Testing accommodations and ADD/ADHD...

<p>What is so completely ironic is that the same D is now (rather late I agree) studying to become a teacher (enrolled in an early education program at her local state university). The head of the department was her professor last semester and apparently they had a few rather lengthy conversations about her experience (instigated by the professor who does quite a bit of research etc). Long story short… THIS professor has instilled so much new-found confidence in our daughter by validating her experience and telling her what a gift she will be to her future students. Never met this woman, but I sincerely love her.</p>

<p>MNmom – yes the inconsistent nature of ADD is something a lot of people just don’t “get” - teachers and administrators included. People assume if you get it once, then you can do it all the time. However, I strongly encourage you to do all that you can to empower your daughter to stand up for herself vs your ever having to step in on her behalf. Help her write the script to read from if you have to, but from my experience (oldest is 25, youngest is 16), the better able they are to negotiate for themselves, the stronger they will be when it comes to college and navigating that landscape when you can’t be there both legally and logistically.</p>

<p>I found that for my ADD daughter, the SAT was long enough and there was no way giving her any more time on it would have been helpful. It was exhausting as it was. It was far more helpful to get good test-prep, advise her to eat breakfast the day of and be sure to get in line quickly during the bathroom break! There is no way she could have concentrated another minute, since focusing is more stressful for her than most students.</p>

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So true. Teachers who have insight into kids who struggle bring necessary compassion to the task. </p>

<p>Back to topic:
I didn’t read every post with fine-toothed comb, but Modadunn: consider whether the testing requirements are sky-high for the programs on her apply-to list. How high does she need to score to gain entry? </p>

<p>Also some accommodations are easier to get than others; for example, at the GRE level (several years ago) they offered an easier time (not easy, but relatively so) granting “time-and-a-half” and “quiet room” than they did for other touchy accommodations, such as permitting a calculator for students with proven discalcula. That would have required a special meeting that occurs rarely.</p>

<p>So, as others advise you from their experiences, keep in mind that not all “accommodations” are considered equally pernicious by the many testing agencies in a student’s entire career. </p>

<p>Perhaps there’s more advice at the Learning Differences forum of College Confidential, to add to the good stuff in this thread. :)</p>

<p>To the OP: For ADD there might be some nitty-gritty strategies that will help. For example, more than any other kind of student I’d say that an ADD student should be taught to lightly CIRCLE the number of any skipped-over question, leave it for last, and come back to it if time. That keeps them from losing track of their numbering (filling in answers on the wrong # question) and reminds them to return, if time.
Also skipping over frees them from puzzling long over something unanswerable. I’m sure there are
lots of testing tips with strong application to an ADD test-taker. Try a post at the Learning Differences Forum, or scan the SAT forum here at CC to hunt for general test-taking tips you think might apply to your kid.</p>

<p>Does anyone know the answer to this: Since ADD isn’t considered a Learning Disability per se, will accommodations on SAT’s flow from that alone, or does one need an actual LD diagnosis? I want to know if the OP will ever gain SAT accommodations with only ADD on the record, in other words. I’m out-of-touch by several years on this topic, sorry. Maybe others know.</p>

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<p>My daughter’s IEP has the word “other” checked under Learning Disabilities and the word “ADD” written in next to “other”. That is her only diagnosis.</p>

<p>She was first diagnosed by a private neuropsychiatrist 7 or 8 years ago, but the school tested her this year so the college could get an updated IEP.</p>

<p>The school psychologist filled out forms, based on her original diagnosis and the accomodations the school is providing, for SAT and ACT and she was able to get extended time based on their recommendation.</p>

<p>toledo - had she been using extended time accommodations previously for tests? Both standardized and classroom?</p>

<p>It depends on your symptoms of ADD, but my experience suggests that yes, you can. Beyond Adderall, my younger daughter has never required “accommodations” as they relate to test taking and extra time. However, I will agree that the system has tightened up for giving extended time due to over diagnosis or people just trying to game the system. So please, it is not “only” ADD as that diminishes the very real struggles for those who are almost always searching for compensatory strategies for things other people “just do.” Just imagine if a child with a “real” difference, like dyslexia, were told they’re just letters. However, on the other hand, the extended time tests used to be flagged in admissions and now there is no discerning indication of those with extended time and those without. For some this is a level playing field. for others, it is an advantage resulting in perfect scores (and is why you have to show you’ve utilized extended time ALL the time).</p>

