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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]look, nobody is going to care about a handful of otherwise able dyslexic students who get acccomodations on exams and standardized tests. But when it starts to get to the point where 20% of highly privileged kids claim a disability ... that becomes an issue. [/quote]

It isn’t 20% that get accommodations, the 20% number includes mental health services.[/quote]

+1.   College Board reports that 7% of test takers receive accommodations -- not 20%.   And of course not all of the 7% are "highly privileged." [/quote]

Well, there are no stats for that but those complicated  neuropsych exams are typically not covered by insurance and run $4000-$6000. If you are paying that —newsflash — you are affluent. Maybe you didn’t realize.[/quote]

Maybe you didn't realize that not everyone who qualifies for accommodations for the SAT and ACT has had to private pay for a neuropsych?

Here you go: https://www.collegeboard.org/students-with-disabilities/iep-504-eligibility[/quote]

Exactly.

The problem with posters like the first one here is that many do not know what they are talking about.   They get all worked up about something they think is shutting out the poor and just go full steam ahead.  The truth is that many poor do have access to extra time.  I think an earlier post included an article from the Chicago Tribune that talked about how the wealthy had more access admitted that in their research the found that, "At four schools with high poverty levels, 21 to 25 percent of the students got special assistance, but none scored at the national ACT average of 21, and many posted well below that."

I have a friend who a special needs daughter, now a junior in high school.  In elementary school there was clearly a problem, and she was able to get her a 504 without spending a dime.  She did not need to hire anyone outside the school system, which gave her the accommodations and support.

When it came time to apply for accommodations for the ACT, any documentation she supplied was strictly from the school and no psychologist outside of MCPS.   She managed to secure extended time, use of a keyboard, mark booklet, and multi day testing.  Yes, she may have had better supports in place in her public school if she had the advocacy of an outside psychologist, but her financial situation prevented her from doing so.  She was, however, able to get the accommodations her daughter needed despite her lack of retaining an outside organization.

I agree the wealthy will always have a leg up in getting their kids what they need and more, but that is the case with everything, whether it be tutoring, membership in a club sport, private school, private college counselors, connections, etc.  And yes, there is a very small percentage who might scam the system, but I do not think it is as prevalent as people are stating on this thread.[/quote]

Keep telling yourself that the poor are just fine if it makes you feel better, ok?
There’s a big difference between a kid with debilitating SN like autism or ID and a kid with a subtle disability.
A kid who can function socially and participate normally in the classroom would be passed through school with good grades in a lower income school, whether he could read or not . He’s not going to be identified as dyslexic or ADHD with neuropsych testing and get special tutoring and accommodations all of his life and go on to college after high school like your kid. He’s going to graduate, feel that he’s stupid and he’ll be in some kind of service job (serving your privileged family ) for the rest of his life if he is lucky. Make sure that you ‘strongly believe’ that a McDonald’s job is only a ‘gateway job’ that doesn’t warrant a decent wage because he’s supposed to work his way up to something better, ok? Icing on the cake![/quote]

PP wasn't saying that poor kids are just fine. PP was pushing back against the claim that the kids with accommodations on these tests are all rich kids scamming the system.

I am one of the posters with a dyslexic child and I agree that it is grossly under-identified, and terribly under-supported when it is identified. I agree that children are harmed for life because of this.

But denying my child accommodations because he had the luck to be born into a family that could identify it doesn't solve this problem. Supporting his need for accommodations can help make sure it's understood what sorts of accommodations children with dyslexia need and deserve. By forcing my child's school to offer him effective supports, those supports are now in place for other children. (Because while in the moment I might feel like my child's school is just trying to save a buck, often I think the lack of appropriate accommodations is simply ignorance.)

Instead, we have posters who argue that because my child is generally bright and from an UMC family, he isn't deserving of accommodations because that might allow him to evenly-compete or over-shadow their bright but non-disabled child. That's an argument for continuing to refuse to identify disabilities and refuse to accommodate them. And that's who the PP was pushing back against.[/quote]

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