Wall Street Journal on rampant growth in percentage of college students with “disabilities”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no level playing field and never will be. My kid who tested at 65th percentile for processing speed, 60th for working memory, and 99.9th for both verbal and quantitative reasoning doesn’t get accomodations. Do you think his processing speed and working memory slow down his exceptional abilities? They most definitely do. He struggles to get Bs. He can’t finish any single section on the ACT within the time constraints, but when he has a 3.3 and a 28 on the ACT I am proud. Could he be the next Einstein if his 99.9s were across the board? Maybe, but everyone has imperfections and I don’t see him taking an extra minute to figure out a math problem accurately as a disability. It only concerns me when I consider the fact that he will always look less intelligent on paper than those who scored lower than he did and have accomodations.

My dc's processing speed is in 37th% and they told me it's considered to be in the average range. And I think you need to stop blaming your son's poor performance on processing speed because my dc with 37th% processing speed, 52% working memory, scored in the 98th% on PSAT with no accommodations. Why don't you have him try SAT?

My DC has 36% processing speed and 97% working memory. His accommodations are not because of those measurements. He has significant inattentiveness and other symptoms pointing to ADHD. He gets 50% extra time on tests and needs it because he is able to correct careless errors (which can be numerous depending on the day). DS has always been different than the other kids. He endured horrendous bullying in elementary and middle school. Another parent asked me what type of autism he had one day. He is the type of kid who just drifts off from time to time. His ADHD diagnosis got him the extra time, not the processing speed. So for those who are unhappy about the accommodations for kids with PS issues, there must be something else going on because PS alone does not get a kid accommodations.

The good news this boy, who was once considered a bit of an outcast during earlier school years, is doing awesome now. He got an amazing ACT score and has gained confidence he never had before. He has developed a great group of friends in high school. Thank God the accommodations are there for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you use a calculator in your actuarial work? If so, why isn’t the solution that everyone gets to use a calculator on the exam (vs no one)?

Kinda like the shift from “handicapped-accessible” to “barrier-free” design.

I am the actuary. For math and science portions of the tests, if some kids get extended time plus calculator accomodations, I am saying that is truly unfair. All the kids should have access to calculators. It takes a lot of time and one is prone to mistakes when one does not use a calculator. And if the kid also does not have extended time accomodation, then the kid is the ‘disadvantaged’ kid. This is totally unfair especially in light of how many are gaming the system,

How many are gaming the system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondered what you all make of this: It's an old story that was on 60 minutes several years ago. I never forgot it. Wondering if the kid attended law school or if his mother actually did:
http://articles.courant.com/1995-08-29/news/9508290152_1_elementary-school-teacher-reading-middle-school-student

There's an interesting sentence from the above article which is dated 1995:-

"At Yale, about 40 of the university's 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students have been identified as having learning disabilities, said Fay Hanson, director of Yale's Resource Office on Disabilities."

40/10,000 = 0.4%, compared to the numbers of 20-25% at top universities today being quoted in the Wall St Journal article from 2018?

Does that surprise you? In 1995, what percentage of children were identified as autistic? Dyslexic? Dysgraphic? 1995 is after I finished college, but when I was a kid, there were no autistic students in our classes. Kids who were disruptive, or even just "weird" ended up somewhere else. No idea where. Kids who couldn't read well were told they were stupid and shuttled off to the VoTech track. No college for them, if they even finished HS. You think our historical identification and treatment of people with disabilities is something we should return to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondered what you all make of this: It's an old story that was on 60 minutes several years ago. I never forgot it. Wondering if the kid attended law school or if his mother actually did:
http://articles.courant.com/1995-08-29/news/9508290152_1_elementary-school-teacher-reading-middle-school-student

There's an interesting sentence from the above article which is dated 1995:-

"At Yale, about 40 of the university's 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students have been identified as having learning disabilities, said Fay Hanson, director of Yale's Resource Office on Disabilities."

40/10,000 = 0.4%, compared to the numbers of 20-25% at top universities today being quoted in the Wall St Journal article from 2018?

Does that surprise you? In 1995, what percentage of children were identified as autistic? Dyslexic? Dysgraphic? 1995 is after I finished college, but when I was a kid, there were no autistic students in our classes. Kids who were disruptive, or even just "weird" ended up somewhere else. No idea where. Kids who couldn't read well were told they were stupid and shuttled off to the VoTech track. No college for them, if they even finished HS. You think our historical identification and treatment of people with disabilities is something we should return to?

