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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think she was being sarcastic. There was a private school mom a few pages back who thinks that only her own child's disability is legitimate because, as far as I can tell, her fancy private school worked to give her child accommodation early in life. Let them eat cake, I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

It is also scholarships and merit awards. Kids who know the materials but do not get extended time or a calculator are the ones who are disadvantaged by those who gamed the system. I am not referring to kids w true disabilities but the wealthy parents who have connections and can get and pay for a diagnosis. Those of you who don’t believe this obviously is not in the prep school environment where there are a lot of wealthy parents and accomodations.

It's true that private schools have a much larger percentage of kids on accommodations. And I think there's some truth to the wealthy=accommodations. But one factor contributing to the prevalence of accommodations at private HS may be the fact that private schools are better and more responsive to kids with learning disabilities so parents specifically choose private over publice for their kids with learning disabilities. My dc is in a public HS and has accommodations. Private HS would be possible but really hard for us financially. But everyday, I wish we had moved him to private. Public HS is sink or swim. My son has accommodations but there are some classes he just refuses to use it in because the teacher is so hostile to it. Yes by law, they need to give him extended time. And I guess they would if dc pushed for it, but he's a kid and when you have a teacher who so clearly doesn't want to deal with it, he's not going to push for it. I see my friends with kids in private and see the responsiveness, willingness & feedback they get from teachers. You just don't get that at a public HS. I'm not blaming the public school teachers. They may be as every bit good but they just have too many students. If I could do it all over again, I would have sent this one dc to private HS. My other kids were totally fine in public.

Why would you think that? DC area privates are not exactly jumping out of their seats to admit kids with diagnoses and the need for additional support. Just read these forums when people ask for ideas for private schools their kids with HFA or ADHD. What the private schools have is very rich and connected kids whose parents can wrangle "accommodations" when it suits them.

Depends on the kids and the school. IIRC, about 30% of the kids in HS at GDS had some kind of accommodation. And there are learning specialists on staff for all grade levels. Don’t know how many families declared known LDs prior to admission.

Listen to my works. 30% of GDS HS students would NOT qualify for an IEP under IDEA. They have "accommodation" that mommy and daddy purchased for them.

So? Just because a kid doesn’t qualify for an IEP doesn’t mean he is not entitled to accommodations. IEP is extremely difficult to get and maintain. My DS had a 504 (which is not an IEP) for many years in public school before moving to private. The college board saw that he had a history of using accommodations and he was granted extended time. We are wealthy, but hardly gaming the system. We were just fortunate enough to have teachers who quickly identified problems at a very young age. He is the one with adhd, lowish processing speed but high working memory. Consequently, he does really well in school and on tests. Just needs the time to demonstrate that ability. That extra time makes a significant impact in his scores. We are quite pleased with how it all worked out for him.

Oh, I'm sure you are "quite pleased."

Do you have a problem with the fact that a family successfully helped a struggling kid? Or do you consider this situation “gaming the system.? Because it seems that people get up in arms when these kids actually become successful. I mean, isn’t that the whole idea of giving accommodations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

It is also scholarships and merit awards. Kids who know the materials but do not get extended time or a calculator are the ones who are disadvantaged by those who gamed the system. I am not referring to kids w true disabilities but the wealthy parents who have connections and can get and pay for a diagnosis. Those of you who don’t believe this obviously is not in the prep school environment where there are a lot of wealthy parents and accomodations.

It's true that private schools have a much larger percentage of kids on accommodations. And I think there's some truth to the wealthy=accommodations. But one factor contributing to the prevalence of accommodations at private HS may be the fact that private schools are better and more responsive to kids with learning disabilities so parents specifically choose private over publice for their kids with learning disabilities. My dc is in a public HS and has accommodations. Private HS would be possible but really hard for us financially. But everyday, I wish we had moved him to private. Public HS is sink or swim. My son has accommodations but there are some classes he just refuses to use it in because the teacher is so hostile to it. Yes by law, they need to give him extended time. And I guess they would if dc pushed for it, but he's a kid and when you have a teacher who so clearly doesn't want to deal with it, he's not going to push for it. I see my friends with kids in private and see the responsiveness, willingness & feedback they get from teachers. You just don't get that at a public HS. I'm not blaming the public school teachers. They may be as every bit good but they just have too many students. If I could do it all over again, I would have sent this one dc to private HS. My other kids were totally fine in public.