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<p>Extra time has always been written into her IEP, as well as having the option of having a test read out loud to her, but she hasn’t used it in recent years. In fact, I noticed that they took it out of her IEP this year. When I asked about it, I was told that students must either use extended time EVERY time or none of the time. Maybe there is some new rule or maybe we just got lucky to get it on standardized testing.</p>

<p>The early advice you’ve gotten is correct – testing needs to be done in 3 years by the right kind of folk and you need the testing that they specify. With both of my kids, I have found it important to have testimony of teachers or others whom we haven’t paid to testify to the need. In my daughter’s case, although we suspect a problem, the diagnosis came in HS, in part because she was dealing with much more severe medical problems (now completely solved) and in part because the first psychologist did not do all the tests that her HS school psychologist thought were needed. The College Board granted the extra time on the first pass. The ACT, which is the test I think she should take, denied her and I am amassing the letters from teachers, etc… In my son’s case, the dx was in 2nd grade so the issue was did he really need 100% extra time (the difference for him between no extra time and 100% extra time turned out to be an improvement from the 40th percentile to 99+ percentile). In my daughter’s case, they wonder if we are just trying to gain advantage at a late date by discovering a disability [SpEd folks have told me that this is really common and angers them] and the ACT folks want to see if the teachers noticed the symptoms earlier. [They did]. They also want documentation of the medical condition and its possible relationship to anxiety, which is related to the ADD.</p>

<p>We do have an imperfect experiment for the OP. My daughter took the PSATs in sophomore year with accommodations and in junior year with accommodations. She did not do any preparation for either. Her scores improved by 350 points (on the SAT scale, 35 points on PSAT scale). While some of this is likely due to intellectual maturation, a lot is probably attributable to the accommodations.</p>

<p>mnmom62, we’ve experienced all kinds of griping from teachers. His English teachers routinely violated his IEP because they liked their way of doing things (which didn’t involve any extra work for them). Generally, people don’t believe that someone can be extremely bright and have severe learning disabilities. Despite an IEP that said he didn’t need to do timed problems, his elementary school teacher wouldn’t let him do enrichment math unless he finished a page full multiplication problems in less than some threshhold. A middle school math teacher didn’t give my son extra time on quizzes and said, “Bright kids can handle these quizzes in 10 minutes. Good students can complete them in 15.” He was conflating brightness and quickness, which is usually but not always accurate and in my son’s case, not at all. When I found out about it and persuaded the teacher that his stance was incorrect in my son’s case given his LDs (he grudgingly agreed), my son never got anything less than an A in all subsequent quizzes. </p>

<p>The good thing is what my son learned from these episodes and it may be something that other kids can be coached to learn. His self-narrative has become a triumph over adversity. If someone questions his ability as a result of his LDs, he says, “I’ll run through brick walls to show them I can do it.” But, when he hears that kind of questioning, a super-drive gear turns on and he finds ways over, under around or through the brick walls, but he does indeed surmount the walls. I’d love to get my daughter some of that determination.</p>

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<p>This was bothering me so I looked it up - if your child has an IEP, you have to agree that there isn’t a need for a reevaluation every three years, the school cannot make that decision unilaterally.</p>

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<p>[IDEA</a> - Building The Legacy of IDEA 2004](<a href=“http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/%2Croot%2Cregs%2C300%2CD%2C300%252E303%2C]IDEA”>Subpart D — Evaluations, Eligibility Determinations, Individualized Education Programs, and Educational Placements - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)</p>

<p>Curious if any of the posters have had long term documentation (with all the bells and whistles in place as discussed) and still gotten turned down by one or both of the testing agencies?
we have 50 (yes 50) pages of documentation w multiple MD/psych/school reports all dating back to 2000 and as current as 2009…just curious to see what’s going to happen; all stuff was sent in last month…</p>

<p>shawbridge:didn’t know they wanted to see the relationship to anxiety; until my daughter was diagnosed with both, I didn’t realize that there was one…good to know since that’s what we sent…</p>