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondered what you all make of this: It's an old story that was on 60 minutes several years ago. I never forgot it. Wondering if the kid attended law school or if his mother actually did:
http://articles.courant.com/1995-08-29/news/9508290152_1_elementary-school-teacher-reading-middle-school-student

There's an interesting sentence from the above article which is dated 1995:-

"At Yale, about 40 of the university's 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students have been identified as having learning disabilities, said Fay Hanson, director of Yale's Resource Office on Disabilities."

40/10,000 = 0.4%, compared to the numbers of 20-25% at top universities today being quoted in the Wall St Journal article from 2018?

Does that surprise you? In 1995, what percentage of children were identified as autistic? Dyslexic? Dysgraphic? 1995 is after I finished college, but when I was a kid, there were no autistic students in our classes. Kids who were disruptive, or even just "weird" ended up somewhere else. No idea where. Kids who couldn't read well were told they were stupid and shuttled off to the VoTech track. No college for them, if they even finished HS. You think our historical identification and treatment of people with disabilities is something we should return to?

+100

No -look at the college board studies. Accomodation requests jumped when the flag was removed.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, when stigma was taken out of the mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondered what you all make of this: It's an old story that was on 60 minutes several years ago. I never forgot it. Wondering if the kid attended law school or if his mother actually did:
http://articles.courant.com/1995-08-29/news/9508290152_1_elementary-school-teacher-reading-middle-school-student

There's an interesting sentence from the above article which is dated 1995:-

"At Yale, about 40 of the university's 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students have been identified as having learning disabilities, said Fay Hanson, director of Yale's Resource Office on Disabilities."

40/10,000 = 0.4%, compared to the numbers of 20-25% at top universities today being quoted in the Wall St Journal article from 2018?

Does that surprise you? In 1995, what percentage of children were identified as autistic? Dyslexic? Dysgraphic? 1995 is after I finished college, but when I was a kid, there were no autistic students in our classes. Kids who were disruptive, or even just "weird" ended up somewhere else. No idea where. Kids who couldn't read well were told they were stupid and shuttled off to the VoTech track. No college for them, if they even finished HS. You think our historical identification and treatment of people with disabilities is something we should return to?

This is not about a disability rights movement. This is about the fact that wealthy kids get dubious diagnoses while middle and poor kids who have gotten where they are entirely on their own are shut out of admissions. Only anxious, affluent parents know their children's percentile processing speed. Middle and lower class parents are just told their child is a C student, and he doesn't get to go to Pomona.

[Anonymous]

Another reason to hate white and wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondered what you all make of this: It's an old story that was on 60 minutes several years ago. I never forgot it. Wondering if the kid attended law school or if his mother actually did:
http://articles.courant.com/1995-08-29/news/9508290152_1_elementary-school-teacher-reading-middle-school-student

There's an interesting sentence from the above article which is dated 1995:-

"At Yale, about 40 of the university's 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students have been identified as having learning disabilities, said Fay Hanson, director of Yale's Resource Office on Disabilities."

40/10,000 = 0.4%, compared to the numbers of 20-25% at top universities today being quoted in the Wall St Journal article from 2018?

Does that surprise you? In 1995, what percentage of children were identified as autistic? Dyslexic? Dysgraphic? 1995 is after I finished college, but when I was a kid, there were no autistic students in our classes. Kids who were disruptive, or even just "weird" ended up somewhere else. No idea where. Kids who couldn't read well were told they were stupid and shuttled off to the VoTech track. No college for them, if they even finished HS. You think our historical identification and treatment of people with disabilities is something we should return to?

This is not about a disability rights movement. This is about the fact that wealthy kids get dubious diagnoses while middle and poor kids who have gotten where they are entirely on their own are shut out of admissions. Only anxious, affluent parents know their children's percentile processing speed. Middle and lower class parents are just told their child is a C student, and he doesn't get to go to Pomona.

Unconscionable educational inequities are pervasive in the US — from the extreme variations in public school quality from PreK-12 to the outrageous cost of private colleges. But to the extent that you are right about middle and working class families being told their kid is just a C student*, it seems just perverse to target your anger toward accommodations on college admissions tests, especially when those accommodations are genuinely needed by many kids and you are in no position to know how many or which ones. So, in effect, the position you are taking (poor kids don’t get into Pomona because rich kids get accommodations on the SAT) turns this into a disability rights issue. If a SN kid has been written off as a C student throughout primary/secondary school, that ship (Pomona) has sailed long before s/he takes the SAT.

*and I know that — and worse — does happen, but I also know public school teachers do identify kids with learning disabilities and try to get them the services they need and are entitled to.