Why would you think that? DC area privates are not exactly jumping out of their seats to admit kids with diagnoses and the need for additional support. Just read these forums when people ask for ideas for private schools their kids with HFA or ADHD. What the private schools have is very rich and connected kids whose parents can wrangle "accommodations" when it suits them.

Depends on the kids and the school. IIRC, about 30% of the kids in HS at GDS had some kind of accommodation. And there are learning specialists on staff for all grade levels. Don’t know how many families declared known LDs prior to admission.

Listen to my works. 30% of GDS HS students would NOT qualify for an IEP under IDEA. They have "accommodation" that mommy and daddy purchased for them.

So? Just because a kid doesn’t qualify for an IEP doesn’t mean he is not entitled to accommodations. IEP is extremely difficult to get and maintain. My DS had a 504 (which is not an IEP) for many years in public school before moving to private. The college board saw that he had a history of using accommodations and he was granted extended time. We are wealthy, but hardly gaming the system. We were just fortunate enough to have teachers who quickly identified problems at a very young age. He is the one with adhd, lowish processing speed but high working memory. Consequently, he does really well in school and on tests. Just needs the time to demonstrate that ability. That extra time makes a significant impact in his scores. We are quite pleased with how it all worked out for him.

Oh, I'm sure you are "quite pleased."

Do you have a problem with the fact that a family successfully helped a struggling kid? Or do you consider this situation “gaming the system.? Because it seems that people get up in arms when these kids actually become successful. I mean, isn’t that the whole idea of giving accommodations?

NP

I have a problem with the fact that a family helped a struggling kid because they were wealthy and had the means to do so. Not every kid is afforded that help. It tips the scales to the side of socioeconomic class. As most things tend to do. I just don't think it's right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

It is also scholarships and merit awards. Kids who know the materials but do not get extended time or a calculator are the ones who are disadvantaged by those who gamed the system. I am not referring to kids w true disabilities but the wealthy parents who have connections and can get and pay for a diagnosis. Those of you who don’t believe this obviously is not in the prep school environment where there are a lot of wealthy parents and accomodations.

It's true that private schools have a much larger percentage of kids on accommodations. And I think there's some truth to the wealthy=accommodations. But one factor contributing to the prevalence of accommodations at private HS may be the fact that private schools are better and more responsive to kids with learning disabilities so parents specifically choose private over publice for their kids with learning disabilities. My dc is in a public HS and has accommodations. Private HS would be possible but really hard for us financially. But everyday, I wish we had moved him to private. Public HS is sink or swim. My son has accommodations but there are some classes he just refuses to use it in because the teacher is so hostile to it. Yes by law, they need to give him extended time. And I guess they would if dc pushed for it, but he's a kid and when you have a teacher who so clearly doesn't want to deal with it, he's not going to push for it. I see my friends with kids in private and see the responsiveness, willingness & feedback they get from teachers. You just don't get that at a public HS. I'm not blaming the public school teachers. They may be as every bit good but they just have too many students. If I could do it all over again, I would have sent this one dc to private HS. My other kids were totally fine in public.

Why would you think that? DC area privates are not exactly jumping out of their seats to admit kids with diagnoses and the need for additional support. Just read these forums when people ask for ideas for private schools their kids with HFA or ADHD. What the private schools have is very rich and connected kids whose parents can wrangle "accommodations" when it suits them.

Depends on the kids and the school. IIRC, about 30% of the kids in HS at GDS had some kind of accommodation. And there are learning specialists on staff for all grade levels. Don’t know how many families declared known LDs prior to admission.

