Obsessive
Compulsive
Disorder (OCD)

• Know your objective - especially when testing. What is it you are trying to find out?
• Detect underlying skill deficits, e.g. difficulty with directions.
• Overview books, chapters and sections with the students.
• Vary rates of presentation.
• Vary levels of sophistication of presentation.
• Vary styles of presentation - cognitive, auditory or visual.

Remember: Your students have to juggle assignments for several classes and several teachers simultaneously. Try to plan your assignment calendar as a team to alleviate overload whenever possible.

• Encourage reading with a pencil, underlining, highlighting, color coding and making notes in the margins.
• Use cognitive strategies rather than rote memory to teach facts.
• Emphasize logic - don’t over rely on memory. Help students differentiate what must be memorized from what can be figured out.
• Encourage frequent self-testing. Use flash cards, tapes, etc.
• Provide clear, sequenced review sheets for tests. Be sure they are types with adequate spacing and clarity.

• Avoid asking for oral reading.
• Use context clues for decoding and /or vocabulary.
• Encourage use of tape recorders. (This is extremely useful for both note taking and listening comprehension, since it relieves the stress of “having to get every word” the first time.)
• Use recorded textbooks.
• Use movies or videos.
• Allow movement while reading and/or listening.

• Provide a syllabus emphasizing primary ideas.
• Offer a visual organizational strategy (mind mapping, treeing, webbing) as a tool for note taking or organizing background information.
• Give extra help - daily if necessary - with maintenance of notebook. Model notebook requirements often.
• Teach research skills. Consider team teaching for major projects and papers. (This also relieves some of the homework overload students often feel.)

©1991 Parkaire Consultants, Inc.

• Divide the assignment into small parts with a definite time schedule.
• Photocopy research. Highlight main ideas and important details.
• Reread underlined parts. Write them on spiral-bound 3” x 5” note cards. Write only one topic on each card.
• Make a list of important points and assign a color to each. Create a mind map. Use this to make outline if required.
• Reread cards and color code.
• Remove cards from spiral binding. Sort by color.
• Reread cards. Expand mind map. Eliminate ideas that do not fit.
• Check outline or mind map for balance.
• Write first draft on the computer.
• Review printout. Proofread a few days later.
• Have an adult edit.
• Make corrections on computer.
• Continue to revise until satisfied.
• Print out final report.

© 1992, Parkaire Consultants, Inc. (See Teaching the Tiger, pp. 112-113)