<p>Cubandad - I am sure there are people who are doing this to “game the system” but in order to do so, they have to start gaming the system as early as 2nd-5th grades, while also typically having their child take prescriptive medications at the same time…these are the types of scenarios that the SAT and ACT require to be granted extended time these days.</p>
<p>I do believe that many, many people TRY and get diagnoses in high school, and apply for accommodations; but the College Board and the ACT have gotten wind of this and now are much tougher. They also are very aware of what private schools have greater histories (one psychologist told me that at a prominent private school in the Los Angeles area, more than 40% of the college applicants had applied for extended time…ha ha…)</p>
<p>I also will tell you that what a person from the outside sees is not necessarily what actually goes on with a child. Especially when it comes to issues such as severe anxiety, sensory integration disorder, and OCD. Teens who are properly treated with counseling and medication may appear “normal” to everyone else but their lives are exhausting for themselves.</p>
<p>In the end, I think we all have to focus on ourselves, and if you are a parent, focus on our own children. This is what I told my D this year – wasting her energy on what someone else may or may not be doing simply detracts from her own energy for herself. And Gaming the system involves karma.</p>
<p>Our kids got accommodations for the SAT–were able to sit in a quiet room, lie down during breaks, drink water and have snacks as necessary even during the exam. This was due to a medical condition that was documented since grade and middle school. It was by no means a “slam dunk” getting the accommodations, even with the paperwork and cooperation of the HS. </p>
<p>Additionally, getting extra time (IF it is granted) is no guarantee of doing BETTER on the exam. S generally finished EARLIER (did not seek nor get extra time), but that was good because he found the exams such a drain to his limited stamina he would generally be drained and very ill for about two weeks after taking the SAT. I’m not sure whether D ever accepted the accommodations she was entitled to for the SAT, as we never discussed the matter.</p>
<p>Both of my kids APPEAR ‘perfectly healthy,’ even to family and definitely to classmates and school administrators. There are so many hidden medical issues. Stamina issues really are hard for others to understand and so hard to plan around. We fought many battles for years over this, even with medical documentation from experts in multiple states. </p>
<p>Really, please count your blessings if your kids don’t qualify for accommodations.</p>
<p>It seems that in order to “game” the system (meaning qualify for extra time when you do not really need extra time) on the SAT or ACT, you need to have a medical professional who will basically collude with your child and/or parent. With ethical medical professionals who render unbiased opinions based on objective tests, it would be hard to get extra time unless kid really needs it.</p>
<p>At our private school 25+ percent of the high school students are getting extended time on in-school tests and ACT/SAT. Since national stats suggest only 4% or so of students have actual learning disabilities the only possible explanation is abuse. The LD parent community is well organized and powerful and has created an environment that breeds bad behavior and deters parents, educators, and test organizations from blowing the whistle on this abuse. Who loses? The kids who play by the rules. And since the well funded activist parents successfully sued to keep the test organizations from reporting extended time to colleges the whole system is likely to remain broken for a long time.</p>
<p>Amazed – there are a plenty of reasons why there is a higher percentage of students with accommodations at a private school. Perhaps parents of children who are eligible for accommodations take advantage of the greater flexibility offered at private schools, where there is typically less “teaching to the test” and more emphasis on critical thinking, reading, and writing (as independent schools are not subject to state curriculum requirements). </p>
<p>The burden to qualify for accommodations on SAT and ACT is very high, with documentation going back to early elementary etc. required. Perhaps families of means are better able to navigate the complex regime necessary to qualify for accommodations. We looked into it and gave up. And, and at least a few years ago, the ACT was even more difficult than the SAT to qualify for extended time. </p>
<p>As a parent who wandered for years, anxious and worried about the unusual challenges my child faced because of the bad luck of brain chemistry, I am grateful to the benefit a well-organized community of parents can provide. </p>
<p>There are challenges that go on inside families that are not shared with even friends one socializes with regularly. Just because something is not apparent from the outside does not mean there are not real challenges being lived with every day. </p>
<p>halcyonheather: I know that if I had extra time for math I’d do much better. Some people just don’t finish. (Then again, the same thing would be accomplished by allowing me to use my extra English time for the math section…) Extra time can help people by, if not giving them more time to do things they may not have had a chance to do, then at least giving them more time to do things in general and slowing down the process, as the whole rush-rush-rush element of the test can sometimes be the most frustrating part.</p>
