<p>If your child should have accommodations but is denied by the CB, is it best for them to wait to take the test until they get them or should they just go ahead and take it anyway? There are no guarantees that the CB will grant accommodations even on appeal, so a student who waits may never get to take the test in time for applications.</p>
<p>if you have an IEP that specifies that they need accomodations like untimed or extended testing how can they deny that?
My daughter did have to have an updated education psych assessment, but it wasn't a problem to get accomodations and she didn't even have an IEP( she was in private school)</p>
<p>After periods in both public and private schools, my DS is currently homeschooled under the umbrella of a private Christian school.</p>
<p>Multiple educational evaluations have documented that he requires substantial time extensions, among other accommodations. CB requires homeschoolers to use the appeals process exclusively. In spite of our reams of documentation and detailed medical records showing difficult medical history (DS was adopted special needs child), CB denied time accommodations. We attempted to learn more about the reasons for this and provide additional data, but we came away feeling ignored and brushed off. Rather than putting DS through the emotional turmoil of this unreasonable situation, and risk missing the test dates, as CB obviously dragged its feet, DS held his head high, took the tests...doing the best he could.</p>
<p>Later, a reputable college consultant we hired to assist us confirm the fit of several colleges DS was considering (because disability services and overall academic support were important to us) told us that CB is notorious for ignoring accommodations for homeschoolers. The consultant spoke to one of the colleges DS applied to and explained that DS's scores were unaccommodated and that based on his own personal review of DS's documentation, accommodations were justified (consultant had been adcom in a prior life). </p>
<p>The only downside to being denied accommodations that you're really entitled to, and coming away with a score that is lower than the the one you could have earned on a level playing field, is that you may end up losing a portion of scholarship money you're really entitled to...and that's not fair.</p>
<p>I found the entire CB process to be unfair. We had quality documentation for a special needs child, and CB waffled all over the place. They would not accommodate his ADD or his processing speed difficulties. And, they did not adhere to the time frame within which to review our submission. They used every excuse in the book. And, we met every requirement of the filing, and were pleasant and cooperative to boot. When we were asked to send in letters and emails seeking additional reviews and contacts, each and every one was ignored. The system hurt my DS emotionally and hurt us in the pocketbook.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would go forward with test dates, yet work furiously behind the scenes to obtain accommodations. Tap your school's guidance counselor to help on appeal. I hate the system as it is. What we were told by the colleges was that DS's unaccommodated scores were really pretty good (his minimally accommodated practice test given by a professional was about 110 points higher), and that given his overall profile, he was the kind of kid the schools really were interested in.</p>
<p>Don't be discouraged and don't be paralyzed and don't let the system define what type of student your child is. Remember it's a label, and your child is so much more.</p>
<p>I wonder if the process has changed since tests are no longer flagged as being untimed or extended time
my daughter took untimed SATs in 1999 and 2000 a couple years before they stopped marking them.
I think this is an important issue.
I think it harms disabled students more obviously not to have the accomodations at all, than it does to have them marked as to having accomodations
We were very upfront with colleges as to her needing accomodations, because if the school couldn't be worked with, it wasn't going to be a good fit.
