Hi all,
If a child shows a consistent pattern of having difficulty copying things from the board to paper correctly, or from a book to paper, is it too much to expect some accommodation be made so that the assignment/test reflects an assessment of her knowledge?
For example, a recent math test my 6th-grader took required the following: looking at the board to see what item #’s to do, looking at her math book and finding the correct item #, copying the problem from the book to her paper, and then of course, solving the problem. Result: a failing grade on the test - she copied several problems incorrectly from the book, so of course the answer was wrong; she did several of the wrong item #’s entirely before realizing it and scratching them out.
This was brought to the teacher’s attention and the next test was given on a handout (yeah!), although she still had to do the math work on a separate piece of paper.
The next test, however, was a multiple choice test. They could circle the correct answer, then write the correct choice (A,B,C,D) in a column on the right side of the paper. THEN, they had to bubble in the correct answer on a separate sheet. My daughter had several questions where she did the math correctly, circled the correct answers, wrote the correct answers, but then filled in the wrong bubbles - and it was clear from her erasures that she had gotten confused with the bubbles. If those items were counted as correct, she would have gotten a grade higher on the test.
There’s a LOT more background info. I should give you, but this post would get REALLY long!! I KNOW this is a processing problem of some sort for my child. She has had inconsistent test results before - scoring in the 90-98th percentiles on the WISC, but only in the 70s or lower on the school’s tests such as Stanford 9s.
So, should I demand that she be given accommodations for this on a regular basis? (She has a 504 plan due to OCD, but the plan to date has really been worthless). In the past, this difference in test scores, and a letter grade here and there has caused her to be excluded from the school’s GT program and from an advanced math class.
accommodations
Yes your daughter is entitled to accommodations. Not having to copy from the board and not having to fill in bubbles are pretty standard accommondations for some kinds of learning disabilities.
I also agree with the comments about a vision assessment. I think vision problems are the most overlooked kind of LD. An evaluation by a reputable developmental optometrist could tell you a lot!
Hi
I can’t speak to the issue of what accomodations an OCD 504 provides but there is clearly a problem. Please consider a vision checkup with a developmental or behavioral optometrist. See www.covd.org for a list of practioners. But it needs to be someone who specializes in this area, most optometrists and all opthamologists do not.
the kind of problems you are describing are very common for people with convergence and tracking problems. Insurance will cover the checkup.
My daughter used to have a scribe to do the ITBS testing as she simply couldn’t hit the bubbles with any reliability.
Good luck