<p>My S who is now a 10th grader was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at age 5. He had mostly motor tics and was a little delayed in reading. We didn’t reveal the Dx to the school until he was starting 2nd grade and he was then given a 504 plan with extra time. When he was in 1st grade I remember him telling me that one time he had to stop during a math test because he had some finger tics that he had to release. In addition, he used to have significant eye blinking which can hinder the ability to read or complete tasks. He has never needed medication.</p>
<p>For many years now he has not exhibited any tics, and it appears that he may have outgrown it. Looking at him, one would never know that he had these issues. Sometimes I question if we can say that he has TS anymore. However, I was advised by the Neurologist and the guidance counselor to keep the 504 plan with testing accommodations in place, although I wonder if he really needs it. He is a B+, A- student. He takes standardized tests in a separate room, but class tests with the rest of his class. He has been approved for SAT extra time and the guidance counselor will apply next year for ACT extra time. I wonder if one can be approved by College Board but not by ACT, but we will see. My son had/has a legitimate Dx and although he would probably do fine without the extra time, we will keep it in place as he starts going through the SAT/ACT process.</p>
<p>I agree that there are “hidden” disorders that others may not know about so we shouldn’t be so quick to judge. </p>
<p>I’m yet another parent who can attest to the difficulty of getting approved for those SAT/ACT extra time accommodations. For D2, we needed to send in the detailed assessment and test results from the private educational consultant (that was thousands of dollars–and some of the best money we ever spent), the formal diagnosis and test results from her psychiatrist, a letter from her school counselor attesting to the accommodations that D2 needed at school, and probably a few more documents. </p>
<p>D2’s school has a large number of students with well-documented learning and emotional disabilities, so the school is quite familiar with the process. Even so, it’s no slam dunk to get extended time. If someone is going to pay big bucks to get a diagnosis from a non-physician, the College Board or ACT folks are going to want to see additional medical documentation and buy-in from the high school counseling staff (who are the ones who must submit or support the application–for one of them, it’s the school counselor who actually initiates the request). @yalemom15, I’d be interested to know if your friend’s approach actually nets her daughter extended time. I also don’t understand why your friend is telling you how she’s looking to game the system.</p>
<p>I’m sure that some kids who shouldn’t receive accommodations get them, just like there are kids who don’t get them but should. </p>
<p>@SlitheyTove In response to your question (which I just discovered you posed today- not at all used to this new format) She did get extra (unnecessary) time for her daughter, but her daughter is only a sophomore so this will take some years to play out. My friend didn’t come out and say ‘this is how I’m gaming the system’ , that’s my interpretation of what she is doing. She got extra time for her older son as well (although I think he probably deserved it), so she had been through the " obtaining accommodations" drill before and was well versed in what needed to be done. Additionally, she is relentless when focused on a goal, she puts in inordinate amounts of time to reach the ends she desires. </p>
<p>If you have the money, and energy from what I’ve seen, you can buy accommodations. How you use the higher scores when your kid gets them determines how shrewd you really are. Use higher scores to get into a reach school that your kid will fail out of is a waste. Use the high scores at a lower tier school your kid would have gotten into anyway, but collect a wad of merit money in the process and basically receive a $80,000-$100,000 discount on the cost of the education you were going to buy your kid anyway. </p>
<p>Again, not saying this is okay. Just saying it’s hard to believe what I have seen must not be the only instance out there. </p>
<p>Not sure why you cant seem to let this go, yalemom. But the collegeboard and ACT are pretty stringent with their policies and procedures. They require clear documentation and confirmation from the school, not just the professional administering the testing (or providing other supporting documentation. You can believe it, or not. The data has to support the disability and the functional limitations that prevent the person from having equal access to the test and that the requested accommodations are necessary for the tresting and consistent with the diagnosis.</p>
<p>@jym626 I was answering a direct question posed to me by another poster,. You too can believe it or not that the college board and ACT are infallible institutions who can control the actions of local districts and their officials and never have anything slipped by them. </p>
<p>That I responded in no way reflects the fact that I cannot ‘let this go’, in fact I stopped reading this thread a ways back but revisited it when I got a notification that ST had addressed me directly in a post. </p>
<p>Its very hard to get testing accomodations… its a long/exhausting process that requires neuro psychologil testing to be done. I have a daughter that looks 'normal" but has dyslexia and does require accomodations. Consider yourself lucky not to have to go thru this… Best of luck… </p>
