What accommodations does your dyslexic HS kid have?

[Anonymous]

We have a meeting Monday to set up DS IEP for high school. Technically it's an SSP since he's in private school but essentially it's an IEP. His HS is a new school so we get to set new accommodations if we want.

His accommodations currently include:
use of audio books
extra time on tests and assignments (time and a half)
no penalty for spelling errors
graph paper and calculator use in math class

He doesn't currently use a computer when possible instead of handwriting assignments in his plan, but I plan on asking for that. He is also exempt from foreign language at his current school, and I'm going to see how we can handle this in high school.

I'm open to any suggestions for things we might have missed. Are there any accommodations your kid found helpful that we're missing?

The school is much more open to accommodations and helping students than the MS was so I don't expect much pushback on anything we ask for (within reason).

[Anonymous]

Use of screen reader/read aloud for tests?
Answer in test book instead of using scantron? (More relevant for standardized testing, but easier to get accommodations that are already in the plan)
Small group testing
Extra and extended breaks during testing

[Anonymous]

The accommodations that are helpful for my 9th grader are as follows:
Typing instead of handwriting (but if the teacher really wants handwritten, I wish them the best of luck. Just don't mark off when you can't read it)
Spelling
Audio books for English. He can read it but he gets tired and sometimes switches to the audiobook.

All kids are different. He doesn't need extra time or small groups. The calculator situation seems to be fine at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Keyboard access was the big one for mine. He did not get extra time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Use of screen reader/read aloud for tests?
Answer in test book instead of using scantron? (More relevant for standardized testing, but easier to get accommodations that are already in the plan)
Small group testing
Extra and extended breaks during testing

I had forgotten about this one but definitely will include it. How does this work in real life? Does someone read the questions to them or are there apps that will do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Use of screen reader/read aloud for tests?
Answer in test book instead of using scantron? (More relevant for standardized testing, but easier to get accommodations that are already in the plan)
Small group testing
Extra and extended breaks during testing

I had forgotten about this one but definitely will include it. How does this work in real life? Does someone read the questions to them or are there apps that will do it?

There are apps and a chrome extension. It's only annoying when there's no digital copy.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes having a reader or the electronic voice is more annoying and distracting for the student so you could ask the school to see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Access to teacher notes is also helpful

[Anonymous]

Following

[Anonymous]

Read aloud for tests was very important for my dyslexic kid. It was needed both for his success in high school but also paved the way for the accomodations needed for SAT testing. As the material has gotten more complex the read aloud has become more helpful.
Copies of notes/presentations and the ability to use his phone to take photos of things on the board. My son needs to use a scribe or speech to text for writing as well which is in his accomodations.

[Anonymous]

what about writing in text books/ or extra copies of tests at home (we have a copier). Is that allowed (different poster).

We have a kid transitioning back to public after being in a private school that allowed for any accommodation. We would buy the extra book in this case and I'm ahppy to do that again but I don't think public lets you do that.

[Anonymous]

^^ NP

[Anonymous]

My DC with dyslexia also has dysgraphia so some of his accommodations are based on that.

Reader and scribe for all assessments. This moved to electronic reader and keyboard in college.
Extra time on assessments because the above takes more time. He did not need extra time on projects.
He went to the LD office for this so that he did not disturb other students. Some math quizzes and tests were done in class as he did not need a reader or scribe for those.
Use of simple calculator
Spelling did not count
Use of clip art if drawing was required
Electronic textbooks - also electronic versions off all handouts
Teacher notes - so he could concentrate on listening to the lectures. In college it changed to access to power point slides including the notes
Use of a locker - they were phasing out lockers at his school
Priority seating - near front and accessible to plug for his laptop (at the time students did not have laptops unless specifically authorized)
Kurzweil - older technology that worked well for him

He also got a reader-scribe and extra time on all CollegeBoard tests including APs.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! These were very helpful. We met to set up his accommodations today and it was the easiest process ever. I was not expecting a fight on anything but it was so much easier than I thought it would be. Turns out the Learning Resource Coordinator has a dyslexic daughter of her own so she already had everything I wanted in the plan.

We opted out of taking a language and he'll take an online ASL course.