extra time on tests and applying to college
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Anonymous
Parents need to discuss learning disabilities with their children. They are not obvious to peers. In fact, the first clue is often a disconnect between how “smart” a kid is and how hard academic work might be for them. Something is seriously wrong if kids resent peers with medically documented learning disabilities because they fear they are losing a college entry advantage. Really twisted. |
Anonymous
I absolutely don’t believe that you are worried that these kids will struggle professionally. Your type of post never comes from a patent with such a child, it comes from the parents of kids who “resent” them. |
Anonymous
My daughter has issues similar to yours. She has a language processing disorder and often can’t discern what the question is asking. Multiple choice tests are very hard for her. Yet she is very smart and has worked so hard for years, for absolutely each of her achievements. I am much more proud of her than I would be of a snarky straight A kid to whom everything has come easily. |
Anonymous
Yes, it's true. There are plenty of kids getting extra time for test anxiety or other issues when they have no serious learning disabilities. People will say this isn't true, but it's true. My kid's friend is one of them. In the long run these kids are not going to be well-served by all of these accommodations because, at some point, they will have to deal with the real world. |
Anonymous
| You people are just too ignorant. I give up |
Anonymous
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Extra time on tests for kids with ADHD and other diagnoses can often work against them: at best they can run out of focus stamina and zone out or start making unforced errors; or worse, they can feel terrible about themselves for not being able to bring it in, bring it home, and get it done, and get stuck in an anxiety spiral. ADHD kids will also sometimes rush either to pack everything in while they are focused on it or to get it over with because there is something else around that is of greater interest. (As fellow ADHD parents know, kids like this can have superhero-level laser focus on something they care about, even from a very young age.) Finding the middle ground is very hard. At the college level, sometimes it helps them to just take their tests and quizzes at the same time and the same pace as everyone else, not even for appearance' sake, but because they have nothing left to give in the extra time anyway. Plus, as general human logic suggests, it is also considered helpful in the education sphere (where you can find it called "modeling") to be surrounded by others who are engaging in the positive behaviors--like focused work--that you yourself are striving to emulate.
Are there people out there who may have "purchased" a diagnosis of ADHD or something like that because the customary accommodations are perceived as academically advantageous? Surely. And classmates have probably heard stories about it, too. Some of them might even be true. But if the environment and the accommodations are right, and the situation is properly supportive of a given kid, the kid has a very good chance of being quite successful, even highly successful, even excellent--and that is what accommodations are for. In the best-case scenario an accommodated kid may absolutely shine in they eyes of their classmates--because that is the kind of student they are really supposed to be, and the accommodations are a key part of making that possible. In other words, some of what looks to classmates like a scam may in fact actually be the good results of a lot of honest hard work by a team of family members, therapists, and teachers--and by the kid themselves. If things are going well, classmates probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Knowing that probably won't alleviate the sense of unfairness that observers might feel, but sometimes a bit of explanation might help. Where I think we have room for growth in higher education is in transforming our understandings of accommodations into best practices for maximizing learning for everyone. I learned a lot about my own teaching, and about accommodating students generally (not just those with learning challenges), under pandemic lockdown that is going to affect what I do in the future, and I think many of my colleagues can say the same. - College prof and ADHD parent |
Anonymous
Wow! That’s pretty cool that your kid is a neuropsychologist without even going to college! Great for you to save money and he can skip all of the pesky degrees and board exams. Well done! |
Anonymous
I have one of these kids, too! She really needs the extra time to read (which is laborious for her) but gets exhausted so usually doesn’t do as well as she could with her knowledge base. Honestly, she is very smart but no threat to any of the gunners on here. But I have confidence she will be professionally successful. She has some great non-academic skills. |
Anonymous
Spare me your crocodile tears. You concern is that my child may get some perceived advantage over your little snowflake. That’s not going to happen. People tend to choose careers in which they can be successful and cater to their strengths. Someone with severe ADHD will likely avoid a career with strict deadlines. I worked with a guy who was brilliant but had crazy severe ADHD. We all knew he would do mind blowing work for 2 weeks, then disappear down a rabbit hole for 2 weeks, then come back with something amazing. You had to manage deadlines with him, but his work was brilliant. I’d take him as an employee any day of the week over a neurotypical person who could meet the deadlines but could not pick up the patterns and nuances this guy could. |
Anonymous
PP, congratulations on your kid's hard-earned admission and future success at Georgetown!!! As to OP, my student has had an IEP since 2nd grade, with documented "invisible" disabilities dating back to age 5. The College Board initially denied him extra time and small group testing accommodations, based on our school's initial submission. Probably since so many kids convince their parents to try to get them extra time. Fortunately, his appeal was granted weeks later. We provided historical documentation, confirmed via older and more recent evaluations. We listed doctors' practices and contacts, SLPs, and other providers of services over the years (none of this was tutoring by the way). Elementary, middle, and hs IEP excerpts. All of this was done to show that we were not seeking to be ONE OF THOSE "ALL THOSE KIDS" who get extra time, just in the nick of time, to game the system. I am not sure what you mean when you say, this "will catch up" when one applies to college. Colleges, just like real life jobs, operate under the federal ADA, which qualifies an eligible person for reasonable accommodations. |
Anonymous
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Haven't read all of the comments here yet but I was told that testing should be re-done at age 16 or older and then it is usually accepted by colleges.
Having my 10th grader, who has extra time for testing, re-tested at the end of the school year when he will already be 16. He will need new testing for ACT accommodations since his prior testing is 4 years old. And then hoping we can provide copies of this testing to his future college. College Board already approved extra time for SAT and AP exams, based on old testing and school accommodations plans. |
Anonymous
Hate to reference Varsity Blues, but one of the most common abuses was getting a fake diagnosis resulting in extra time (of course, they then bribed the proctor for your special test and paid someone to take it for you...but it started with bribing the medical person first). Yes, there are medical professionals that can essentially be bribed, and I guarantee that families are "in the know" as to whom you should go see in order to get your diagnosis. Again, just give everyone more time, and be done with it. |
Anonymous
| Unfortunately, it's a fact that some kids' parents basically buy them extra time (see PP a few posts up). This makes it hard for an outsider/other kids to know which are really genuine. Not fair to the kids who really need them. |
Anonymous
You can't buy extra time unless you lie to medical professionals or those people are dishonest. Of course that happens. But it is not the norm. |
Anonymous
What does “give everyone extra time” actually mean? How is it “extra” time if everyone has it? Does it mean eliminate time limits? That would be fine, but hard for testing centers to manage. |