All is not lost, hopefully. I strongly consider you to encourage your son and his school to talk about his disabilities in his application. He or they can explain why he did not take AP exams. Colleges are more forgiving when they understand the reasons behind anomalies in the application.
I have an example from my own son’s experience as well as an example from one of my clients (I’m an independent college consultant):
My middle son has multiple disabilities. He did receive both extended time and keyboarding, as well as breaks as needed. I submitted multiple documents. I believe my own letter and that of his psychologist's/counselor's got him the keyboarding. His processing speed is slow as molasses and he has a writing disability. The psychologist wrote specifically, in detail, that my son needed keyboarding because of his physiologically slow processing speed, and that keyboarding would at least help level the playing field a bit. I think you need to bring in more documentation from more people. I submitted a 15 page report from private psych testing, a letter from me, a letter from his endocrinologist, a letter from his ophthalmologist and the letter from his counselor/therapist.
In my son’s college applications, I wrote about his disabilities (I’m a homeschool parent, so I write the counselor letter) as a way of explaining why he took no AP exams. In his case, he had a severe vision disability that was corrected by surgery mid-way through his junior year. Before that, he couldn’t read long, small print text books or even literature, so there was no way he was going to take AP classes or exams. I made sure to explain every “red flag” in his application that could be linked to a disability.
In the end, he was admitted to some selective schools including an Ivy League. It truly pays to explain things.
My client/student had to switch schools mid-way through junior year because of a health issue. We went to great lengths to procure documentation explaining the situation to colleges through letters of recommendation and essays, as well as his GC to a lesser degree; any anomalies in the student's record due to the illness were explained. The student did very well in admissions, getting admitted to half dozen highly selective schools.
Explain, explain, explain. Don’t make excuses; make explanations.
There is no need to disclose to colleges before admission.
Working with a disabilities office and various others (like deans) who help implement accommodations should happen soon after acceptance. The disabilities office provides letters for your son to give to professors but he has to negotiate some with them, himself.
@sbjdorlo thanks for your detailed response. Yes, it sounds like perhaps we didn’t support his appeal with enough documentation. We submitted only his private neruro psych report (just checked, also 15 pages), as well as his SLP from his school. Actually, his school submitted the appeal and while i’ve asked to see a copy of everything they submitted, I still have yet to see that. I read on the College Board site yesterday that they look to whether the student has been utilizing these accommodations in the high school. Perhpas the school didn’t document this to the CB’s satisfaction.
I am not adverse to disclosing to colleges, in fact i’m in favor of it. My DS is currently on the fence. Fortunately we have lots of time to discuss.
@thumper1, the point to my post was the frustration and difficulty in getting accommodations for the use of a computer for a student with documentation of an issue, a paper trail of this since middle school, and two separate, extensive testings and diagnosis of dysgraphia in addtion to other LD’s. Yes, some of his target colleges require the essay. The PSAT does not have an essay and his score on the SAT essay will definitely be impacted by his dysgraphia. The denial by the CB will likely impact his college application choices. Your response “what is the concern” missed the point of my post.
I didn’t miss the point of your post. But your student has LOTS of options. Even schools that require the essay…many do NOT use them in the admissions process…at all. They might use them for placement purposes…but not admissions. I think you need to tease that out for each college this student is interested in applying to.
In addition, if he requires this same accommodation to be successful in his college courses, it would also be prudent to determine what it will take to get this for college. I will say, in our experience, almost everything IS done on the computer for college classes…but better to check than be sorry later.
He sounds like a great kid who will have many options open to him when application time comes around. He would also benefit from colleges that have more holistic admissions evaluations.
Thanks @thumper1. Your point to tease out which colleges don’t really depend heavily on the essay for admissions is a good one. DS is fortunate that his disability requires a resource that most students use anyways. I think it just a matter of time until all students are taking the SAT/ACT via computer. While my son has his own unique struggles with writing, I know many students who have become so dependent on computers for writing that writing an essay by hand induces anxiety. The anxiety this brings to a kid with dysgraphia only compounds the issue. His handwriting is so labored and takes so much time. His signature looks like a third graders. It is so very hard to believe that this accommodation was denied. I know it will all work out and he will have choices.
Can I clarify a misconception I see in at least one post? Just because a student scores well on a standardized test, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have accommodations! Twice-exceptional students are just that. The accommodations can sometimes “level the playing field”, or at least allow a student access when they wouldn’t otherwise have access.
My son’s accommodations gave him time to think since he processes so slowly. He can come up with correct answers, but often needs more time to process. He scored well without accommodations, but better with. His accommodated scores were more in line with what IQ/achievement testing suggests he’s able to do.
There is no need to disclose before admission. If he wants to there in no prohibition either.