I think trying to "hide" that there are accomodations is a mistake, and while their original intent may have been good, it doesn't sound like it is working for students if student who deserve accomdations aren't getting them</p>
<p>DS took the unaccommodated SATs in 2004. It seems that many parents try to use accommodations to gain their children an edge in the college admissions process, and so now CB appears to take it out those actually needing accommodations, especially homeschoolers. My DS's team of professionals was just amazed by CB's decision and their callousness.</p>
<p>I've been told by other parents in our area, whose children are much brighter than mine and much less impaired and who have freely admitted that their children really don't need the accommodations at all that they shopped around and contrived to get accommodations so their darlings could get into much better colleges and universities. This really hurt to hear, since my DS needed accommodations just to get into a solid school that would provide good academic and disability support...and, of course, he who needed the accommodations didn't get them.</p>
<p>Yes, Kity, the system isn't working for a number of the students who need it.</p>
<p>The College Board has it's own bases for deciding who gets accomodations. An IEP or 504 Plan is helpful, but not determinative for them. What is really helpful, particularly for students with learning disabilities, are copies of the results of the tests, which must be given by an appropriate professional, on which the diagnosis and the recommended accomodations are based. The more recent the testing the better, and if the child is older, the tests should be normed for an adult.</p>
<p>Our submitted package included copies of tests and reports dating back to when our DS was in early elementary school given by an appropriate and highly credentialed individual, a highly recognized team at a major university hospital known for its work in the field, etc. All were thorough, all were current. All showed substantial ADD; all showed substantial discrepancies between the regular and fluency subtests. All agreed as to diagnosis and accommodations.</p>
<p>The college consultant we worked with, who had many years of experience as a top adcom at two top schools noted that homeschoolers don't get a fair shake at CB.</p>
<p>We found the college board to be unfair and ignorant. Son had dysgraphia documented by rigorous testing at a top University center. He has been accommodated for dysgraphia throughout his schooling. CB nonetheless saw fit to reject his accommodation and deny ALL appeals --they also waited until the last minute, ie test was on a Saturday and they wouldn't tell us until the Wednesday before whether they would grant the appeal. This, even though we sent in our paperwork EARLY.</p>
<p>The thought of taking SAT without a computer was so paralyzing for son he refused to study for any segment of the test. The appeal was denied, but it didn't matter. He wasn't prepared.</p>
<p>CB was costly, emotionally draining, and unfair.</p>
<p>In the end he took the ACT for the simple reason that he was granted a computer. The ACT people were delightful and fair and accommodated appropriately. It's ironic because no schools appear to even be counting the writing portion of the tests this year; nonetheless, the very idea of dealing with his painful handwriting in a test situation was paralyzing.</p>
<p>You cannot imagine the documentation we had. For any student who requires legitimate accommodations and undergoes review, CB can be a nightmare. The policy is deny, deny, deny. </p>
<p>Anyone facing this issue ought to plan to go with ACT. Period. It is the only reasonable thing to do. Sure, apply to SAT and maybe you'll luck out, but don't count on it. Send documentation to (and study for) BOTH tests --it is likely when push comes to shove, the ACT people will decide appropriately and the SAT people will deny.</p>
<p>I got this tip from parents on another message board (unrelated) and it turned out to be true.</p>
<p>We only wish we knew more about the ACT before we experienced the CB nightmare described above. My DS, like Cloverdale's, was completely paralyzed and after the negative experience didn't even want to take the SAT or attend college. And we agree that even though we too sent our package EARLY, CB responded VERY LATE so that there was no time to enter into any dialogue (if they even chose to respond to the letters and emails THEY asked ME to send them). The reason (read "excuse") they gave me for not responding earlier was that it was late spring/summer and that their people were on vacation...for 16 weeks?!?!?!?! At the conclusion of the non-process, they encouraged me to have the manner in which my child's disability services application was handled investigated; I agreed to allow that to occur and submitted the info they requested. Funny, this doesn't surprise me...I was never contacted again.</p>
<p>To CB it's just a game...nothing more. For a learning disabled/ADD child, the process alone is torture and something that is difficult to bounce back from. Had I known about the ACT and its student-friendly approach, I would have had DS go that route. I'm glad the whole thing is over now.</p>
<p>Parents beware!</p>
<p>Likewise, we documented our child's dysgraphia with a physician's report, occupational therapy assessment, etc., and were initially denied a computer accommodation by the College Board. Our high school principal made several phone calls to the folks in New Jersey, trying to find out exactly what kind of documentation was needed to prove the handwriting disability. Finally we clogged their fax machine with the full IEP, IEP evaluation, neuropsychology report, and emphasized that we only sought use of a computer for the writing portion of the SAT and were not asking for extended time.</p>
<p>FINALLY, success! And as related above, ACT was very "accommodating" and granted the use of computer without additional hassles.</p>
<p>My recommendation to families of kids who may need testing accommodation is to begin the request process a year in advance. Carefully read the College Board's disability site, follow the requirements to the letter, marshall the support of all the professionals who can document your child's need for accommodation, and be prepared for intial rejection. Don't give up!!</p>
<p>"its own bases" or not, I'm sick & tired of hearing about the game-playing over at the CB, & the incompetence.
