Accommodation Nation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the neuropsychological exams are hard to get (waiting lists etc) and expensive. Like several thousand dollars. So kids who need them often can't get them unless their parents are rich.

We need the public school system paying for more of these tests for kids who are not rich.

Please. If you're in a major metro area, there are plenty of these fake PhDs who could fit you in this week to provide the DX you are looking for. They will be expensive, yes, but there is an entire cottage industry that is thriving off of all of this.

And no, we don't need public funding for this. We need for this to go away.

For awhile there was a name going around our private for a psychologist who would give you a any diagnosis you want within 2 weeks for $8K.
I'm not making this up.

Because of behavior like this, many area privates now require that you use one of their approved psychologists.

then report that practitioner to the licensing board for unethical practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40% Stanford students have accommendations. This is not normal.

A good chunk of those are not academic accommodations, but are allergy/medical/physical accommodations. Like private rooms, ESAs, waivers allowing otherwise-banned appliances for medical needs, etc.

Still, you don't find it unusual that almost 1/2 the students at a large university have a disability?

No. I think it’s great that schools are finally making learning more accessible to people who are still intelligent and valuable despite having a chronic illness, limited mobility, dyslexia, or whatever else.

I guess you missed the whole point of the article, which is that the vast majority of these accommodations are for kids with ADHD or mood disorders, not learning disabilities, mobility issues, or chronic illness. And the accommodations are things like not having hard deadlines to accommodate ADHD (which makes no sense because my experience with ADHD is that the structure of hard deadlines is actually really helpful and flexible deadlines just encourage procrastination) or letting a kid with anxiety do all their classes via Zoom (which in no way helps that kid develop strategies for dealing with his anxiety and does not prepare him for the workplace or for life in general).

If we were actually still talking about making sure classrooms are accessible to kids in wheelchairs, everyone would agree with you. We aren't. We're talking about something different.

[Anonymous]

Here's a practice with offices in "Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Manhattan, Lehigh Valley, South Jersey and Delaware!" with a website that screams that they "will provide a telehealth evaluation for a diagnosis of ADHD and will write a letter for accommodations for school for a total fee of $350 – 400!". Look at this site: they are literally selling their service like they're selling used cars.
Full neuropsych testing is $3k.

https://rittenhousepa.com/services/neuropsychological-testing-and-evaluation/

I called them a few years ago when I was desperate and on a 15 month waitlist at Children's National for a neuropsych for my child and on a 2 month waitlist for local private practices.
A psychologist called me back within a few hours. I said, "hi, I'm looking to have my child evaluated. My hunch is that I don't think accommodations are going to be needed as she doesn't have time management issues." In response, the psychologist proceeded to tell me that "my kid deserved accommodations" and talked to me for 30 minutes about how they could get us extra time and we needed to pursue it and I could schedule it and get everything in place within 2 weeks.
It was something.
We ended up private paying in the DMV and the kid is doing great 2 years later. Lots of executive function work. No extra time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Accomodation Nation" article in the Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/01/elite-university-student-accommodation/684946/

There's a paywall, but the main context is in the quotes below. Bottom line: a lot of UMC and wealthy families are misusing the testing accommodations process.

DCUMers rail on TO ( and ascribe it to URMs) but avoid this topic.

I wonder why?


"Accommodations in higher education were supposed to help disabled Americans enjoy the same opportunities as everyone else. No one should be kept from taking a class, for example, because they are physically unable to enter the building where it’s taught. Over the past decade and a half, however, the share of students at selective universities who qualify for accommodations—often, extra time on tests—has grown at a breathtaking pace…”

“The change has occurred disproportionately at the most prestigious and expensive institutions. At Brown and Harvard, more than 20 percent of undergraduates are registered as disabled. At Amherst, that figure is 34 percent.”

Said a professor at a selective university: “You hear ‘students with disabilities’ and it’s not kids in wheelchairs. It’s just not. It’s rich kids getting extra time on tests.”

It’s called Elite capture. Society degrades. Many midwits - or god forbid dimwits - formulating (god awful)policies for the country and strut on the stage of contrived expertise…

This too shall pass …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My T1D student gets accommodations and he’s at an Ivy. It’s something his Endo demanded be on record. He’s never used them- not in HS or college.

