeech Dictate, Voxforge;
- Talking spell-checkers/Electronic dictionaries: talking devices display chosen words on the computer screen as they are "read aloud." Assists user with correct spelling while writing and proofreading. Examples: Franklin Electronic Dictionaries/Spell correctors, WordWeb Pro; and
- Word prediction software programs: help with word processing by predicting the word the user intends to type; user selects appropriate word. Assists with correct spelling, grammar, and word choices with fewer keystrokes. Examples: Co:Writer, WordQ, IntelliTalk, Read and Write Gold, Kurzweil 3000, Wynn Software.
Difficulties with organization/memory
- Free-form Database software: in conjunction with word processor, helps user develop and store electronic notes by writing down information on any topic quickly. User later can retrieve information by typing any part of the original note. Examples: AskSam, Microsoft Office OneNote (Kurzweil also has sticky notes feature);
- Information/Data Managers: help user plan, organize, store and retrieve information (e.g., calendar, contact data) in electronic form. Examples: Franklin (hand-held organizers), Palm, Pocket PC, iPod/iPhone, Droid;
- Alarm Reminders: user can program alarms built within cell phones, handheld devices, or specialized watches to remind them of important appointments or assignments. Examples: cell phones with alarm features, productivity apps for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad/Droid, alarm watches with or without vibration; and
- Paper-based computer pen: user takes notes while recording a speaker (e.g., teacher). User later can listen to any part of the recording by touching the pen to the corresponding section of notes. Has many other features, as well. Example: Pulse Smartpen by Livescribe.
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