Taking the CB test without the accommodations first in place?

Parents Forum Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
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<p>An unusual situation has arisen with AP testing and pending LD accommodations, and I wish to ask for your input/advice if you would be so kind.</p>

<p>Our child has a 504P in place after extensive testing revealed visual motor delay and significant processing speed compromise (extremely low percentiles). This translates into having to fully focus on the copying of the teacher's black board notes at the expense of focusing and integrating their understanding as well as slowed reading comprehension of long passages with error introduction on responses on tests.</p>

<p>Regrettably, our high school did not submit the online SSD 504P request in time for accommodations to be given for an upcoming College Board test. Just so you know, the College Board recommends submission of 504P accommodations as soon as they are instituted, even a year prior to onset of CB test taking to avoid this kind of situation, so please push to get that online SSD account established and in place in their sophomore year if possible.</p>

<p>The question I pose is: should our student take the test without the accommodation (keyboard for fine motor compromise) and extra time (for delayed processing) regardless as she is pushing to? Or do you, as I do, think the student should wait until the next test time to take the test when the accommodations are presumably approved (I have limited reason to think they will not be). Will the outcome of this test (i.e., the score) without the accommodation influence the CB call on their pending accommodation decision (yea or nay) and possibly negate future needs for accommodations? What a dilemma, as all our student is doing is trying to test on the work privately and earnestly prepared for.</p>

<p>Curiously, calls into the SSD department at the College Board about this are answered that this test will have no impact on the future accommodation decision. At least that is what I think I'm hearing because what they say is, if the student has ADD/LD this doesn't change on the basis of this first test. That the diagnosis doesn't change is pretty obvious, but not the real issue to me, which is the pending accommodation decision issue. I have a hard time believing that, should she somehow do well on this first test, that they will rule accommodations are needed, and that this test result is truly independent in their minds from their pending accommodation decision once the result it known. Isn't it de-facto evidence: you did well, so you disproved your own case of need for accommodation?</p>

<p>This is causing some strain, so thoughts from you who have experience in these matters would be most helpful and appreciated. As a mom, I'm thinking Big CB Picture here (serial future SAT's, SAT Subject tests, all the AP's, etc all coming down the pike) and don't wish the student to be boxed out on legitimate and documented accommodations by rushing headlong into a first test before the CB's decision on accommodations is ruled one way or the other. Not all are in agreement with me.</p>

<p>It's frustrating to not be able to get a concrete answer from the CB. And surprisingly, the original tester of our child, who was very well recompensed, doesn't even seem to "get" this question nor have time to listen. I find this very unprofessional, and warn you about educational testers as big business too. It's not just take the money and run, or is it?</p>

<p>Thank you for your insight on this matter.</p>

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<p>Which test is this? An SAT that can easily be re-scheduled or an AP exam that is only once a year? Personally, I’d vote with you on this one. </p>

<p>She also could try an old version of the exam (or a good mock version) from the exam prep section of your local public library in an exam-like setting at home or in a study room at the library if they have one. This would give her a sense of how well she’s likely to perform on the real exam, and if there is time, she could also try a second version of the exam with the kind of accommodations her 504 calls for.</p>

<p>My niece has scotopic sensitivity and really needs to use the colored sheets to read well. She’s taken school exams without them, and with them. The difference in her scores were shocking to everyone but her classroom teacher, who said, “See, I told you that those are necessary!”</p>

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<p>If it is an AP exam for a subject in which a CLEP is offered and you convince her to skip the AP exam this year, perhaps she could try the CLEP as soon as her paperwork comes through. I take it that the CLEP exams are all computer-based these days, so she would have the keyboard to work with. The CLEP exams are shorter than AP exams, and many colleges and universities do accept the scores for credit and/or placement.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your responses. </p>

<p>This is for a sophomore AP self-study test which predominantly (80%) calls for reading prompts, and then writing detailed and cited answers. In my non-expert view, proceeding without the keyboard and extra time accommodation and doing poorly may have a different implication than doing well on the test while her SSD ruling is outstanding.</p>