Listen to my works. 30% of GDS HS students would NOT qualify for an IEP under IDEA. They have "accommodation" that mommy and daddy purchased for them.

So? Just because a kid doesn’t qualify for an IEP doesn’t mean he is not entitled to accommodations. IEP is extremely difficult to get and maintain. My DS had a 504 (which is not an IEP) for many years in public school before moving to private. The college board saw that he had a history of using accommodations and he was granted extended time. We are wealthy, but hardly gaming the system. We were just fortunate enough to have teachers who quickly identified problems at a very young age. He is the one with adhd, lowish processing speed but high working memory. Consequently, he does really well in school and on tests. Just needs the time to demonstrate that ability. That extra time makes a significant impact in his scores. We are quite pleased with how it all worked out for him.

Oh, I'm sure you are "quite pleased."

Do you have a problem with the fact that a family successfully helped a struggling kid? Or do you consider this situation “gaming the system.? Because it seems that people get up in arms when these kids actually become successful. I mean, isn’t that the whole idea of giving accommodations?

NP

I have a problem with the fact that a family helped a struggling kid because they were wealthy and had the means to do so. Not every kid is afforded that help. It tips the scales to the side of socioeconomic class. As most things tend to do. I just don't think it's right.

Not right to be wealthy? Alrighty then.

[Anonymous]

Never heard of the "I don't think it's right" legal theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

That's not what this conversation is about, actually. It's precisely the fact that these schools are SO selective that makes it incredibly hard to believe that suddenly 1/4 of the students have disabling conditions necessitating academic accommodations. That makes a mockery out of actual disabilities.

As a side note, I do think it's untenable to offer accommodations like extra time and calculators to some kids, and not to other kids.

Kids can be 2e (aka twice exceptional) — i.e. gifted and dealing with an LD. Wouldn’t surprise me if (a) 2e kids often have interesting and thoughtful stories to tell (b) 2e kids may themselves prefer (and/or have parents who strongly prefer) learning environments that are smaller scale and where teachers routinely engage with and get to know most of their students (c) parents and 2e kids, especially those who are attending college far from home, want a school that has experience, resources, and a good reputation for dealing with LDs. Also, Pomona has a class size of about 420 kids. And it’s an expensive school with predominantly affluent students. So, yeah, it doesn’t blow my mind that 22% of the students who enroll there have a documented LD. It might well be the most LD-friendly elite college in the US.

No. 20% of Pomona admits have not suddenly become 2e.

Correct, most have no doubt been 2e all along. But suddenly (or perhaps gradually) Pomona looked like a simultaneously elite and supportive environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

That's not what this conversation is about, actually. It's precisely the fact that these schools are SO selective that makes it incredibly hard to believe that suddenly 1/4 of the students have disabling conditions necessitating academic accommodations. That makes a mockery out of actual disabilities.

As a side note, I do think it's untenable to offer accommodations like extra time and calculators to some kids, and not to other kids.

Kids can be 2e (aka twice exceptional) — i.e. gifted and dealing with an LD. Wouldn’t surprise me if (a) 2e kids often have interesting and thoughtful stories to tell (b) 2e kids may themselves prefer (and/or have parents who strongly prefer) learning environments that are smaller scale and where teachers routinely engage with and get to know most of their students (c) parents and 2e kids, especially those who are attending college far from home, want a school that has experience, resources, and a good reputation for dealing with LDs. Also, Pomona has a class size of about 420 kids. And it’s an expensive school with predominantly affluent students. So, yeah, it doesn’t blow my mind that 22% of the students who enroll there have a documented LD. It might well be the most LD-friendly elite college in the US.

No. 20% of Pomona admits have not suddenly become 2e.

Correct, most have no doubt been 2e all along. But suddenly (or perhaps gradually) Pomona looked like a simultaneously elite and supportive environment.

