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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]On the contrary, HS accommodations like IEP or 504 are generally not even accepted at the college level without the college re-evaluating the supporting documentation (for ADHD, for example, a neuropsych is a common requirement).  My own university is really strict about this.  And in-house diagnostics are not available, so students have to have them already completed when they arrive or get then independently.  (That raises all kinds of really troubling questions about equity and access, too.)

In my experience, even students who have gone through the evaluation process for accommodation in college often refuse to use the supports they are offered.  I wish I could say it is because they are experimenting with different positive coping mechanisms, but more often it seems Iike the accommodations are just a bridge too far: extra time is exhausting (for ADHD kids it is a battle to stay engaged for Every. Single. Minute. no matter how much they may want to), and other accommodations can make them feel like they are imposing.  The accommodation of flexible deadline dates for assignments, btw, is usually something granted because of other diagnoses, not ADHD.  (Anxiety is one example.)  And regardless of accommodations, students of all diagnoses almost always run out of meds, which doesn't help.

What are families to do in this environment?  For those with kids who don't need accommodations, just encourage empathy.  Remind them that accommodations are not designed to provide an advantage, but to address a gap (a gap that may very well not be completely eradicable) between available performance levels.  Encourage them to think about what their classmates are experiencing, and to consider how they might feel if they were a parent or a teacher trying to help.  And for those with accommodated students, keep the testing as current as you can, the documentation as official as you can, and the self-education of the student as proactive and supportive as you can.  As we all know, at the college level the students have to be their own advocates, but they also need to collaborate as well.as they can with those who genuinely want to help them.

And for those who argue that the workplace doesn't give extra time on tests, that is completely true.  But not all workplaces require you to perform completely unrelated tasks in completely different subject areas in close succession on a daily basis, and to change jobs every semester (which a college schedule with distribution requirements essentially does).  There are plenty of jobs that involve much more specificity, and professions that can play to a person's strengths.  People who need accommodations in college can be extremely successful in a well-chosen career environment with no help.  I am hoping for that for my own DC, too.

- College prof and ADHD parent
[/quote]

This rings true. My DC had to get reevaluated before going to college, and when he arrived, the college did accept the evaluation and offer him the accommodations, but he did not want them. He probably still needed them, but he was tired of the stigma attached to being an “extra time” kid. I would echo the calls for empathy on this and other posts. Most kids and families are not scamming the system. If someone tells you they got evaluated just before the SAT, be skeptical, but in the ordinary course, that it not how this works.  My DC went from having thoughts of self harm in MS from falling behind and getting picked on and excluded, to understanding his limits better and becoming more comfortable with himself in HS. If that’s a scam, I’ll take it.  [/quote]

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