[Anonymous]

Thankfully DS was diagnosed with ASD when he was 8 (and on his 4th school!) so that none of these moms will think we’re gaming the system :-/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondered what you all make of this: It's an old story that was on 60 minutes several years ago. I never forgot it. Wondering if the kid attended law school or if his mother actually did:
http://articles.courant.com/1995-08-29/news/9508290152_1_elementary-school-teacher-reading-middle-school-student

There's an interesting sentence from the above article which is dated 1995:-

"At Yale, about 40 of the university's 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students have been identified as having learning disabilities, said Fay Hanson, director of Yale's Resource Office on Disabilities."

40/10,000 = 0.4%, compared to the numbers of 20-25% at top universities today being quoted in the Wall St Journal article from 2018?

Does that surprise you? In 1995, what percentage of children were identified as autistic? Dyslexic? Dysgraphic? 1995 is after I finished college, but when I was a kid, there were no autistic students in our classes. Kids who were disruptive, or even just "weird" ended up somewhere else. No idea where. Kids who couldn't read well were told they were stupid and shuttled off to the VoTech track. No college for them, if they even finished HS. You think our historical identification and treatment of people with disabilities is something we should return to?

This is not about a disability rights movement. This is about the fact that wealthy kids get dubious diagnoses while middle and poor kids who have gotten where they are entirely on their own are shut out of admissions. Only anxious, affluent parents know their children's percentile processing speed. Middle and lower class parents are just told their child is a C student, and he doesn't get to go to Pomona.

Wealthy kids also get held back a year, so they're old for grade, have private sports coaching so they excel in their sports, have access to all sorts of tutoring so they can more easily have better grades, get access to all sorts of enrichment. Their children can go to post graduate years. They have college coaches. The children of the wealthy are privileged.

That means that children with accommodations are gaming the system? Because wealthy children are privileged? Why aren't you complaining about wealthy children having all sorts of experiences they can draw on to write those stand-out college essays? Or access to equipment allowing them to make pretty close to professional videos to supplement their college apps? And the years of private music lessons that enables them to enclose a pretty decent music supplement to show how well rounded they are, even though they aren't majoring in music.

But let's critique accommodations, because those defective kids don't belong in the same school with your normal kid, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thankfully DS was diagnosed with ASD when he was 8 (and on his 4th school!) so that none of these moms will think we’re gaming the system :-/

What a horrid thing to say.

[Anonymous]

So, students with disabilities who have rich parents get identified. Students with disabilities with poor parents do not and the solution is to ding the students with disabilities who have rich parents instead of trying to identify all students with disabilities. Is that what people are proposing?

As to the PPs who want the College Board scores asterixed if a student received accommodations, would you also be in favor of the students wearing a yellow SN patch around their college to let everyone know they are also asterixed in college? Should their HS and College diplomas also contain an asterix? I mean its only fair that people know, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thankfully DS was diagnosed with ASD when he was 8 (and on his 4th school!) so that none of these moms will think we’re gaming the system :-/

What a horrid thing to say.

You need to turn on your sarcasm meter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondered what you all make of this: It's an old story that was on 60 minutes several years ago. I never forgot it. Wondering if the kid attended law school or if his mother actually did:
http://articles.courant.com/1995-08-29/news/9508290152_1_elementary-school-teacher-reading-middle-school-student

There's an interesting sentence from the above article which is dated 1995:-

"At Yale, about 40 of the university's 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students have been identified as having learning disabilities, said Fay Hanson, director of Yale's Resource Office on Disabilities."

40/10,000 = 0.4%, compared to the numbers of 20-25% at top universities today being quoted in the Wall St Journal article from 2018?

Does that surprise you? In 1995, what percentage of children were identified as autistic? Dyslexic? Dysgraphic? 1995 is after I finished college, but when I was a kid, there were no autistic students in our classes. Kids who were disruptive, or even just "weird" ended up somewhere else. No idea where. Kids who couldn't read well were told they were stupid and shuttled off to the VoTech track. No college for them, if they even finished HS. You think our historical identification and treatment of people with disabilities is something we should return to?

This is not about a disability rights movement. This is about the fact that wealthy kids get dubious diagnoses while middle and poor kids who have gotten where they are entirely on their own are shut out of admissions. Only anxious, affluent parents know their children's percentile processing speed. Middle and lower class parents are just told their child is a C student, and he doesn't get to go to Pomona.

This x 1000

The only answer here is to have the county/state foot the bill to screen every single child for disabilities (which we all know will never happen). Because on this board, with those affluent anxious parents, even if their child is getting top grades and testing well, the attitude here is “well what if they could be doing even better with accommodations?!?”
I’ve seen this bizarre way of thinking over on the “where is your child going to college” thread in the college forum. It’s foreign to me.