Do “Universal Accommodations” level the playing field for dyslexic students?

[Anonymous]

Dyslexic DS is in rigorous independent school, but the teachers are willing to make accommodations. One teacher claims that DS was given the “extra time” accommodation because even though the entire class was given 80 minutes to complete the test, it was designed to take only 50 minutes. This “universal accommodation” is common and meets the needs of the LD students, claims the teacher. Agree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dyslexic DS is in rigorous independent school, but the teachers are willing to make accommodations. One teacher claims that DS was given the “extra time” accommodation because even though the entire class was given 80 minutes to complete the test, it was designed to take only 50 minutes. This “universal accommodation” is common and meets the needs of the LD students, claims the teacher. Agree?

Why wouldn't it? If the test is supposed to take 50 minutes and your kid gets 80, why isn't that enough? Why do they need to get more time than everyone else, rather than merely enough time to complete the test?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a cop out to getting around a real IEP that would hold school legally liable for services.

I would not take it and seek an IEP.

[Anonymous]

Does the child usually get and extra 30 minutes for a test? If so, it sounds as though the teacher is giving that extra 30 minutes while giving the extra time to the whole class.

It’s a good way for the child who needs the extra time to get it while allowing the child to not stand out for needing the extra time. And maybe there are other kids in the class for whom the extra time is a help because they might have an undiagnosed learning difference. Your child is helped and others are, too. Sounds like a good thing for all.

[Anonymous]

But doesn’t extra time writing an essay allow non-LD kids that much more time to proofread and edit? They can use the extra time to their advantage in a way that LD kids cannot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But doesn’t extra time writing an essay allow non-LD kids that much more time to proofread and edit? They can use the extra time to their advantage in a way that LD kids cannot.

30 minutes is 30 minutes. If the child’s accommodation is an extra 30 minutes, they’re still getting that amount of time, even if others are getting that time also. It doesn’t take time away from the kids with LDs for other kids to all get the extra time also.

[Anonymous]

No. For example my dyslexic son has an IEP accommodation that he can use either a computer read aloud or have someone read the questions to him in math class.

Giving him longer on the math test wouldn't help him. He does the actual math super quickly, he just struggles with reading the instructions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a cop out to getting around a real IEP that would hold school legally liable for services.

I would not take it and seek an IEP.

OP said private school. You can seek it, but that would mean dropping out and enrolling in a public.

[Anonymous]

I would post on special needs forum, OP

[Anonymous]

My kid is dyslexic and I think universal accommodations are really helpful. My kid won’t take many accommodations, but he is helped when they are just normal.

My feeling is that school shouldn’t be a competition. If giving everyone extra time means everyone writes a better essay, great. The point is to write a good essay, not do it faster than others.

Other examples are calculators or multiplication tables or word banks available to all students, and not just dyslexic kids in lower school. My kid needed those things, and it made it easier for him to use them if everyone else had them available, too.

[Anonymous]

Good move by the teacher. At a certain point you need to accept your kid can't cut it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But doesn’t extra time writing an essay allow non-LD kids that much more time to proofread and edit? They can use the extra time to their advantage in a way that LD kids cannot.

No, most kids are going to turn in the test as soon as they're done and then read quietly or put their head on their desk or go outside or whatever it is they're allowed to do once they've turned it in. Kids aren't going to sit there going over and over their work ad nauseum. This assumes the test is (like most, in my experience) intended for most students to fully complete in advance of or approximately the alotted time, rather than being a "how much can you finish in this amount of time, but you're probably not going to get through all of it or have as much time as you'd like" test.

[Anonymous]

Also, by your logic, if an LD kid gets 80 mins, and an average kid gets 50 mins, then we should also cut the advanced kids time down to 30 mins. That's not how it works. Every kid gets more than enough time to demonstrate reasonable performance, but there are diminishing returns/advantages to having additional time beyond what they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a cop out to getting around a real IEP that would hold school legally liable for services.

I would not take it and seek an IEP.

Only public schools are legally on the hook for failing to implement an IEP. Time to go to a Jemicy or public school.

[Anonymous]

If the purpose of the test is to assess mastery of the subject, then giving all kids the amount of time it takes for your kid to complete is a good thing. It levels the playing field for everyone who has a disability, diagnosed or not,’and everyone who is otherwise slower than others.

I was always the student that could accurately complete all tests in less than 25% of the allotted time getting maximal points. You wouldn’t want the time limit to be that of the fastest kid because you want all students to be able to demonstrate mastery of the subject not accuracy of speed test taking. But for some reason OP thinks that only her kid whose disability has been diagnosed should get extra time and that doesn’t level the playing field.