No, you're not "2e all along" if you manage to get through elementary, middle, and high school without an IEP. That's not how "2e" works. 2e does not mean "smart but quirky" or "smart but makes careless errors." It means - you have a disability that requires special education to access the curriculum. Perhaps you want to drastically downgrade the definition of disability - but at least be upfront about that. Nobody is 2e and gaining admission to Pomona without a history of significant supports already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

It is also scholarships and merit awards. Kids who know the materials but do not get extended time or a calculator are the ones who are disadvantaged by those who gamed the system. I am not referring to kids w true disabilities but the wealthy parents who have connections and can get and pay for a diagnosis. Those of you who don’t believe this obviously is not in the prep school environment where there are a lot of wealthy parents and accomodations.

It's true that private schools have a much larger percentage of kids on accommodations. And I think there's some truth to the wealthy=accommodations. But one factor contributing to the prevalence of accommodations at private HS may be the fact that private schools are better and more responsive to kids with learning disabilities so parents specifically choose private over publice for their kids with learning disabilities. My dc is in a public HS and has accommodations. Private HS would be possible but really hard for us financially. But everyday, I wish we had moved him to private. Public HS is sink or swim. My son has accommodations but there are some classes he just refuses to use it in because the teacher is so hostile to it. Yes by law, they need to give him extended time. And I guess they would if dc pushed for it, but he's a kid and when you have a teacher who so clearly doesn't want to deal with it, he's not going to push for it. I see my friends with kids in private and see the responsiveness, willingness & feedback they get from teachers. You just don't get that at a public HS. I'm not blaming the public school teachers. They may be as every bit good but they just have too many students. If I could do it all over again, I would have sent this one dc to private HS. My other kids were totally fine in public.

Why would you think that? DC area privates are not exactly jumping out of their seats to admit kids with diagnoses and the need for additional support. Just read these forums when people ask for ideas for private schools their kids with HFA or ADHD. What the private schools have is very rich and connected kids whose parents can wrangle "accommodations" when it suits them.

Depends on the kids and the school. IIRC, about 30% of the kids in HS at GDS had some kind of accommodation. And there are learning specialists on staff for all grade levels. Don’t know how many families declared known LDs prior to admission.

Listen to my works. 30% of GDS HS students would NOT qualify for an IEP under IDEA. They have "accommodation" that mommy and daddy purchased for them.

So? Just because a kid doesn’t qualify for an IEP doesn’t mean he is not entitled to accommodations. IEP is extremely difficult to get and maintain. My DS had a 504 (which is not an IEP) for many years in public school before moving to private. The college board saw that he had a history of using accommodations and he was granted extended time. We are wealthy, but hardly gaming the system. We were just fortunate enough to have teachers who quickly identified problems at a very young age. He is the one with adhd, lowish processing speed but high working memory. Consequently, he does really well in school and on tests. Just needs the time to demonstrate that ability. That extra time makes a significant impact in his scores. We are quite pleased with how it all worked out for him.

Oh, I'm sure you are "quite pleased."

Do you have a problem with the fact that a family successfully helped a struggling kid? Or do you consider this situation “gaming the system.? Because it seems that people get up in arms when these kids actually become successful. I mean, isn’t that the whole idea of giving accommodations?

NP

I have a problem with the fact that a family helped a struggling kid because they were wealthy and had the means to do so. Not every kid is afforded that help. It tips the scales to the side of socioeconomic class. As most things tend to do. I just don't think it's right.

Not right to be wealthy? Alrighty then.

Not right to only get accomodations if you are wealthy enough to have them diagnosed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

It is also scholarships and merit awards. Kids who know the materials but do not get extended time or a calculator are the ones who are disadvantaged by those who gamed the system. I am not referring to kids w true disabilities but the wealthy parents who have connections and can get and pay for a diagnosis. Those of you who don’t believe this obviously is not in the prep school environment where there are a lot of wealthy parents and accomodations.

