You are not under any obligation to let professors know a week in advance. Not sure why you offered that- guilt again maybe. However, it is a good idea to make sure work gets done while you are functioning well, and that may mean doing some work in advance to give yourself some wiggle room.
Is it at all possible that you have a neurological problem? (Migraine, partial seizure, for instance.) Panic can be one manifestation of that, as can be a sense of having lost time or missed things that have happened. I understand anxiety can make your brain check out but it was just a thought…
You already know this but you really should be seeing a professional on a regular basis, maybe even someone at the school health services. Good luck!
I might disagree with that. While the timeframe may not need to be a week, the professors will need advance notice in order to get the tests, instructions, and any other necessary materials to the testing center in a timely fashion.
Many with Asperger’s suffer from lack of insight and an unreasonable attempt to be extremely fair. While you will never understand the experience of another person taking a test, consider that the entire experience may be significantly more difficult for you.
For anyone who has spent any time at all within an office of students with disabilities office/program, I cannot imagine anyone saying that “many” students abuse the system. I think, in fact, very, very, very few abuse the system, and that many of the accommodations only accommodate part of the way to neurotypical in many instances.
Second-guessing will get you nowhere. Have the accommodations in place. Access them if you need them. And try not to be the judge of all this- you are much too close to it to understand.
@compmom, at one of my kid’s schools there is a rule that students need to let profs know they need accommodations at least one week before an exam. Profs get notified of the accommodation at the beginning of the semester, but the student has to ask prior to each exam as well. OP, I would guess the secluded/quiet testing space would be good for warding off panic attacks. And if you have one during an exam, then you would want the extra time.
One of my kids has some chronic health conditions that flare unexpectedly. She would not know about a health event a week in advance. She had accommodations in place that assumed a separate testing room and proctor for each and every exam. With her, however, the issue was that she might not be able to take the exam at all, and there was a different policy for make-ups for those with disabilities: much sooner than the regular make-up which was months away. This might be relevant for the original poster: if a panic attack happens just before an exam, perhaps one accommodation could be a chance to take it another time. But he/she would not know this a week in advance
And testing is not the only occasion for accommodations, so I was mainly thinking of things like absences or extensions. If a student needs an extension on a paper, because, say, a seizure rendered them unable to perform academically for three days, just before the due date, then a requirement of a week’s notice would be ridiculous.
We never ran into that at all. That said, my daughter tended to get her work done well in advance, never stayed up late, and did her part so that if a health event did occur, she had already done the work. But she was not obligated to do this and c ertainly would not promise this to professors.
The one requirement was that she visit health services whenever something happened.
Colleges can have policies that avoid “undue” financial and administrative burden on the school. They can have accommodation policies that ensure the curriculum is not substantially changed. Otherwise, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act should guide policy and a requirement for advance notice is not consistent with that at all.
Professors can use their discretion and there may be negotiation between professor and student, but a student should also know that not all professors are up on this kind of thing and a dean, doctor and/or disabilities officer should also be involved if the professor doesn’t “get it.”