So, I realize there are those who truly need them, others who are taking advantage of the system but there is a third group; one that has them but doesn’t utilize.

Grapevine has it the ~ 50% DCUM nabobs are beneficiaries! That 1400 SAT kid has 1550!!! Gulp.

[Anonymous]

Top 1% has 35% and top 5% has ~70% of wealth of the country. They “own” doctors/ professors and all and sundry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will no longer subscribe to the Atlantic or even add traffic to their site, but I can imagine what the rest of the article is like. You know what the solution is to this 'problem'? Give everyone extra time - it is ridiculous, particularly at the college level, to think one person is smarter or better educated or better prepared because it takes them less time to solve a problem or write an essay than the next person.

I would never want to hire anyone who has been given extra time to do assignments all their lives. That's just not the way the world works. But if you want your kid unprepared for real life, go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not fun or easy to schedule tests and plan around accommodations and the majority of students with accommodations are not getting extra time to test so much as extra time to cope with any number of stressors that other students have never experienced. I am sure someone out there is abusing the system but the majority of 504 students are not. And “giving everyone the extra time” is not fair to the kid with accommodations but many teachers do it.

Serious question: why do kids with low processing speed have a right to go to elite schools? Plenty of colleges out there…

Why do you incorrectly equate low processing speed with lack of intelligence? Elite universities want intellectual leaders, not those who can click through a multiple choice test the fastest.

Actually, some universities would prefer the latter, if the student is getting all the answers right.

Mental speed, agility and quick wit are not worthless. Especially in future leaders.

No one said they were worthless. But anyone stating that people with low processing speed aren't intelligent and don't belong at elite universities is a bloviating dimwit. Albert Einstein was considered to have learning disabilities, and there has been speculation that according to modern diagnostic criteria he could have had a combination of ADHD, autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia. I guess some posters would think he wouldn't deserve a place at an elite university.

+1 Einstein is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in history. But he was known for his slow verbal processing and even described himself as a slow thinker.

And he managed to earned a PhD in physics without an IEP and 504 plan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not fun or easy to schedule tests and plan around accommodations and the majority of students with accommodations are not getting extra time to test so much as extra time to cope with any number of stressors that other students have never experienced. I am sure someone out there is abusing the system but the majority of 504 students are not. And “giving everyone the extra time” is not fair to the kid with accommodations but many teachers do it.

Serious question: why do kids with low processing speed have a right to go to elite schools? Plenty of colleges out there…

Why do you incorrectly equate low processing speed with lack of intelligence? Elite universities want intellectual leaders, not those who can click through a multiple choice test the fastest.

Actually, some universities would prefer the latter, if the student is getting all the answers right.

Mental speed, agility and quick wit are not worthless. Especially in future leaders.

No one said they were worthless. But anyone stating that people with low processing speed aren't intelligent and don't belong at elite universities is a bloviating dimwit. Albert Einstein was considered to have learning disabilities, and there has been speculation that according to modern diagnostic criteria he could have had a combination of ADHD, autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia. I guess some posters would think he wouldn't deserve a place at an elite university.

+1 Einstein is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in history. But he was known for his slow verbal processing and even described himself as a slow thinker.

And he managed to earned a PhD in physics without an IEP and 504 plan

And published some of the seminal articles in physics while working full-time…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will no longer subscribe to the Atlantic or even add traffic to their site, but I can imagine what the rest of the article is like. You know what the solution is to this 'problem'? Give everyone extra time - it is ridiculous, particularly at the college level, to think one person is smarter or better educated or better prepared because it takes them less time to solve a problem or write an essay than the next person.

I would never want to hire anyone who has been given extra time to do assignments all their lives. That's just not the way the world works. But if you want your kid unprepared for real life, go for it.

And that's exactly why it's not disclosed, and you, as an employer, will never know who did or did not get extended time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will no longer subscribe to the Atlantic or even add traffic to their site, but I can imagine what the rest of the article is like. You know what the solution is to this 'problem'? Give everyone extra time - it is ridiculous, particularly at the college level, to think one person is smarter or better educated or better prepared because it takes them less time to solve a problem or write an essay than the next person.