(1) We parents need to start flooding CB corporate in NY with our complaints. Also, get on the phone to the testing head: I forget her name, but I spoke to her last year, registering my anger at a diff. aspect of their incompetence. I told her that I spoke for dozens of parents. She could hear the anger in my voice, it did affect her, & she claimed she wanted to hear from other parents. (She seemed previously clueless about the degree of frustration.)
(2) I do not think that we parents of LD'ers should take this lying down. Time for a class action lawsuit.<br>
(3) Time to start registering, documenting CB "behavior" to the colleges & U's.</p>
<p>Enough already. They need to be "outed" beyond CC.</p>
<p>I want to emphasize that we began a year in advance. We had long-standing dysgraphia with new data from one of the top neuropsychologists in the US at a major teaching hospital in Manhattan. </p>
<p>Here's the joke: SAT finally granted son time and a half!! (after he was already set to take the ACT.) We said --take back the time, just give him a computer for the writing portion.</p>
<p>They refused. Their team of psychologists, in their wisdom, sent us a letter thereafter stating that son should be able to compensate for his dysgraphia with the extra time, and THAT would circumvent need for a computer on the writing portion.</p>
<p>That was probably our third appeal. After that he took the ACT and got a 33 --and it was the last test he needed to take. That's the other thing about ACT, you don't need to take two SAT-IIs aftewards.</p>
<p>From the ridiculous to the sublime. For years CB gave inappropriate accommodations with unfettered largesse to almost anyone who asked. NOW they are turning down even the most credible and needy, as a matter of policy.</p>
<p>I don't think it's really an honest organization in this regard. The ACT people are just much more straightforward and apparently, far less overwrought with politics over past bad policy.</p>
<p>If you have an LD child dealing with ACT is a normal experience; dealing with CB feels psychotic.</p>
<p>Epiphany, I think that CB is acting illegally and could probably be served with a class action lawsuit for their new widespread discrimination against the learning disabled. That is my opinion. I felt I had a very good case against them, but who has the time and energy --son did not need them, he just did the ACT, and we moved on. But we are just one small datapoint in a much larger trend. I am on other groups talking to parents of children with LD and this is a burgeoning widespread problem with the College Board. Many many children in great need are now turned away.</p>
<p>Our experiences and lack of success with CB are similar to those already described. While I thought we started plenty early, it clearly wasn't early enough and as others have reported, no matter what we sent them, it was never enough, and communication from them was always at the 11th hour, too late to do anything to salvage the situation. While we had all of the requisite documentation, DD's huge high school wasn't able to act quickly enough and there was always some excuse on the part of CB about needing more from the school (which I should add worked very hard to try to jump through every hoop presented by CB).All in all it seemed that CB decided to make up for years of being too lenient by denying accommodations to those who really need them. Some lawyer (not this exhausted one, though) ought to take them on. I fully agree with those who say skip the grief and go directly to the ACT.</p>
<p>thanks, cloverdale. And while I more than understand that we LD parents have our hands full enough with our problems, public attention to the CB must be a priority for us simultaneously. We just need to make the time, period. I think we also underestimate, possibly, reactions of the various colleges --- certainly some of them. The fact that they are becoming increasingly inclusive about admissions or at least admissions reviews (in terms of inclusion of significant ec accomplishments & abilities -- which is often true of LD'ers), tells me that college administrations are becoming more aware & desirous of a range of learning styles in their student bodies.</p>
<p>The point to make to the colleges is that shutting LD'ers out of the process, via CB and/or other aspects of testing requirements, hurts the colleges, limits the range/diversity/creative potential of their own institution.</p>
<p>I'm sure we parents are well aware that our LD sons & daughters, depending on individual needs/limitations, should not be applying to certain colleges, period. But there are plenty of very visible & competitive institutions that would want these students, & at which our students would thrive & excel. Currently such institutions may not be viable options for our students due to CB alone. This is insupportable.</p>
<p>Brilliant students should not be limited to a community college or low-level State U's simply because of violations of the law or sheer incompetence. What an absurd alternative for such talent & brains.</p>
<p>Register outrage.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear of the difficulties folks encountered. S also has dysgraphia and as initially denied an accommodation despite complete evaluation by psychologist and long standing documentation from tne school. However, on appeal, submitting his score on the Rey Complex Figure Test did the trick and the use of a computer for the writing test was approved. </p>
<p>From the College Board.