It's true that private schools have a much larger percentage of kids on accommodations. And I think there's some truth to the wealthy=accommodations. But one factor contributing to the prevalence of accommodations at private HS may be the fact that private schools are better and more responsive to kids with learning disabilities so parents specifically choose private over publice for their kids with learning disabilities. My dc is in a public HS and has accommodations. Private HS would be possible but really hard for us financially. But everyday, I wish we had moved him to private. Public HS is sink or swim. My son has accommodations but there are some classes he just refuses to use it in because the teacher is so hostile to it. Yes by law, they need to give him extended time. And I guess they would if dc pushed for it, but he's a kid and when you have a teacher who so clearly doesn't want to deal with it, he's not going to push for it. I see my friends with kids in private and see the responsiveness, willingness & feedback they get from teachers. You just don't get that at a public HS. I'm not blaming the public school teachers. They may be as every bit good but they just have too many students. If I could do it all over again, I would have sent this one dc to private HS. My other kids were totally fine in public.

Why would you think that? DC area privates are not exactly jumping out of their seats to admit kids with diagnoses and the need for additional support. Just read these forums when people ask for ideas for private schools their kids with HFA or ADHD. What the private schools have is very rich and connected kids whose parents can wrangle "accommodations" when it suits them.

Depends on the kids and the school. IIRC, about 30% of the kids in HS at GDS had some kind of accommodation. And there are learning specialists on staff for all grade levels. Don’t know how many families declared known LDs prior to admission.

Listen to my works. 30% of GDS HS students would NOT qualify for an IEP under IDEA. They have "accommodation" that mommy and daddy purchased for them.

Who knows? I'm just responding to claim that DC privates aren’t eager to enroll/support SN kids.

That said, yeah, it sucks that high quality education and medical care are sold at prices not everyone can afford in the country. But there's no independent reason to get bent out of shape about people who wouldn’t (or might not) qualify for taxpayer-funded services deciding to pay out of pocket for services (e.g. private schools that will provide accommodations without requiring an IEP, tutors)that they think would enable their kids to do better in school. IEPs are ways the government rations its educational resources. They aren’t some objective bright line that separates kids who need/deserve/could benefit from help or accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think she was being sarcastic. There was a private school mom a few pages back who thinks that only her own child's disability is legitimate because, as far as I can tell, her fancy private school worked to give her child accommodation early in life. Let them eat cake, I suppose.

I know a private mom who has done the same. For academics and sport. And held her kid back a year in HS. He told my DS how his mom made sure he had extra time on SAT, and got him diagnosed with ADHD. Basically, what's wrong with us for not getting DS extra time, everyone does it. Very, very academic private in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't think she was being sarcastic. There was a private school mom a few pages back who thinks that only her own child's disability is legitimate because, as far as I can tell, her fancy private school worked to give her child accommodation early in life. Let them eat cake, I suppose.

And sometimes the fancy private schools actually ask you to leave.

Because you have ASD.

And they cannot accommodate you.


Walk a mile in someone's shoes let them eat cake pp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@657. It’s on the college forum, because parents are facing a tough college entrance environment. And it’s scary. So they are latching onto— but my kid could get into a top ten school if their spot wasn’t taken by an ADHD kid who cheated on the SAT. Which is crazy. These schools have 6% admit rates. If your kid does not have a significant hook or is is very lucky in their profile, they are not getting in. Neither is the ADHD kid. And no amount of extra time is going to give your kid the 1560 on the SAT they would need to even have their essay read. It is not a test you can do perfectly, even with u limited time. You have to be very fluent in the material. If you don’t know the vocal work or get the math problem, more time does not help.

That's not what this conversation is about, actually. It's precisely the fact that these schools are SO selective that makes it incredibly hard to believe that suddenly 1/4 of the students have disabling conditions necessitating academic accommodations. That makes a mockery out of actual disabilities.

As a side note, I do think it's untenable to offer accommodations like extra time and calculators to some kids, and not to other kids.