I would never want to hire anyone who has been given extra time to do assignments all their lives. That's just not the way the world works. But if you want your kid unprepared for real life, go for it.

And that's exactly why it's not disclosed, and you, as an employer, will never know who did or did not get extended time.

+1 And also why people shouldn't make blanket statements about these types of things--there are plenty of employers for whom intellectual quality an creativity is more important than speed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40% Stanford students have accommendations. This is not normal.

A good chunk of those are not academic accommodations, but are allergy/medical/physical accommodations. Like private rooms, ESAs, waivers allowing otherwise-banned appliances for medical needs, etc.

This is true. But the other 1/2? 20% getting extended time on tests to get into Stanford? Hmnnn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will no longer subscribe to the Atlantic or even add traffic to their site, but I can imagine what the rest of the article is like. You know what the solution is to this 'problem'? Give everyone extra time - it is ridiculous, particularly at the college level, to think one person is smarter or better educated or better prepared because it takes them less time to solve a problem or write an essay than the next person.

I would never want to hire anyone who has been given extra time to do assignments all their lives. That's just not the way the world works. But if you want your kid unprepared for real life, go for it.

And that's exactly why it's not disclosed, and you, as an employer, will never know who did or did not get extended time.

So are you saying they can actually manage deadlines suddenly when they start working? Why weren't they doing that before if they can actually do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40% Stanford students have accommendations. This is not normal.

A good chunk of those are not academic accommodations, but are allergy/medical/physical accommodations. Like private rooms, ESAs, waivers allowing otherwise-banned appliances for medical needs, etc.

Still, you don't find it unusual that almost 1/2 the students at a large university have a disability?

No. I think it’s great that schools are finally making learning more accessible to people who are still intelligent and valuable despite having a chronic illness, limited mobility, dyslexia, or whatever else.

I guess you missed the whole point of the article, which is that the vast majority of these accommodations are for kids with ADHD or mood disorders, not learning disabilities, mobility issues, or chronic illness. And the accommodations are things like not having hard deadlines to accommodate ADHD (which makes no sense because my experience with ADHD is that the structure of hard deadlines is actually really helpful and flexible deadlines just encourage procrastination) or letting a kid with anxiety do all their classes via Zoom (which in no way helps that kid develop strategies for dealing with his anxiety and does not prepare him for the workplace or for life in general).

If we were actually still talking about making sure classrooms are accessible to kids in wheelchairs, everyone would agree with you. We aren't. We're talking about something different.

If you actually read the comments I was responding to, you’ll see that they were in fact talking about non-academic accommodations as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not fun or easy to schedule tests and plan around accommodations and the majority of students with accommodations are not getting extra time to test so much as extra time to cope with any number of stressors that other students have never experienced. I am sure someone out there is abusing the system but the majority of 504 students are not. And “giving everyone the extra time” is not fair to the kid with accommodations but many teachers do it.

Serious question: why do kids with low processing speed have a right to go to elite schools? Plenty of colleges out there…

Why do you incorrectly equate low processing speed with lack of intelligence? Elite universities want intellectual leaders, not those who can click through a multiple choice test the fastest.

Actually, some universities would prefer the latter, if the student is getting all the answers right.

Mental speed, agility and quick wit are not worthless. Especially in future leaders.

No one said they were worthless. But anyone stating that people with low processing speed aren't intelligent and don't belong at elite universities is a bloviating dimwit. Albert Einstein was considered to have learning disabilities, and there has been speculation that according to modern diagnostic criteria he could have had a combination of ADHD, autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia. I guess some posters would think he wouldn't deserve a place at an elite university.

+1 Einstein is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in history. But he was known for his slow verbal processing and even described himself as a slow thinker.

And he managed to earned a PhD in physics without an IEP and 504 plan

What a complete lie. Einstein is breathtakingly fast thinker. He was a "slow thinker" in the sense that he would reflect deeply before speaking and was not quick on his feet verbally, a trait now understood in introverts. He preferred to think in pictures and "thought experiments" rather than with quick, verbal responses. His ability to concentrate deeply and his unconventional thinking style led many to initially perceive him as slow.