To ask— or not to ask— for SAT accommodations?

Parents Forum
1

<p>What’s involved in getting special accommodations from the college board for a mental health problem? How intrusive is it? Would you recommend it in this case? </p>

<p>S was diagnosed with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) at age 6 and has wrestled with it for a decade. Because he performs well academically and wants privacy regarding his mental health problem, we previously have not sought academic accommodations. </p>

<p>S will take the SATs this coming academic year. Timed tests pose difficulties for him because he inevitably loses time to OCD distractions. Given his prior experience with testing, we expect that he would score (1) somewhat above average on a timed test or (2) very high on a test where timing is less pressing.</p>

<p>Asking the College Board for accommodations (extra time), brings up many conflicting thoughts. While we know that doing well on the SAT would help him in the college application process, we appreciate his strong desire for privacy and know that he would be admitted to some reasonably good colleges even without strong SAT scores. (The rest of his academic record is strong. He has interesting extra curricular activities and he is articulate and self-aware—a byproduct of many years of therapy.)</p>

<p>So do we just let him take the SAT without accommodations — or do we urge him to request extra time?</p>

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<p>It hasn't been an issue in our family, but D's bf when they were in h.s. had accommodations, and the whole thing seemed to be handled very discreetly - much more so than AP accommodations at the public h.s., for example, where it's apparently handled quite casually and publicly. </p>

<p>Are there people in your community or area whom you could check with, to see how well the local testing centers have done at handling things discreetly? I know that the level of efficiency and so on can vary a lot even for the basic administration of the tests, so it might be worth a little research, while you're thinking it over.</p>

3

<p>With OCD, one thing you probably need to have is the right for your child to use a block answer sheet where he can "X" in the answer instead of having to fill in the bubbles. It is DEFINITELY worth going through the process of asking for the accommodations if you are applying to very selective schools where a good SAT score is a must.</p>

4

<p>If he doesn't have accomodations in school, it will be unusual to have accomodations with College Board.</p>

<p>However, for the past few years, test scores do not include information about whether accomodations were given or not when scores are sent.
( which is why they are difficult to get)</p>

5

<p>momofgrowingkids - you should also post this question on the Learning Differences forum. There are several individuals who might be able to give you additional advice:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/learning-differences-challenges-ld-adhd/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/learning-differences-challenges-ld-adhd/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>In our experience the request for accommodations on the College Board exams must be handled through the HS. If your S has not had testing or other accommodations at the HS, it may be very difficult to clear the hurdles that the College Board puts up for this process. We had to provide the HS documentation of our D's disability and they had to fill out a form describing what accommodations she had been granted during HS. We were told that the fact that she had been receiving 504 accommodations since MS was a determining factor in the speed and ease with which she received College Board accommodations. Further, the existence of her HS and College Board accommodations helped her negotiate the process for receiving accommodations at her university.</p>

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<p>Thank you all and I will post this question on the other forum. You initial thoughts are similar to mine: it might be difficult to ask for accommodations now--after he has struggled without them for all these years. I'll see what the other forum suggests. Thanks again.</p>

8

<p>However, it is possible to get accommodations without going through one's high school. Fang Jr got accommodations from the College Board. We are homeschoolers, so no school was involved. If you go this route, START NOW, because it takes forever. I started the process in September and the accommodations were finally granted at the end of April.</p>

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<p>Never hurts to ask. You can see how he does and if it is sub par, you could work with your personal psychiatrist and the school psychologist with the request. I do not think you necessarily need to apply for 504 accommodations in order to have the school psychologist support your application. Every medical professional is ethically bound to protect a client's medical privacy so no one else at the school need ever know. The only snag may be that College board seems to red flag those who wait until the SAT's are fairly close to apply for accommodations. My son, who had a 504 and definitely has an LD, was turned down even after supporting info was turned in. I didn't push it because he ended up doing fine, but I'm sure persistence would have been beneficial had I appealed their rejection. Your son's long history of OCD will convince them that the problem wasn't invented to gain extra time.</p>

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<p>momofgrowingkids,</p>

<p>Agree with what is said here- but have one additional suggestion. If you are going to apply for accomodations, start early. While the criteria for accomodations for medical or mental health issues are less structured than for LD or ADHD diagnoses, for the latter (LD/ADHD), the child must have qualified for the accomodations, had the accomodations in place and <em>used</em> the accomodation in school for at least 4 months before CB will consider the request. And, if you don't get it (the requested accomodation) and have to appeal, CB wants a minimum of 7 weeks to review an appeal, and then you have to factor in sufficient time to register for the SAT at a site that offers accomodations. Whew!</p>

<p>One thing CB looks for in these requests is history of the disorder. You have a long history documented (whith diagnosis and treatment for 10 years). That will really help. What accomodation are you looking for? Extra time? How much? Time and a half is probably plenty for an OCD diagnosis. Double time (100% extended time) often pushes the SAT into 2 days, and that can be a killer, and it's harder to get. How about a quiet room? That might really benefit your son. OCD kids can get really anxious seeing other kids finish ahead of them.</p>

