Claiming a disability on the SAT/ACT - have people been gaming the system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am for untimed tests, but wonder about how they would be administered. Do you have any ideas?

I am sure if we can send a man to the moon, better minds can figure this out

Sure but the SAT is a money making institute and they don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Extra time for everybody? Why don’t we just make it a take home test and call it a day? IQ tests are timed for a reason....processing speed is a component of intelligence. And in the real world it matters in 99% of professions.

It's not an IQ test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extra time for everybody? Why don’t we just make it a take home test and call it a day? IQ tests are timed for a reason....processing speed is a component of intelligence. And in the real world it matters in 99% of professions.

So u prefer the current system where some get it and some get it through abuse of the system? Really?

No, I don’t think anybody should It......a test is a test. When did this absurdity start?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do we have accommodations at all, except in severe cases? I understand if you're blind and need the test read to you, or you have a phsyical disability and can't easily fill in the circles on the sheet -- then extra time seems warranted.

But isn't the goal of the test to measure against other students? Why not have the same testing environment for all then? I realize some will score poorer than others, but isn't that exactly what it's trying to measure?

As an employer, if an aptitude test reflects your job duties, then it's useful to know how much you can accomplish within a fixed amount of time, because that's part of the job.

I agree with you, especially when it comes to "processing speed." Plenty of parents will argue that their kid needs accommodations due to slower processing speed ... when in fact, processing speed is one thing the SAT is SUPPOSED to measure.

Got any direct evidence that it’s supposed to measure processing speed?

[Anonymous]

I’m reminded of a study that revealed that 90% of college professors thought they were above average. I think 100% of parents think their child is above average but they aren’t and fighting for all of these absurd accommodations is just going to set these kids up for disappointment and failure in college and the workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SAT and ACT is testing speed. I don’t care who says it’s not. The SAT and ACT have said it is.

So I have a problem with accommodations that completely take that out of the equation.

SAT: our test is designed to test scholastic aptitude under timed conditions.

Parent: but my kid does poorly under timed conditions.

SAT: well, then your child won’t do as good on this test. Er. Wait. No. Strike that. Then we will give your child more time?

This will never be fair to me. No dog in the fight, though.

You know, there are disabilities that have nothing to do with processing speed or testing speed that require accommodations. My DC has a disability that means they frequently have to go to the bathroom, sometimes multiple times within an hour, and when they have to go, they have to go. Much of the time it is unpredictable when this will happen. This DC's accommodations included extra time.

I have to say that is ridiculous.

Then you have never had Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis or known anyone with either. Count yourself blessed (and a jerk).

It just doesn’t make sense to give this kid time and a half. He may have bathroom issues? If he’s having a bad day he should probably cancel his test.

Then you don’t know either of these diseases bc having to urgently go to the bathroom multiple times in an hour or several hours is not “having a bad day.” It’s what life can be like 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months a year for many with Crohn’s or UC. Plus several more pretty awful and painful symptoms but those would not need accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am the person who wrote the post about my child above. I have zero issues with everyone having an untimed test. “U” keep posting this over and over and it has nothing to do with my post.

I’m taking issue with ranting about “unfairness”. I think these people have no idea what it feels like to be dealt an unfair hand. They don’t know what it feels like to watch an entire preschool class lap your child developmentally. They don’t know what it feels like when someone asks your four year old a simple question like how old he is and there’s a lump in your throat because you know he won’t understand the question. They won’t understand that when he finally gets the question correctly it is because your husband spent 2 hours with him trying to help him understand. That every verbal interaction I have with him, I’m thinking about how I could make it more therapeutic for him. I’m so grateful that these accommodations exist and I hope they are still in place by the time he needs to take these tests.

[Anonymous]

Whoever the "u" poster is, I am having a hard time taking you remotely seriously because "u" sound so incoherent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am the person who wrote the post about my child above. I have zero issues with everyone having an untimed test. “U” keep posting this over and over and it has nothing to do with my post.

I’m taking issue with ranting about “unfairness”. I think these people have no idea what it feels like to be dealt an unfair hand. They don’t know what it feels like to watch an entire preschool class lap your child developmentally. They don’t know what it feels like when someone asks your four year old a simple question like how old he is and there’s a lump in your throat because you know he won’t understand the question. They won’t understand that when he finally gets the question correctly it is because your husband spent 2 hours with him trying to help him understand. That every verbal interaction I have with him, I’m thinking about how I could make it more therapeutic for him. I’m so grateful that these accommodations exist and I hope they are still in place by the time he needs to take these tests.