Does College Board have some specific difficulty with implementing this accommodation? The denial makes no sense to me. If you don’t know what the school submitted, I would certainly ask to see it.
@Longhaul - I think this might be why DS was denied he did very well without accommodations on the ACT for the Duke TIP program in middle school.
I agree with the previous poster who said to check into test optional schools as they also may be more accommodating to those with disabilities of all types.
Just empathizing here! My son also did not receive permission from the CB to use a laptop, which seems crazy after he’s had permission to use one for so many years. So no SAT essay for him! I’ll bet a decade from now, every tester will be writing their essays on an electronic device of some sort! The pencil will go the way of the quill.
We never sought accommodation on the ACT as we had heard it was difficult to get. My son’s charter school was amenable to giving him a scribe on the state assessment exams once they acknowledged that his dysgraphia would preclude him from scoring well (something charter schools are very interested in.). He scored well on the ACT but his anxiety more than his dysgraphia made college untenable.
My S17 is dyslexic, dysgraphic, dyscalculic and he has visual issues. He was on an IEP throughout his pre-college school years. He never really learned to keyboard well and we used voice recognition programs at various points in school. He was scantron exempt for several years but eventually we got the right glasses and he matured and was able to do them, but they were hand checked to make sure that he didn’t, for instance, miss a box that would then throw his score off.
He was giving CB accommodations (time and a half, separate location and access to a scribe for essay questions) but the ACT originally refused. When he took the test without accommodations and did poorly, I called the ACT people and asked why he had been denied. It turned out that his school had categorized his LD’s in language that the ACT didn’t recognize. The person I spoke with told me what the do on an appeal, I called the HS and they put in an appeal. It was granted and his score on the next test went up 5 points with no studying (from 19 to 24). He then had tutoring and went up to a 27 (28 composite).
I was not able to get the right accommodations from the CB for my son despite and IEP and significant documentation until I started talking directly to the psychologist evaluating his file (after several rejections). The whole process took a year. The ACT then adopted the CB’s recommendations.
With my D, she had no IEP but was at a private school like the OP’s child. The CB accepted and the ACT did not. I had to get letters from teachers who had made accommodations in middle school without asking and new testing done and summarized it all in a persuasive essay. I think I engaged directly with the staff person although I think it was all via email.
Circling back to update, give some insights and ask a question. First the update. We appealed my son’s College Board decison again. We submitted a detailed letter from the Learning Resource program at his school, as well as short statements from several teachers (in addtion to the prior appeal materials). The good news is that he was granted 50% additional time. However, the bad news is that he was not granted the use of a computer which is the main accommodation we are after. The ACT granted all requested accommodations (additional time, computer).
Now the insights. Document everything. Update testing. Start early. Fortunately my son will get extra time now for upcoming AP and Subject Tests. He is going to stick with the ACT for testing as writing essays without a computer is really a huge disadvantage for him given his dysgraphia. He really has no choice on the AP tests, unfortunately.
And finally a question. It has recently come to my attention that when one requests score reports to be sent to colleges, the ACT requires that the student fill in the bubble where they took the test. The options are:
NATIONAL Test Center
INTERNATIONAL Test Center
STATE Testing on State Test Date
Individual Testing at SCHOOL
DANTES Military Base
I don’t know.
The score report sent to colleges notates the location where the student took the exam. By bubbling that a student took the exam at ‘Individual Testing at School’, the student is essentially alerting the college that they have been given accommodations, correct? In 2004, the College Board and ACT Inc., agreed to remove the asterisk which designated score accommodations. But isn’t this in fact doing that very thing? Thoughts?
I’m not saying my son won’t be revealing his LD’s. This isn’t intended to be a discussion regarding this. But I would love input on whether the score reports should not notate the difference between taking the test at school on a State testing date versus Individual Testing at School (which only happens with accommodations). Thanks!
You are over thinking this. College admissions officers are not analyzing test center locations, and half the kids probably mark it wrong anyway. I think the only time it matters is in the event of possible fraud, particularly overseas.
@rotcroftmom perhaps. It wouldn’t be the first time someone has accused me of this. ;0) However, as far as your comment that kids likely mark it the wrong way, the ACT states “If the information you provide is not accurate or you select “I don’t know” for your choice, it will take one or two additional working days to process.” Presumably this means that they will correct your information and notate it accordingly.
Tens of thousands of kids are taking the test. I would probably have marked national test center for your situation. The ACT folks don’t usually correct irrelevant administrative details unless there is fraud. The admissions officers will, at best, glance at the report long enough to get an idea of your student’s scores in the 3 minutes they have to read the application. There are truly far bigger issues for your child to consider.
2mrmagoo I think that is an important question and hope someone can answer it. Perhaps a call to College Board.
The whole point of accommodations is a level playing field and if “individual testing at school” does in fact indicate accommodations, then that negates the level playing field right there.