<p>Test anxiety is huge (and is why my D probably doesn’t get extra time since she doesn’t have that particular issue).</p>

<p>What accomodations are you requesting, 2collegewego, and what accomodations are currently on your s’s IEP? Agree that the CB criteria for consideration of accomodations are pretty clear on their website. That said, it may not hurt to have your school start the process (submit the request for whatever the accomodation is you are requesting-- quiet room, time and a half, etc) and let the process begin. CB wants about 7 weeks to process an application. If your s has had accomodations in place for a long time, its well documented in his school and medical records and he USES these accomodations in school, CB <em>may</em> grant them without need for updated testing. Its worth a try. If you have the luxury of time to try this strategy, go for it. If they say no, or that you need an updated eval, then you can pursue that, but keep in mind ther will be time necessary to get the eval, get the final report completed for you to submit to CB, and then another 7 weeks for them to process it, and you need the accomodation approved before scheduling the SAT with accomodations, which has its own time limit for submission. So, if you have the luxury of time, you can try to save some $$. If not, get the testing scheduled. You should be able to request an updated school eval if you can justify that it is necessary for educational planning. Also worth a shot.</p>

<p>rodney, my son has had extensive testing. Three neuropsych reports over the years. Reading specialists with particular tests. Physician’s report on the extent of his work-related fatigue. … The College Board originally approved 50% extra time with breaks as needed. We asked for 100% extra time over two days for long tests. It took a year of sending stuff back and forth, talking to staff psychologists, etc. Ultimately they agreed. The ACT just accepted what the SAT had done. </p>

<p>With my daughter, we’ve only asked for 50% extra time and The College Board agreed on the first pass, but the ACT has denied. I’m working on it. Anxiety is a significant cause of ADD-like behavior. As I understand it, there is something called a Test of Variable Attention that can tease out some of this.</p>

<p>Given my experience, I would start early in working out the accommodations and would make sure that your kid is actually using the accommodations listed in the IEP that think they need for standardized testing. I think TCB is within its rights to decline an accommodation that a kid is offered but is not using.</p>

<p>Shawbridge–did CB tell you that testing had to be within 3 years? There seems to be many varying answers (on here and other posts) regarding the timing of the testing. From page 5 of “Instructions for Completing the 2009-10 Student Eligibility Form for Accommodations on CB Tests…” it says the following: 2a) “Was the testing to suuport the need for accommodations conducted within the last five years?..Academic testing, when necessary, must be within 5 years of application for accommodations to be considered current. Documentation for visual disabilities must be within 2 years, and documentation for physical or medical conditions must be within one year.” I rec’d these instructions Nov. 27, 2009.</p>

<p>Are they perhaps moving to stricter testing time guidelines? I have heard the 3 years several times and think that is also what our spec ed co-op rep said. However, the current CB instructions are as stated above. Our most recent testing was Jan. 09, so it wasn’t an issue, but I’m concerned with ACT. (haven’t looked those up recently). I’ve also heard ACT is more difficult than CB.</p>

<p>“Curious if any of the posters have had long term documentation (with all the bells and whistles in place as discussed) and still gotten turned down by one or both of the testing agencies?”</p>

<p>Me, for the ACT. My GC requested extra time due to my ADD and a scribe or some way to type for my physical disability and I got nothing for either. My GC, if memory serves, tried to appeal it but it was a no go. It would have made a huge difference in my score.</p>

<p>The testing absolutely has be renewed every three years. And to echo what Shawbridge is saying, sometimes getting in for the testing, waiting for the results etc takes at least a couple of months and sometimes an entire academic year can fly by.</p>

<p>From the CB website:

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<p>The 3 year criteria is usually for updating the IEP in the educational arena, although here, if there is no documented need, the updated eval may be briefer than the original eval used to determine eligibility for services in the school.</p>

<p>mmmom62,</p>

<p>My public school district does do a re-evaluation, but they do not do psychoeducational testing every 3 years. Once the student has had psychoeducational testing several times and the student has consistently been shown to have a disability, they do what they call a “records review”-- gathering information from teachers, etc. They will NOT necessarily retest the kid. (And go ahead and tell me it’s illegal… it could well be, it seems it <em>should</em> be, but it’s a big school district and I do not have the $ to hire an attorney to fight them.)</p>