Traumatic brain injury IEP accommodations, updated as recovery changes
After a traumatic brain injury, a child most often needs a scheduled rest break, a written backup for spoken directions, a recording of the lesson, and lighter but on-standard work. A healing brain tires and drops information faster than it did before the injury, so every item on this list carries the load until stamina and memory recover. You can check your own IEP against this list today: open its accommodations page and ask, line by line, whether it says where, how often and by whom.
By The Advocate Ally, checked against the rules it cites. Sources checked September 17, 2026.
The accommodations, line by line
A rest break set off by symptoms
Classroom
The moment a headache or slowed speech appears, your child heads to a quiet room instead of finishing out the period.
IEP wording
Put the room and the trigger in writing: “fifteen minutes in the health office whenever the student reports a headache or visible fatigue, with no work assigned.” 34 CFR 300.320(a)(7)
Check
Look up the nurse’s visit log online and see whether its dates match the days your child described a headache at home.
Notes and directions in writing too
Classroom
A printed or posted copy backs up every spoken direction, so a memory that loses the middle of a sentence still has the full list to check.
IEP wording
State where the copy lives and how long it stays up: “directions posted on the board or handed out on paper for every multi-step task, left up all period.” 34 CFR 300.320(a)(4)(ii)
Check
Dig through the folder that comes home for last week’s printed directions and count how many days one turned up.
A recording of lessons memory drops
Classroom
A small recorder or the class’s own app captures the lecture, so your child can replay the part memory lost instead of guessing from half a notebook.
IEP wording
Put the device in writing: “a digital recorder or the classroom’s own recording app running for every lecture-based lesson, turned on by the teacher when class begins.” 34 CFR 300.105(a)
Check
Pull last week’s recordings from the app and count how many lecture-based lessons were actually captured.
Lighter work that keeps the standard
Classroom
The worksheet or the reading is trimmed to the pages that teach the standard, so slower processing is not doing twice the work for the same grade.
IEP wording
Spell out which part counts and which is optional: “the first ten problems, or the pages that teach the lesson’s standard, with the remainder marked optional, on every core-class assignment.” 34 CFR 300.320(a)(4)(ii)
Check
Look at two graded assignments your child brought home and count how many matched the shortened version the IEP describes.
Extra time with breaks for testing
Classroom
Your child can pause mid-test without losing time on the clock, since a long block with no break is where the fatigue starts costing points.
IEP wording
Make the same rule apply on the state exam: “extended time with built-in breaks, given on the student’s own schedule for classroom tests and the state assessment.” 34 CFR 300.320(a)(6)(i)
Check
Check the state-testing paperwork the front office keeps and see whether extended time with breaks appears on it.
What the rule says
“A statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services … to be provided to the child, or on behalf of the child”
When recovery shortens the rest break or retires the recorder, the change goes back into this statement, so the plan on file matches the child in the room.
If it is written but not happening
Track each missed rest break or recording on your own calendar, with the date and who saw it, then forward that record to the team.
Ask the team to name, in writing, who is responsible for each item on this list and what record proves it was done.
Each of your child’s teachers has to be told the specific accommodations the IEP requires (34 CFR 300.323(d)(2)); a refusal to fix a gap owes you prior written notice (34 CFR 300.503).
A list is a starting point: it does not replace an evaluation of your child, or advice from someone qualified to read your file.
Have the accommodations in your IEP read back to you, free.
The review reads every page you upload, names the accommodation wording that is vague or missing, and gives you its page number.
