Type of Accommodation

For

Explanation

Allowing more time

Students with various types of rituals

Students with OCD may need additional time to complete tasks and tests. They may lose time to rituals (both those you can see and those you can’t, such as counting in their head) or to obsessive thinking (such as, “I’m worried that I’ll come home and find my dog dead.”) The educational team, in collaboration with the student, parents, and outside treating professionals, should determine how to handle late assignments.

Offering test-taking flexibility

Students with various types of rituals

Options may include offering an alternate testing location, breaks during testing, or administering the test orally.

Limiting handwritten work

Students with compulsive writing rituals

Common compulsive writing rituals include dotting i’s in a particular way, retracing particular letters, counting certain letters or words, having to completely blacken response circles on test forms, and erasing and rewriting work until it looks perfect. If the student’s compulsions are not triggered by keyboarding, let the student use a keyboard to take notes. Other options are letting the student record lectures or giving the student lecture notes.

Limiting reading

Students with compulsive reading rituals

Breaking reading assignments into chunks may be helpful. If reading rituals and intrusive thoughts are severe, consider using recorded books or recording the material for the student yourself.

Limiting reworking

Students with perfectionistic traits

Check with parents to see if the student stays up all night working and reworking an assignment. If so, consider having the student turn in work in at the end of the school day instead of doing it as homework. Also, avoid reinforcing the problem by complimenting the student’s “perfect” work.

Refocusing and redirecting

Students with various types of rituals

Ask the student if gentle refocusing and redirection would be welcomed. Working together, you can  find out which techniques help your student and which may trigger emotional responses. Remember that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the child to interrupt a ritual once it has begun.

Reducing triggers

Students with various types of rituals

If possible, reduce triggers to compulsive rituals. For example, if you know that the sight of a pencil sharpener causes a student engage in a ritual, try placing the sharpener out of sight.

Minimizing peer problems

Students with various types of rituals

Be alert to teasing or harassment associated with compulsive rituals. If the student is being ridiculed, you might conduct a peer education program on OCD. Two films to consider using are “The Touching Tree” (www.ocdawareness.com/pages.cfm?ID=39) and “In the Shoes of Christopher” (www.ocdawareness.com/pages.cfm?ID=38).

Offering “graceful exit” excuses

Students with various types of rituals

When the student is not “stuck,” conference privately with him/her to figure out some “graceful exit” excuses for leaving the classroom without attracting peer attention. It may be a “permanent pass” that the student can use to go speak with the counselor or take a walk to help get “unstuck.”