<p>I don’t wish to threaten her future for Junior and Senior year accommodations on CB tests: the SAT’s, SAT Subjects, AP’s. Her visual motor and processing scores were three SD down from national norm. I am advising her to not to take the sophomore AP test. This is causing her upset since she has studied. Thank you for the CLEP idea, I will look into it. I wish there were some precedent for reference in this kind of situation, although one mom on CC did write that for her daughter, all accommodations were in place before any CB tests were taken. The horse before the cart and not vice-versa. </p>

<p>More ideas or comments are welcomed.</p>

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<p>We were in a very similar situation several years ago. The school didn’t realize that for accommodations other than 50% additional time, the deadline for application is much earlier and the application process is more involved. Our decision was not to have our child take the ETS test without accommodations. (The accommodations in question included the use of a keyboard.) We told the school what we were doing, and why, and kept him home the day of the test with the school’s support.</p>

<p>It is my belief, based in part upon extensive conversations with folks at ETS and with other parents, that it is far more difficult to obtain the use of a keyboard and greater than 50% time for any student, no matter how well documented and profound the LD, unless the student also has serious intellectual deficiencies. Not only does the procedure for OKing this sort of accommodation seems to involve a different level of scrutiny than the “got ADD?get rubber stamped for 50% extra time procedure” that many students undergo, but it seems particularly difficult if the student is intellectually talented.</p>

<p>Although the ETS/CB does not come out and say this in any of their materials, they will verbally justify the denial of appropriate accommodations to gifted LD kids on the grounds that they don’t think they should have to accommodate a student who can do average work without accommodation. While this might not be consistent with the actual law on accommodation, it is nevertheless their stance. In the face of this, my fear was that if a talented student could produce an “average” result without accommodation – such as a 500 on a particular ETS test for a student receiving an A in an advanced AP class in the same subject at a demanding prep school – the ETS/CB could jump on this in denying the student the requested accommodations on future tests. I did not see the point of having our kid take a test that would not, in fact, demonstrate his knowledge or mastery of the subject area, but which would only demonstrate the impact of his LD on his performance. </p>

<p>Ultimately, we won the appeal. With the appropriate accommodations in place, he did as well on SAT’s as would have been predicted by his IQ and grades in a very rigorous academic secondary school, and is currently doing well in college using exactly the same accommodations as he has had throughout his school career.</p>

<p>I am very concerned that your testing psychologist is not being helpful. In applying for the use of a keyboard, you may have to connect the dots in a way that you wouldn’t think necessary. For example, even if you provide the diagnosis of motor issues or outright dysgraphia, the report still has to explain how and why the problem impacts writing such that a keyboard is necessary in an extremely concrete way. (As in countering the ETS/CB question: “Yes, we understand that he has dysgraphia, but why can’t he handwrite his essay?” They actually wanted teacher descriptions of their observations of the kid trying to write with a pencil. Which we provided in appealing the initial denial of a keyboard.) Our testing psychologist had to write numerous letters spelling out things that seemed tremendously obvious. If your testing psychologist is not ready and willing to function in an advocacy role, strongly supporting the accommodations he recommended initially, you might need to have a sit down with him to figure out if you need to move on to an expert more comfortable in taking a strong stance with the ETS.</p>

<p>Finally, I know of one child from our high school who did take an ETS test prior to applying for accommodations and received the requested 50% additional time later. However, I also know of a child who was denied more extensive accommodation that included the use of a keyboard whose mother was told verbally that his relative success on the test he took without accommodation showed that he didn’t really need accommodation. (The child ultimately attended a top 10 university where, based on the same test results that elicited the ETS denial, he was granted the use of a keyboard.)</p>

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<p>Thank you very much AnonyMom for your detailed exampled answer of your similar situation and of others you know about. I hope this thread somehow helps others with similar pivotal questions for CB and ETS. </p>

<p>We are indeed sorry to see our tester not be parentally communicative and to listen closely to the recent question (instead always on the run to the next client). We had no idea when recommended.</p>

<p>Thanks again to everyone. You helped me, and this is much appreciated.</p>