"An evaluation exam and report which demonstrates that the student has fine motor problems. Some of the common tests that are acceptable by the professional community to document fine motor skills problems are the Coding subtest of the Wechsler Cognitive Test or the Beery Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) or Rey Complex Figure Test. Professionals such as occupational therapists, psychologists, learning specialists, MDs can document such conditions. "</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions to take the ACT. We chose SAT because all schools on my child's list require it. Also there are SAT prep classes but none for ACT. Nor do I want to pay more for additional classes. If my child does not get accommodations on appeal and does not do well, we will explore the ACT for next fall. I am appealing the decision and plan to call as well. It's hard enough to get the right accommodations in school. Students should not be penalized for having learning disabilities. Some types are very difficult to document, even with testing, as they do not necessarily show up in the short, intense time period that a student is in the room with a test giver. They do show up with prolonged exposure to the student in a classroom setting. The school personally who deal with student services, resource, and accommodations are the ones who know the child's abilities, as well as the student. I do believe it's discrimination. Although they do not deny for that reason. They have to pay for every accommodation a student receives. If a student deserves a reader, they must pay that person for the time spent. If a computer is not available, they must provide one. So it is a cost issue.</p>
<p>My son was below the first percentile in the Rey diagram. It is impossible to have a lower score.</p>
<p>You can see the outcome we had, above.</p>
<p>It is the luck of the draw. My son happens to be a gifted writer, ie he has won numerous writing awards and has taken college level classes in creative writing throughout high school He tested at the top percentile on academic tests in his writing ability. </p>
<p>The college board used this to deny him a computer even though he had these accomplishments only with use of a computer!! and the academic tests were for short sentences, not long essays.</p>
<p>I guess we had different reviewers. I am glad you were successful and with another reviewer we might have been too, but when we appealed the appeal was sent to an outside reviewer --and that is when they arrived at the solution of extra time.</p>
<p>I am sure some people have good outcomes with CB, but it's a crap shoot. It's not like dealing with ACT, where documentation is also required --but where it is viewed in a consistent and rational way, an appropriate way, and the same decision is rendered for every student with a given situation.</p>
<p>I would say that CB is inconsistent from student to student, unreliable, and politically-driven in its attitude to the learning disabled. Some people may have approrpiate outcomes, but it is impossible to count on it, and you never know where you will fall because denial can be based on faulty reasoning, and is frequently meted out even when you have met every condition.</p>
<p>Can you imaging making an LD child or any child wait until the Wednesday before a Saturday test to even know whether they will be able to take it in a way they can live with? This is routine at CB.</p>
<p>Unacceptable --and there is an alternative, ACT.</p>
<p>PV --which schools are you applying to that do not accept ACT? Just wondering.</p>
<p>Son applied to 8 schools, including reaches, matches and safeties. These are excellent brand name schools including Ivy, top LACS and state flagship and every single one of them takes the ACT. Son has already been offered place in honors college of our excellent state flagship and a LAC considered "most competitive" using only ...the ACT score. We will see what the outcome for the rest is in April. I do not anticipate any discount to his application because of ACT.</p>
<p>Also --one can get a tutor for the ACT or just self-study, it's not that hard. Where do you live, if I might ask. I live in the Northeast where SAT is king, and yet, it's quite easy to get ACT tutoring and courses.</p>
<p>I might also suggest that while many schools accept either or SAT or ACT as well as outright refuse test scores altogether, if a school requires a certain test, especially one that should be known by the colleges as one that is refusing legal accomodations for many students, that this school, may not be accomodating in the classroom.
We found ( and I admit this was before SAT stopped marking tests, and before the #s of students who wished to have accomodations shot up) that D school, although they are not known for their LD program, was fairly accomodating and met with us before hand to indentify resources that could be used in the classroom ( and this was despite that she did not have either a 504 or IEP- mainly because her private prep school didn't require one to be written out for the teacher to use differentiated instruction)
THis issue really concerns me, but i am very glad I have been alerted to it. My younger daughter has fairly severe processing deficits, and length of time given for a test is critical as are other supports.
I didn't have her take SAT or PSAT this year, but I will attempt to get accomodations for next year- and have ACT in mind as well.</p>