I have sympathy for you but I also realize that not every child has equal intelligence or processing speed. Why do you think your handicapped child deserves special treatment and where does it end?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am the person who wrote the post about my child above. I have zero issues with everyone having an untimed test. “U” keep posting this over and over and it has nothing to do with my post.

I’m taking issue with ranting about “unfairness”. I think these people have no idea what it feels like to be dealt an unfair hand. They don’t know what it feels like to watch an entire preschool class lap your child developmentally. They don’t know what it feels like when someone asks your four year old a simple question like how old he is and there’s a lump in your throat because you know he won’t understand the question. They won’t understand that when he finally gets the question correctly it is because your husband spent 2 hours with him trying to help him understand. That every verbal interaction I have with him, I’m thinking about how I could make it more therapeutic for him. I’m so grateful that these accommodations exist and I hope they are still in place by the time he needs to take these tests.

I have sympathy for you but I also realize that not every child has equal intelligence or processing speed. Why do you think your handicapped child deserves special treatment and where does it end?

NP +1

More importantly, why do you think your low-processing-speed-kid-who-can't-understand-a-question-when-someone-asks-him should get a non-low SAT score? What does the SAT score mean to you? It honestly sounds like you're ashamed of him, want to keep up appearances, etc.

It's one thing saying that my kid struggles, needs some extra support in class, please don't let the teacher lob him questions in front of the other kids while in the "learning" (versus "testing") part of school. I support that 100%.

But not sure why you're so desperate for your kid to get an SAT score that he can't get according to the rules of the test.

I'd be so furious if I hired someone based on GPA and test scores and it turned out that they needed triple the time as anyone else to do (or even understand) a task and only got their results (whether good or just average) through accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am the person who wrote the post about my child above. I have zero issues with everyone having an untimed test. “U” keep posting this over and over and it has nothing to do with my post.

I’m taking issue with ranting about “unfairness”. I think these people have no idea what it feels like to be dealt an unfair hand. They don’t know what it feels like to watch an entire preschool class lap your child developmentally. They don’t know what it feels like when someone asks your four year old a simple question like how old he is and there’s a lump in your throat because you know he won’t understand the question. They won’t understand that when he finally gets the question correctly it is because your husband spent 2 hours with him trying to help him understand. That every verbal interaction I have with him, I’m thinking about how I could make it more therapeutic for him. I’m so grateful that these accommodations exist and I hope they are still in place by the time he needs to take these tests.

+1, in K and First, we were at a private and very lucky as the teachers would give us work in advanced so we could read and go over anything that had to be answered verbally as our struggled to answer the basic questions, including how are you. At age 4, mine was barely talking. We spent every day in therapies... every day. Imagine what that cost. Imagine having to quit your job (which I gladly did) because someone had to drive and your income could not cover a nanny. Those are some of our realities. And, yet, people on here (and our school) begrudge a child like ours who just needs a bit more support and attention. Yes, people are gaming the system. But, some of us are just trying to survive a system that the only way to "win" is to game it and many of us are out of energy and resources to fight it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am the person who wrote the post about my child above. I have zero issues with everyone having an untimed test. “U” keep posting this over and over and it has nothing to do with my post.

I’m taking issue with ranting about “unfairness”. I think these people have no idea what it feels like to be dealt an unfair hand. They don’t know what it feels like to watch an entire preschool class lap your child developmentally. They don’t know what it feels like when someone asks your four year old a simple question like how old he is and there’s a lump in your throat because you know he won’t understand the question. They won’t understand that when he finally gets the question correctly it is because your husband spent 2 hours with him trying to help him understand. That every verbal interaction I have with him, I’m thinking about how I could make it more therapeutic for him. I’m so grateful that these accommodations exist and I hope they are still in place by the time he needs to take these tests.

I have sympathy for you but I also realize that not every child has equal intelligence or processing speed. Why do you think your handicapped child deserves special treatment and where does it end?

NP +1

More importantly, why do you think your low-processing-speed-kid-who-can't-understand-a-question-when-someone-asks-him should get a non-low SAT score? What does the SAT score mean to you? It honestly sounds like you're ashamed of him, want to keep up appearances, etc.

