My DS suffers from the horrible mental illness called anxiety. It robs him of so many pleasure in life- one day he is fine with something and the next day he can's function. Because he needed specialized instruction, he has an IEP which was first under the OHI determination however with further testing, he was also diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia so he now has a specific learning disabilty IEP. For his anxiety, we had accommodations in place for testing, space when needed, and a "safe zone" for when he needed it.

Thank you all for your responses. I am just learning the realities of students with mental health issues. It's interesting how such problems were just swept under and now they're coming out as low enrolment classes.

If the anxiety is interfering with their ability to access their education, they might have a 504 plan. This might be if a child needs to be able to present information in a different way (e.g., not giving speeches, writing a report instead), needs to be able to leave the room or go to a counselor if they are feeling overwhelmed, or otherwise just need a little different approach without changing any of the actual material they are learning.

If the anxiety is interfering to the point the child requires specially designed instruction, they might get an IEP. That might be a child who can't focus and misses instruction because of anxiety. Sometimes schools who have kids who need extra help will provide IEP services for kids who seem to need intensive help and also have a diagnosis of anxiety and demonstrate anxiety in the schools setting. It's not always clear HOW anxiety sometimes interferes, just that it does.

If they don't have one of those two protections, there likely isn't any special programming for them (unless there is a social group or they are seen by a counselor sometimes). Do you have a few cases in mind that can explain more of what you mean or are seeing?

I work with students for whom anxiety is an issue. Perfectionism is often a problem for my students. They don't get special programming, but I do have time in my schedule to talk with them when it is an issue and to help their classroom teachers make it less of an issue.

When we consistently reinforce that in order to be good you have to be the best, you're going to end up with many anxiety issues.

Students diagnosed with anxiety may have a 504 plan. Often They need testing in a small group or extended time.

I'm not really sure where this fits and if I'm saying terms that can be understood but what do you guys know about programming for students with anxiety? What causes it and why does there seem to be a special kind of programming for these students?