Hi all,
For those of you with students with learning disabilities, or who are students with learning disabilities, I’m wondering what the best strategies have been to prepare for the ACT. My daughter has ADHD inattentive type, Cognitive Disorder, dyslexia, slow processing speed (5th percentile), and problems with executive functioning. With that being said, she is quite talented in math and art and is very interested in going to college.
Motivation to self-study for a test like this can be difficult for any student, but especially a student like her. Have your teens done well with supported and directed guidance from you (e.g. sitting them down with books and/or online programs and helping them meet weekly studying goals)? Have they tried using online programs like PrepScholar or Magoosh? I wouldn’t expect my daughter to make much progress in a small group ACT prep class, but I’d love to hear any experiences you have with this. One-on-one tutoring might be helpful to address weaknesses/test strategy, but it is also very pricey. Is one-one-one tutoring worth the investment? (We would hope that a higher score translates into merit money, but we don’t want prep to become something awful for her.)
She is hoping to get into schools in the West with comprehensive LD programs like U Arizona, U Denver, and Southern Oregon University. I don’t think she’ll need to study at all for SOU (Middle 50% ACT:19-25), but she will need to study a little for UA (Middle 50% ACT: 21-27), and quite a bit for DU (Middle 50% ACT: 25-30).
She has 50% extended time on the test. Thank you for sharing your experience!