504 Accommodations for Anxiety: PDF List to Add to an IEP or 504 Plan.

A 504 Plan for anxiety may include accommodations for testing, assignments, breaks, transitions, presentations, attendance, classroom participation and communication. The right accommodations depend on how anxiety affects the individual student at school.

Below you’ll find a printable list of 504 accommodations for anxiety, including ideas for elementary, middle and high school students. These accommodations can also be included in an IEP when appropriate. But don’t take this list into a meeting and ask for all of them. More accommodations do not automatically make a better 504 Plan.

Classroom and Instructional Accommodations

1. Provide a consistent and predictable classroom routine whenever possible.
2. Post a visual or written daily schedule where the student can easily reference it.
3. Provide directions in writing in addition to verbal directions.
4. Break multi-step directions into smaller, clearly defined steps.
5. Check privately for understanding rather than requiring the student to ask for clarification in front of the class.
6. Provide clear written expectations for assignments, classroom routines and deadlines.
7. Give advance notice before calling on the student when possible.
8. Allow alternative ways to participate in class, such as written responses, response cards, digital responses or discussion in a smaller group.
9. Avoid unnecessarily putting the student on the spot or drawing public attention to disability-related needs.
10. Provide preferential seating based on the student’s individual needs, such as near the door, teacher, front or another identified location.
11. Provide subtle, private prompts rather than public correction when prompting is needed.
12. Allow additional processing time before requiring a response.
13. Provide examples or models of completed assignments when uncertainty about expectations creates a barrier.
14. Break lengthy or complex assignments into smaller sections with interim deadlines when appropriate.

Preferential seating should actually say where and why. “Preferential seating” by itself isn’t terribly useful if one teacher thinks it means front row and another thinks it means closest to the teacher or off to the side….and none of the options support what the student needs.

Breaks and Regulation Supports

Some students need access to a break before anxiety escalates to the point where they cannot participate. The accommodation should identify how the student accesses the break and, when appropriate, where they may go.

1. Allow the student to request a break using an agreed-upon verbal, written, visual or nonverbal signal.
2. Provide access to an identified quiet or lower-stimulation location for breaks.
3. Allow brief movement breaks during longer instructional periods.
4. Allow access to identified regulation tools or sensory supports.
5. Identify a trusted school adult the student may access when disability-related anxiety is interfering with participation.
6. Allow the student to use headphones or other approved sensory supports when appropriate to the environment and task.
7. Develop a predictable process for returning to instruction following a break.
8. Allow access to breaks proactively rather than requiring the student to reach a predetermined level of distress first.

I’ve since replaced “cool down pass” with “break.” A child experiencing anxiety isn’t necessarily angry or in need of cooling down. That language from my old list needed to be changed.

Testing Accommodations for Anxiety

Testing accommodations should address the student’s documented disability-related needs and be appropriate for the particular assessment.

1. Provide extended time on tests and quizzes when anxiety interferes with processing, initiation or completion.
2. Allow testing in a separate or reduced-distraction setting when appropriate.
3. Permit scheduled or student-requested breaks during longer assessments.
4. Break lengthy assessments into smaller sections when appropriate.
5. Provide clear written testing instructions and allow clarification of directions.
6. Allow additional processing time before beginning an assessment.
7. Provide word banks, formula sheets, equation sheets or other reference materials when appropriate to the skill being assessed and permitted by the assessment.
8. Allow an approved reference card or notecard when appropriate.
9. Provide alternative response methods when the student’s disability interferes with the standard response format.
10. Schedule assessments at a different time following a disability-related absence when appropriate rather than requiring testing immediately upon return.

For state and standardized testing, make sure accommodations comply with the applicable testing rules. Something being written in a 504 Plan doesn’t automatically make it permissible on every standardized assessment.

Homework and Assignment Accommodations

Anxiety can make homework and assignments take significantly longer than intended, particularly when perfectionism, repeated checking, difficulty initiating or fear of making mistakes is involved.

1. Establish reasonable time limits for homework when disability-related anxiety causes excessive time on assignments.
2. Provide estimated completion times for longer assignments so the student has a reference point for how long the task is expected to take.
3. Reduce repetitive practice when the student has already demonstrated mastery of the targeted skill.
4. Break long-term assignments into smaller steps with interim deadlines.
5. Provide extended deadlines when disability-related needs interfere with timely completion.
6. Allow keyboarding, speech-to-text or another approved method of written output when appropriate.
7. Provide access to class notes, outlines or other materials needed to complete assignments.
8. Reduce copying demands when copying is not the skill being assessed.
9. Allow alternative methods of demonstrating knowledge when the standard format creates a disability-related barrier.
10. Provide a clear plan for making up essential work following disability-related absences rather than requiring the student to complete every missed assignment on top of current work.

That last one is important. A child returning after several anxiety-related absences and being handed a mountain of overdue work isn’t exactly a revolutionary plan for successful re-entry.

Presentations and Classroom Participation

Public speaking, reading aloud and being unexpectedly called on can create significant barriers for some students with anxiety. The team should distinguish between a skill the student actually needs to learn and a classroom practice that can reasonably be accommodated.