<p>While I confused you with the OP, who was the one who would not let this go, yalemom, and apologies for the confusion, I still stand by the fact that this process is scrutinized carefully and the documentation has to be there for the student to qualify for accommodations. No one said TCB or ACT are infallible. While I detest the term “straw man argument”, that is a perfect example of one. There is a big difference between what a school (or the local districts) may permit with respect to accommodations in the classroom, and what the CollegeBoard or ACT require in order to be granted accommodations for standardized testing. And getting accommodations in the classroom does not guarantee that they will be granted on standardized testing.</p>
<p>Just to add to this, I know of a student who’s in the top classes in high school, doesn’t seem to have a problem with those classes, but got the extra time on the ACT this past weekend. I’m sure the extra time was helpful.</p>
<p>I see this post has been going on for quite some time with many perspectives. It is unfortunate that people see smart kids as not needing extra time for standardized tests. There are many reasons why a student might legitimately qualify for extra time and as many posters have said, it is a difficult process to get the time. The amount of documentation is quite extensive. Typically a student will have already had an IEP or 504 for accommodations including extra time/private room. Please don’t assume that just by looking at the student you know what their issues are. As the mother of a special needs child- who looks and acts completely normal- do NOT assume we are gaming the system. My daughter is very intelligent but she requires a variety of accommodations to ensure she is on an EQUAL playing field- not getting an advantage, just being ON PAR with her peers. We have not yet applied for accommodations for her SATs but fully expect them to ask for significant documentation and will gladly comply. </p>
<p>Perhaps the kids OP knows have a borderline disorder, or showed the symptoms for one when they were younger. I know I personally have borderline ADHD. I was diagnosed with it when I was younger after my preschool teacher insisted I be diagnosed. My mom refused to put me on any kind of medication and instead worked a lot with me to help me learn good study habits, discipline, and ways to mask and contain my symptoms in public. Today I have a perfect GPA, national recognition in my extracurriculars, hundreds of service hours, and finished two years of college before my highschool graduation. I have a perfect college GPA as well. I recently went to the psychiatrist to get tested again, and still had the same diagnosis as I did years ago. You could never tell though. On the outside, I appear completely normal, capable, and successful. Inside my brain is a different story. On the outside it looks like I effortlessly get perfect grades, the real story is that it sometimes takes me hours to write a few paragraphs of an essay, and I have to lock myself in an empty closet when working on homework so I don’t go jumping out of my chair every few minutes to pursue a sudden idea or impulse. When studying or taking a test, I have to constantly check myself to focus and not daydream about something completely unrelated. Those are just a few examples. I work ten times as hard as my non-ADHD sister to receive the same grades in the same classes. Only my family and a few of my professors would be able to attest to my ADHD problem though. None of my friends, even my closest friends who I’ve known since we were in diapers, will believe I have ADHD. I personally had professors, teachers, and psychiatrist all ready to vouch for the realness of my disorder so I could get extra time accommodations on the ACT, but chose not to. Too much of a hassle, and I was pretty good at MC tests anyways. My composite was a 31 with a 32 superscore. I could have scored higher with accommodations as the problems I missed were due to running out of time (math, reading, and science sections) but I was content with my scores and so decided not to bother. Others in a similar situation might think pursuing the time accommodations worth a try though.</p>
<p>Not saying this is the case with OP’s kids, but it’s another possibility to consider. Severe enough to cause a problem at home, but mild enough that one can cover it up and appear perfectly normal to most of the outside world. This becomes even easier to hide if one takes medication. Also, not all disorders are easy to recognize on the outside, take for example the kid another poster wrote about who had OCD which practically forced him to go back and change answers he knew were right. You’d never be able to know about that unless you were that student, his parent, or a teacher who was notified beforehand. That said it does seem like the kids OP mentions are gaming the system, but with accommodations being notoriously difficult to receive (even for those with severe disorders) I’d give them the benefit of the doubt first.</p>
<p>Rocklobster - I hope you read the two posts after yours and pause for a moment. I can personally guarantee, on behalf of parents of kids with special needs everywhere, that many of our kids “appear normal” – I love southerncharm’s post – my own child could perseverate for hours, fingertips bleeding, holes in the paper from erasing the answer he has already written down that “may be wrong”, blood on the tshirt from wiping the fingertips on the shirt, and half-finished tests in the end – without medication, without therapy, without HOURS AND HOURS of work behind the scenes that his classmates never ever see, I can guarantee you that most students at his school have no idea what his “learning reality” is like. </p>