<p>What accomodations does your s currently have in school? Are they formal accomodations or does the school just informally let him have extra time (that can also make a difference). Does he use the accomodation? All the time? How often? How ar his grades with/without the accomodations? CB uses the ADA guidelines, and will compare his performance to the "average person". If he can perform like the "average person" (even though he may be capable of much better) it may be hard to get the accomodation.</p>

<p>Sorry to ask so many questions, but CB is unpredictable when it comes to much of this stuff, but they do have some general guidelines, from my experience (I do evaluations of these kids). Again, most of my experience is withthe LD/ADHD kids, so your situation may differ a bit. I do think CB is a little less "strict" for kids with medical and MH issues, but that said, I know of a kid with a significant hearing disability who had trouble getting some accomodations.</p>

<p>I would suggest that while you are applying for the accomodations (and yes, if the child goes to HS, the school counselor needs to initiate the procedure), I'd also recommend, if you haven't already done this, you consider having your s take some SAT prep courses to practice on the test taking strategy, so he can reduce the concomittant anxiety that accompanies the OCD behaviors. </p>

<p>Good luck! Keep us posted.</p>

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<p>Thanks again. Some responses. I think some extra time -- even just 25percent more time would work-- and maybe a quiet room. In terms of prior accommodations, he was given extra time for math tests in 4th grade, but no accommodations since that time. He is in HS honors classes and generally gets As. </p>

<p>We do have hard evidence of timed testing problems. For example, his IQ test had 13 subtests. His scores were exceptionally high on each untimed subtest / exceptionally low on each timed subtest. He also just scored the highest in his school on a standardized pre-calc math readiness test (a timed test, but no signficant time pressure), but just hit a brick wall with his math SAT II subject matter test (which covers the same material as his school's pre calc readiness test). I think we could put together these and other materials to make a case. Thanks again.</p>

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<p>I don't think CB offers "time and a quarter". I think (and I'd have to recheck) the lowest extended time is time and a half. It is usually structured by CB, and I've heard stories that some proctors let the students out when they finished, even if it was early, whereas others made them sit there for the full time allowed on each section even if the student was done.</p>

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<p>jym is correct. Students can be awarded time and a half or double time. However, in my son's experience, the student doesn't have to use all the time he is allotted.</p>

<p>My son has taken the PSAT, the SAT, and three different APs. In every case, he was allowed to leave early if he finished early. Also, if he finished one timed section early, he was allowed to start another timed section (so the proctor was keeping track of different timings for different students).</p>

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<p>My hunch is that if he knew that he had some extra time, he would be fine. I would ask for 50% time. If he got done early, he could relax or leave as the proctor directs. Thanks.</p>

15

<p>I would start off by going tomorrow to the guidance office of the school and asking to pick up the packet from the Collegeboard. On the back of that envelope it has the deadlines for applying listed by test date. There is one portion that you will fill out and another for the counselor. I also would not wait since if you don't catch them before they leave for the summer you will have to wait till late summer.
In our case the counselor handled most of the process. She provided the documentation and sent the completed packet in. While another friend had the counselor fill out that portion and then they sent the rest in and provided documentation from a private source
My son had double time and as someone else pointed out that requires the test be given over two days. That is a requirement. In that case the student and school arrange the time and place and proctor. In all cases my son took the test alone. It was difficult at times to find someone willing to proctor the test over two days. Also in two cases the test was lost somewhere between the UPS man and the counselor's office. In one instance the ETS had to send another test by private courier and it was delivered to the proctor at 11 pm the night before the test. This was nerve racking since we did not know if the test would make it.
If you need time and half it is much simpler. The test is given at the same time as the regularly scheduled exam in a separate room.
It doesn't hurt to ask. In our case it made a huge difference.
If you ask for the SAT you might also consider requesting the same for the ACT. We did not do that but it would have been a good idea.</p>

16

<p>Be aware however that whether he will be allowed to move ahead, or leave when finished, will be up to the discretion of the proctor. My D was granted time and 1/2 when she really just needed it for the math and writing. For the CR section she basically had time to take a nap before the next section. Her proctor had about 5 kids to supervise and they all were expected to move at the same pace.</p>

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<p>The College Board has a lot of information about testing accomodations on its website:</p>

<p>Students</a> with Disabilities</p>

18

<p>It sounds as if your son and I have a lot in common (PM me for more info; I'm happy to help). I too, was dx'ed with OCD at 6 and have wrestled with it since. On my IQ test, untimed, all subtest scores were exceedingly high; on my SAT (I scored >97 percentile in every subject) which was also untimed, my score exceeded 2200. In none of the tests did I go into extra time, however, as is typical of someone with OCD, knowing I had the time allowed me to perform up to my true capacities (though, I think I could have done even better had I not been anxious; accommodations aren't meant to rid one of a disability, just to mitigate it and obviously a certain degree of anxiety is inevitable...). I'd be happy to offer more OCD-related college prep advice if you are interested.</p>