Possible accommodations include:

1. Give advance notice before calling on the student.
2. Do not require unplanned reading aloud or work at the board when this creates a documented disability-related barrier.
3. Allow presentations to a smaller group or to the teacher when appropriate.
4. Allow prerecorded audio or video presentations when appropriate.
5. Allow the student to present with a partner when that addresses the identified need.
6. Provide advance notice of presentation dates, expectations and grading criteria.
7. Allow alternative forms of classroom participation, such as written or digital responses.
8. Do not base participation grades solely on spontaneous verbal participation when the student’s disability interferes with that method of participation.

This doesn’t mean a student can never work on public speaking or presentation skills. If that’s an identified educational need, it can be explicitly taught with appropriate supports.

An accommodation shouldn’t quietly turn into exposure therapy administered by the social studies teacher.

Transitions and Changes in Routine

Predictability can make school more accessible for students whose anxiety is significantly affected by transitions or unexpected changes.

I have a more complete list: Accommodations for Transitions

1. Provide advance warning before routine transitions.
2. Give advance notice of known schedule changes whenever possible.
3. Provide an updated written or visual schedule when the regular schedule changes.
4. Notify the student in advance of substitute teachers when reasonably possible.
5. Prepare the student in advance for assemblies, special events, field trips and other changes in routine.
6. Provide an identified adult or peer support for particularly difficult transitions when needed.
7. Allow additional transition time between classes or activities when disability-related anxiety interferes with timely transitions.
8. Provide a predictable arrival routine when entering school is a documented area of difficulty.

Fire Drills, Safety Drills and Assemblies

Safety drills are necessary. Surprising a child with a blaring alarm when the school already knows that unexpected alarms create significant disability-related distress may not be.

When permitted by school safety procedures, provide advance notice of scheduled drills to the student. The team may also consider preferential seating near an exit during large assemblies, access to hearing protection when appropriate, an identified adult for support and a plan for re-entering instruction after a drill.

Any accommodation involving emergency procedures has to preserve the student’s safety and comply with the school’s safety requirements.

Lunch, Recess and Unstructured Times

Less structured parts of the school day can be particularly difficult for some students with anxiety. If that’s an identified area of need, accommodations might include access to a quieter lunch location, an identified lunch group, adult-facilitated opportunities for small-group interaction, a peer buddy for specific transitions or access to an identified adult when support is needed.

Don’t automatically assign a “buddy” because a student has anxiety. Some kids would find having another child assigned to escort them around school approximately 900% more anxiety-producing.

Again: individual needs.

Accommodations for Absences and Returning to School

When anxiety contributes to disability-related absences, the return to school can create another barrier. Missed work, tests, schedule changes and fear of being questioned about the absence can pile onto the original problem.

The plan might include:

• Provide class notes and essential instructional materials for missed days.
• Identify which missed assignments must be completed rather than automatically requiring every assignment.
• Establish reasonable timelines for making up essential work.
• Allow tests or quizzes missed during an absence to be rescheduled.
• Provide a predictable check-in or arrival routine following an extended absence.
• Identify one staff member who coordinates missed-work expectations when multiple teachers are involved.
• Provide advance information about what the student should expect upon returning when possible.

For significant anxiety-related school avoidance, accommodations alone may not be enough. The team should be looking at why the student cannot access school and what evaluations, services, supports, instruction and accommodations are needed.

504 Accommodations for Anxiety in High School

High school adds multiple teachers, heavier workloads, changing classrooms, long-term assignments, presentations, exams and an expectation that students will independently communicate with adults.

That last one can be a problem when the disability itself interferes with asking adults for help.

For high school students, consider accommodations such as a consistent method for communicating needs to teachers, electronic communication when approaching a teacher in person is a barrier, coordinated testing arrangements, access to teacher notes, reduced copying, clear procedures for requesting breaks and a single point of contact when anxiety affects several classes.

The team should also specify how accommodations are communicated to teachers. “Student may ask the teacher for accommodations” isn’t much of an accommodation if anxiety is exactly why the student cannot walk up to six different teachers and explain what they need.

504 Accommodations for Anxiety and Depression

A student with both anxiety and depression may have overlapping needs involving concentration, fatigue, attendance, task initiation, processing, workload and participation.

The team might consider flexible deadlines when appropriate, breaking assignments into manageable pieces, access to missed instructional materials, reduced repetitive work, planned breaks, alternative participation methods and a coordinated process for returning after disability-related absences.

But anxiety plus depression still does not generate a standard accommodation package. The accommodations should come from the student’s individual needs and data.

504 Accommodations for Anxiety and ADHD

Students with both ADHD and anxiety may have disability-related needs involving working memory, executive functioning, task initiation, organization, transitions, attention and regulation.

Written directions, chunked assignments, visual schedules, organizational systems, advance notice of changes, private prompts and structured check-ins may be appropriate for some students.

Again, start with the individual student’s needs rather than collecting accommodations based on diagnoses. Otherwise, pretty soon we’ve got a 504 plan with 63 accommodations and nobody remembers what half of them are supposed to accomplish.

Printable List of Anxiety Accommodations

I hope this list helps you develop a solid support plan for the student.