Anxiety in children is not uncommon, and it’s even more prevalent now amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For some children, anxiety goes beyond an emotion to reach a state of disorder, including intrusive thoughts and physical issues such as rapid heartbeat, cold sweat or increase in blood pressure. When a child suffers from anxiety to the level that it impedes their educational performance, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) can be used to provide accommodations.
What Is an Anxiety Disorder?
While an occasional bout of anxiety is a normal consequence of life for many, people who suffer from anxiety disorders may experience intense, often crippling levels of fear and stress about everyday issues. Anxiety as a disorder can be characterized in the following ways:
- Fear and anxiety that impedes normal life and important daily functions like school, work, social situations, and family dynamics
- Functional impairment must exist for anxiety to be considered a disorder
- Formal anxiety disorders include:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder
- Selective Mutism
- Separation Anxiety Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Specific phobias
- Substance-Induced Anxiety
How Does Anxiety Affect A Child’s Education?
A diagnosis of anxiety as a disorder will not automatically result in eligibility for exceptional education services. To qualify for special education services through an IEP, the diagnosis must result in an adverse educational effect and the need for accommodations to achieve success.
When a child demonstrates one or more of the following conditions over a period of time, they may have emotional disturbance, or ED, which is one of the classifications of disability on an IEP:
- Inability to learn (intellectual, sensory and health issues ruled out)
- Inability to develop relationships with teachers or peers
- Engaging in inappropriate behaviors under normal conditions
- Exhibiting depressed mood most of the time
- Development of physical symptoms related to school or personal issues
What Does the IEP Accomplish?
If the appropriate criteria exists, the child’s parents, teachers, counselor, school psychologist, and administrator will form a team to discuss a 504 plan or IEP. Depending on the child’s specific anxiety symptoms and the way the disorder manifests, the IEP or 504 team may recommend some of the following accommodations:
- Preferential seating
- Quiet testing space
- Extended time
- Modified assignments or tests
- Breaks when needed
- Safety plan with designated “cool down” or “safe” spaces to go when feeling anxious
It is important to remember that IEP and 504 decisions are made as a team. No single teacher, counselor, parent or administrator has the ability to prescribe accommodations without the group’s agreement. The goal is to ensure that the student finds support and accommodations to “level the playing field” with students who do not suffer from disorders or disabilities.
With over 70 years of experience as a publisher of psychological and educational assessments and associated intervention resources, WPS can provide more information about anxiety, testing, and the process for receiving accommodations through Individualized Education Plans.