It's one thing saying that my kid struggles, needs some extra support in class, please don't let the teacher lob him questions in front of the other kids while in the "learning" (versus "testing") part of school. I support that 100%.

But not sure why you're so desperate for your kid to get an SAT score that he can't get according to the rules of the test.

I'd be so furious if I hired someone based on GPA and test scores and it turned out that they needed triple the time as anyone else to do (or even understand) a task and only got their results (whether good or just average) through accommodations.

Be grateful you don't have kids like ours as you'd never do the things many of us have done as you sound very selfish. Lucky for some of us we do have the kids we do as despite their struggles they are the best thing that ever could happen to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am the person who wrote the post about my child above. I have zero issues with everyone having an untimed test. “U” keep posting this over and over and it has nothing to do with my post.

I’m taking issue with ranting about “unfairness”. I think these people have no idea what it feels like to be dealt an unfair hand. They don’t know what it feels like to watch an entire preschool class lap your child developmentally. They don’t know what it feels like when someone asks your four year old a simple question like how old he is and there’s a lump in your throat because you know he won’t understand the question. They won’t understand that when he finally gets the question correctly it is because your husband spent 2 hours with him trying to help him understand. That every verbal interaction I have with him, I’m thinking about how I could make it more therapeutic for him. I’m so grateful that these accommodations exist and I hope they are still in place by the time he needs to take these tests.

I have sympathy for you but I also realize that not every child has equal intelligence or processing speed. Why do you think your handicapped child deserves special treatment and where does it end?

DP. The College Board has had this process in place for nearly 2 decades. Why do you think everything should stop just because your kid is rounding the corner on college applications and is looking too mediocre for the top schools? Do you realize that nearly all the kids who are beating him don’t have accommodations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son has tourettes I should make him take the test with your kids instead of a private room.

Lol I was the kid with tourettes who was nearly made by the college board to test in a gym with 100 other kids. I was denied accommodations the first time (just putting myself in a separate room, no extra time). There was no way I would have made it through a regular session without being kicked out (picture lots of shrieking and foot stomping. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you bitch about things being “unfair” , please let me tell you that I feel it is very unfair that my child was born with a moderate learning disability. I have no idea what causes it, but it affects his ability to understand language.
My child literally does not understand words when people speak them. That’s unfairness. It impacts almost all aspects of his life. So please don’t begrudge him extra time on a test and educate your children not to do so either.

No one is begrudging your kid’s extra time. And u of all people should know how unfair it is for kids who are disadvantaged economically and have disabilities but yet don’t have accommodations. So why won’t u support untimed tests for all kids? Why let the abusers get away with this?

I am the person who wrote the post about my child above. I have zero issues with everyone having an untimed test. “U” keep posting this over and over and it has nothing to do with my post.

I’m taking issue with ranting about “unfairness”. I think these people have no idea what it feels like to be dealt an unfair hand. They don’t know what it feels like to watch an entire preschool class lap your child developmentally. They don’t know what it feels like when someone asks your four year old a simple question like how old he is and there’s a lump in your throat because you know he won’t understand the question. They won’t understand that when he finally gets the question correctly it is because your husband spent 2 hours with him trying to help him understand. That every verbal interaction I have with him, I’m thinking about how I could make it more therapeutic for him. I’m so grateful that these accommodations exist and I hope they are still in place by the time he needs to take these tests.

I have sympathy for you but I also realize that not every child has equal intelligence or processing speed. Why do you think your handicapped child deserves special treatment and where does it end?

DP. The College Board has had this process in place for nearly 2 decades. Why do you think everything should stop just because your kid is rounding the corner on college applications and is looking too mediocre for the top schools? Do you realize that nearly all the kids who are beating him don’t have accommodations?

So... you just asked “why do I think my handicapped child deserves special treatment”? He deserves special treatment because he has special challenges that your child does not. If he is going to succeed academically, he needs extra support. Your child doesn’t need that support and should easily be able to test just as well as my child.

And by the way, my child does not have slow processing speed or lesser intelligence- please don’t conflate disability in this fashion. It’s very ignorant. He is not mediocre in any way and works so hard to overcome his challenges- I’m so proud of him every day. He is 4 and not trying to boost a college application. I. Your kid will “beat” my kid three times a day and twice on Sunday- don’t worry about it. Despite the grim future in the “retarded” room that you think my kid deserves, I know my child has potential, and I’m just trying to make sure my kid has a chance at a bright future too.