Kids can be 2e (aka twice exceptional) — i.e. gifted and dealing with an LD. Wouldn’t surprise me if (a) 2e kids often have interesting and thoughtful stories to tell (b) 2e kids may themselves prefer (and/or have parents who strongly prefer) learning environments that are smaller scale and where teachers routinely engage with and get to know most of their students (c) parents and 2e kids, especially those who are attending college far from home, want a school that has experience, resources, and a good reputation for dealing with LDs. Also, Pomona has a class size of about 420 kids. And it’s an expensive school with predominantly affluent students. So, yeah, it doesn’t blow my mind that 22% of the students who enroll there have a documented LD. It might well be the most LD-friendly elite college in the US.

No. 20% of Pomona admits have not suddenly become 2e.

Correct, most have no doubt been 2e all along. But suddenly (or perhaps gradually) Pomona looked like a simultaneously elite and supportive environment.

No, you're not "2e all along" if you manage to get through elementary, middle, and high school without an IEP. That's not how "2e" works. 2e does not mean "smart but quirky" or "smart but makes careless errors." It means - you have a disability that requires special education to access the curriculum. Perhaps you want to drastically downgrade the definition of disability - but at least be upfront about that. Nobody is 2e and gaining admission to Pomona without a history of significant supports already.

Oh bullshit. There are lots of 2e kids who fly under the radar because they are relatively high-performing and/or they may have an LD that impacts one aspect of their academic performance while they excel in some other discipline.

[Anonymous]

I know one of the Dean of Students at Pomona and she told me that this is a quite a click-bait article.

The school, like most other schools, amended its disability classification system to include those with documented psychological disorders (usually depression & anxiety). That's why you see the spike from 5 to 22%. Most of those students DO NOT use any accommodations. They are kept within a database and informed about their rights and resources. The WSJ implies that these students necessarily ask for extended time, separate spaces, etc, but 95%+ of Pomona students take the class traditionally.

Is there a possibility for abuse? Sure. But the school makes students renew accommodations every single semester and does not grant them readily. The hassle of going through the process- having a professional fill out the form with suggested recommendations, working with the DOS, informing professors before the start of the semester- keeps out everyone but those who really do need them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
NP

I have a problem with the fact that a family helped a struggling kid because they were wealthy and had the means to do so. Not every kid is afforded that help. It tips the scales to the side of socioeconomic class. As most things tend to do. I just don't think it's right.

Not right to be wealthy? Alrighty then.

Not right to only get accomodations if you are wealthy enough to have them diagnosed.

CNMC and KKI will perform the same diagnostic tests as a private practice and they take insurance. The only difference is the amount of time it takes since they're typically scheduling 10 months out and private practice can get you in in 6 weeks or so. Schools are also required to performing testing upon referral. While not medically diagnostic, their testing is supposed to identify whether the student is able to access the curriculum or if they need services or accommodations.

It seems your beef is that those with more money have more resources to address their children's disabilities. They don't have to settle for the crumbs given in public school, but can instead pay to receive a full and effective level of intervention. Are you saying that parents should not be able to pay to give their kids the support they need? Does that include all the other enrichment activities rich people fund for their kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know one of the Dean of Students at Pomona and she told me that this is a quite a click-bait article.

The school, like most other schools, amended its disability classification system to include those with documented psychological disorders (usually depression & anxiety). That's why you see the spike from 5 to 22%. Most of those students DO NOT use any accommodations. They are kept within a database and informed about their rights and resources. The WSJ implies that these students necessarily ask for extended time, separate spaces, etc, but 95%+ of Pomona students take the class traditionally.

Is there a possibility for abuse? Sure. But the school makes students renew accommodations every single semester and does not grant them readily. The hassle of going through the process- having a professional fill out the form with suggested recommendations, working with the DOS, informing professors before the start of the semester- keeps out everyone but those who really do need them.

Thanks — I really appreciate this post!