How do I handle a child who refuses to use the accommodations determined by her IEP team?

First you should find out why the child is resisting. If she is self-conscious about doing things differently than her peers, you may want to give her options that do not call attention to her accommodations or single her out in any way. As her confidence grows, you could talk to her about how to explain her accommodations to other students.

If she is simply resistant to change, it would probably be most effective for you to develop a type of behavior modification/reward system that is appealing for this child. This takes the emphasis and the power struggle off of the accommodations and onto the positive aspects of the behavior modification system. As she becomes more accustomed to using them, they will most likely become less of an issue and you can begin to slowly remove the tangible reinforcements until the benefits of the accommodations themselves are their own reward.

If you’d like more information about behavior modification, visit the Behavior / Social Skills section of our site.