Help! Complicated HS Curriculum/Administration Issue

Parents Forum
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<p>Hearing what somemom's D has gone through with her college denying accommodation just makes me want to scream (at the college -- not at somemom.) The notion that there would have to be an 80 IQ point disparity for the college to find an LD -- as in a verbal IQ of 120 and a performance IQ of 40 ??? -- is an absurd criterion.</p>

<p>OP, be aware that some colleges do offer excellent accommodation. (And we're talking the full range of colleges and universities; I know kids who are receiving accommodation even as we speak at 2 of the USNWR top 5.) My S is receiving the same accommodations in college that he did in hs, actually more since the college has more of a critical mass of LD students and so has machinery set up for all sorts of technologies that were not available through the hs. There is no cost attached to this. (There have been glitches, but the college has been responsive so far.) </p>

<p>I hope your son will think about staying in the advanced classes that are best suited to his intellectual abilities. Having an LD-based organizational problem (that can be addressed through the use of accommodations and learning new organizational skills) does not make him less of an able math student! It sounds as if he is a very solid math student whose unaccommodated LD is getting in the way of his success in this one class. If he has been doing B or B plus range work on tests with the regular amount of time, perceiving a need for 3x the time might be overestimating. He should know that with ADD and with processing issues, 50% additional time is a common accomodation, and double time is possible if the LD is very severe and the severity is clearly demonstrated by the test results (although the testing psychologist will have to outline in detail the severity of the problem and fight tooth and nail for double time, in our experience.) </p>

<p>The amount of time it takes to do advanced math homework with certain LD's is another issue. If the homework is taking hours a day even though the student understands the material, is it possible that the teacher will allow him to do every other problem or come to some other arrangement as long as the student maintains a certain standard on tests? If the advanced math homework really is going to eat up all of the student's waking hours, then the decision we made was to go with the regular and not the advanced level math -- although AP physics was fine. If the issue is more with the teacher than the subject matter, maybe your S could go from regular pre-calc to AP calc with a different teacher the following year. Or if the school is being truly -- looking for a clean word for what they're being -- uncooperative, maybe taking AP calculus online through the Stanford online high school program is an alternative that would work for him.</p>

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<p>Not all colleges are bad. It is something to check while you are looking. </p>

<p>DD is at Rice and has wonderful accommodation. Her processing issues and mild dyslexia were not discovered until she got there and the work requirements ramped up to that level that impacted her performance. Which by the way is not an uncommon phenomena for very bright students. She cannot take computer test due to tracking issues and needs extra time for some of her specialty tests that require listening and interpreting. She has some other odds and ends but everyone, professors included have been very understanding and accomodating.</p>

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<p>Anony mom, sorry I was unclear-in round numbers DDs IQ is 150, but she processed at less than the equivalent of a 120IQ, so more than 2 STD DEV discrepancy therefore her train of thoughts is derailed when it moves so slowly and she loses her place and reads & rereads & rereads for content. She did AP English and many times I would read the book aloud to help her get through it.</p>

<p>Berkeley and the MCAT would want to see her performing at below 80IQ, not 80 points less than her IQ (HA! only 70 points less) but the 80 is 80IQ as compared to 100IQ being average. It would be less than 8-IQ for any one no matter their IQ.</p>

<p>I do wonder who, other than some one with a physical disability, could earn the grades and scores to get into Berkeley or med school and yet would perform that low on standardized testing??</p>

<p>Make sense? So, she has an A level of understanding and work but ended up with many a B+ or A- on things like OChem where it is a huge timed exam. And her MCAT score is entirely average, not at all reflective of her true understanding of the material, but definitely showing what she cannot read and regurgitate under time pressure.</p>

<p>She will not choose a timed test type of vocation, it is a shame the artificial constraint may limit her choices, but that's life. She still has about a 3.6 at Cal as a science major and got 4.0 last term so she is learning more and more how to adapt, but it is frustrating to, in her words, look stupid ;)</p>

<p>I even had her original diagnostician from elementary school review the MCAT extra time requirements, she is no longer a middle school psychologist, she became a HS psychologist and then a county wide special ed expert for a large county. She and her team think the requirements are ridiculous and I realise that DD would have still had a lousy MCAT but likely a 4.0 at a school with a different accommodation policy.</p>

<p>The UCs do what is mandated, other schools can do what they choose, so ask the question not just how they accommodate, but how one must qualify, ask for a review of your diagnosis and ask how they would treat it.</p>

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<p>Schmoomagoo, I'm glad things seem to be working out for your son. I know of several kids who were clearly brilliant but got low grades due to neglecting homework and projects, and a general lack of organizational skills. I'm sure he will improve greatly from the D+!</p>

<p>
[quote]
So, she has an A level of understanding and work but ended up with many a B+ or A- on things like OChem where it is a huge timed exam.

[/quote]

I understand your frustration with not receiving desired accommodations, but a B+ or A- with a general gpa of 4.0 is not a really big deficit. How could she possibly look stupid with a 4.0 (or a 3.6 for that matter?) Lots of students would be thrilled with those grades!</p>

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<p>Well, I'm going to try a new tack with the principal because DS is adamant he doesn't want back into AH precalc under any circumstance. I have looked into the Johns Hopkins CTY honors precalc program and DS seems to qualify, so I am proposing via email this weekend to the principal that DH and I pay for DS to do this program that covers a year's worth of material online at DS's own pace over the course of 3 to 6 months (3 would be nice, 'cuz it cost half of 6, but either way he'll be done by fall when AP calc would start. Perhaps he could even replace his 1st semester grade--at least he'd have a new (hopefully, better) score beside it.) DS looked at the sample lesson and was very enthused.</p>

<p>My hope is the priinicpal (and the Program director) will go for it because it's a course of a caliber that would be in keeping with the standards of the Program.</p>

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<p>The principal was definitely on board but still could not get the Program director on board, so we're going to go ahead and have him take the onliine course anyway and the grade he gets in it will replace his first semester D+. I submitted DS's application to JHU CTY and, provided he is accepted, in two weeks' time he'll begin the online class. In the meantime he'll audit the regular precalc class. I'm not sure yet just how many of his classes will be disrupted...:(</p>