How to solve problems with standardized testing--need advice!

[Anonymous]

My 3rd grader has ADHD and a somewhat slow processing speed, but is at or above grade level academically. At the end of 2nd grade, her grades were evenly split between '3s' and '4s' on her DCPS report card (meaning she was at grade level in half the areas and above grade level in the other half). She has always struggled to finish standardized tests in a timely fashion, but it's gotten MUCH worse this year (3rd grade). She didn't finish any of the I-Ready/Lectura tests in the time allotted in class, so they pulled her out to the "additional time" room. She is moving at a snails pace and spends 1/2 of every day in the "extra time" room working though the test, meaning that she's missing half the school day every day for over 2 weeks. I have a few questions:

1. Part of the issue seems to be motivation. The school has done a great job of making sure that the kids who need extra time don't feel shamed, and my kid has 100% bought into the messaging. She keeps telling me, "it's OK that I'm taking my time! ADHD is my superpower and it means that I'm very slow and careful!" I'm so glad that she doesn't view the extra time as a punishment, but, as a result, she feels absolutely no urgency. She likes going to the extra room and missing class--plenty of time for daydreaming! She's enjoying it! How do I motivate her to move a bit faster? She insists that she's going as fast as she can...but I have a sense that she's really not trying that hard. I don't care about the testing in 3rd grade....but I need to build her ability to take these types of tests as she gets older, so I don't want to tell her to just fill in random answers so she can get back to class and actually start 3rd grade.

2. In addition to working on her motivatio

[Anonymous]

oooops! That posted before I was done. Second question:

In addition to working on her motivation, what accommodations allowed your kid to focus. The school has tried everything I can think of including:
--separate space
--seating with that cardboard box around the desk
--wiggle seat
--setting a 5 minute timer for each question (she restarted it 4 times while doing ONE math problem, quickly telling the teacher "oooof. That one took me 20 minutes!" She was able to do mental multiplication in 2 seconds when it wasn't part of the test....but it took her over 20 minutes to do the test's multiplication problem!)

What else can the school do to help her focus?!

As an aside, she's on a stimulant. We're talking to the doc about increasing the dose. Our issue is that any uptick in the meds disrupts her sleep, which leads to increased ADHD symptoms. HELP!