Hello all,
Several months ago I wrote, asking for help from all of you who have applied for and recieved extended time testing from ACT or College Board. Your responses were extremely helpful.
I wanted to follow up by telling you my very good news that my daughter was finally approved for extended time, write in test booklet, large print, written copy of verbal instructions. Last year, she had been denied everything but large print and 5 minute breaks based on her CAPD diagnosis, which the ACT felt was not, in and of itself, a learning disability.
Some of you suggested she might need an IEP, or have the school help. Unfortunately, this was the sticking point — my daughter still does not have an IEP because she doesn’t yet qualify for SLD placement in our county because she’s not “failing enough.”
She does, however, have a 504 calling for extended time, that last year still was not enough for the ACT.
What I did differently this year was find an excellent, qualified educational psychologist. This professional, incidentally, in addition to being licensed as a school psychologist, is also licensed to teach both SpEd and Gifted, and is also a provisionally licensed behavior therapist specializing in Aspergers and related disorders. She gave my daughter tests that she checked ahead of time that the ACT would accept (and the school board too). The test that made the difference was the Woodcock Johnson III test of Cognitive Abilities: Processing Speed Cluster. My daughter’s cluster score on that was a standard score of 77 — 23 points below normal, and ranks in the 7th percentile overall. On the rapid naming test, she scored .4th percentile — meaning that 99.6% of the population scores better than my daughter.
Her other scores were: Visual Matching, 11th %ile, Decision Speed, 6th %ile, Pair Cancellation, 18th %ile.
For me, this was very interesting in relation to her previously diagnosed CAPD. It left me to wonder whether the overall processing speed deficits contributed to her CAPD or vice versa. The psych. felt that the former was true, although it was exacerbated by prolonged episodes of middle ear fluid during early childhood.
The processing speed deficit translated to an AXIS I diagnosis: 315.90 Learning Disorder NOS. A second AXIS I diagnosis was also made — 315.20 Disorder of Written Expression, based on WISC subtest scatter (a score of 10 in coding compared to most other subtests in the Very Superior range), combined with a 30 point discrepancy between IQ and VADS, and a 51 point discrepancy between IQ and Bender subtests. These 3 factors led to what the psych. felt was a visual-motor integration processing deficit.
The psych. did a fantastic job of reviewing and summarizing all prior testing done by various professionals since 2nd grade, including the tests done in elementary school by the district school psychologist. The benefit of this is that it reduces all that inch-thick stack of paperwork into a single, comprehensive report that neatly summarized everything for the ACT. Then, the only thing I needed from the school was a signature on the sheet listing the diagnosis and attesting to the fact that she currently receives these accommodations at school. I also needed a copy of the 504.
So I wanted to share all that with you in case anyone else needs extended time.
Eugenie
Extended Time Testing
SAR, thank you for the link, but it came up saying Page Not Found. Do you have a title I can search for?
Re: testing your 7th grade son. The ACT will accept test results no older than 2 years. However, I think it is a great idea to get him tested right away, because one of the criteria the ACT uses before making a determination is the number of years the 504 has been in place. I think they cast a wary eye on any 12th grader who has a 504 in place for a month, for obvious reasons. The longer the track record you can establish, the greater the chances of getting extended time.
You can always have him re-tested when the time comes.
You didn’t mention what type of problem you suspect your son might have. A good friend of mine received a denial of extended time accommodations based on dyslexia and ADHD. Apparently the dyslexia alone, without sub-average reading scores, was not enough. For ADHD, you have to be able to document early impairment. Both the college board and ACT have in-depth descriptions of the documentation requirements, and believe me, they are huge.
Best wishes,
Eugenie
Re: Extended Time Testing
Sorry…it is the National Center for Learning Disabilities newsletter LD News January 2004 issue that focuses on the SAT tests. It is e-mailed to me, maybe it’s not on their web-site yet. (www.ld.org)
Re: Extended Time Testing
INteresting statistics — and great ammunition if you’ve got a low-scorer that you believe the time increase would help; clearly, it’s *not* an unfair advantage if, for most people, it’s not an advantage!
Makes sense, though — an LD or processing or dysgraphia problem will, primarily, slow you down if you really do know the stuff. I’d love to know if there were differences between verbal & math :)
Extended Time Testing
[quote=”Sue”]INteresting statistics — and great ammunition if you’ve got a low-scorer that you believe the time increase would help; clearly, it’s *not* an unfair advantage if, for most people, it’s not an advantage!
Makes sense, though — an LD or processing or dysgraphia problem will, primarily, slow you down if you really do know the stuff. I’d love to know if there were differences between verbal & math :)[/quote]
Sue, were you referring to the interesting statistics in SAR’s article on SATs, or something in my earlier post? I still haven’t found the article. DO you have the link?
My friend’s son with dysgraphia was allowed the accommodation for “write in test booklet” but not extended time. LD alone will not qualify you for extended time.
Eugenie
accommodations
Eugenie,
Now that you have the accomodations make sure your daughter knows exactly what they are beforehand and goes into the test armed with the paper authorizing them. My ds was to receive the accommodation of circling in the test booklet last Saturday. When the monitor said only those with authorization should circle in the bookelt, he said he wasn’t sure if he had it. She told him to fill out the bubble sheet to be on the safe side. Monitors switched half way through the test and the testing site sent in his booklet (which had a few circles in it) instead of his bubble sheet because—you guessed it—he had a circle in the booklet accommodation. The bubble sheet is still missing in action.
Major mess I’m trying to sort out now with the testing company. They tell me the monitor should have answered my son as to whether he had the accomodation or not as it is marked on the lists and if there was any question the monitor should have called the company. He will now have to retake it—I am working out with the testing company all the procedures for getting the accommodations again and getting him retested as quickly as possible. Believe me—you do not want to be in theis position.
Mariedc
Re: Extended Time Testing
Marie,
Thank you so much for writing. I can see where this might happen in a big school. I think one of my daughter’s accomms will be that she tests in a very quiet room by herself because of the CAPD. I think this will go a long way toward eliminating the confusion.
She took the same test last year with the accomms but without the time extension. There was indeed a ticket outlining exactly which accomms she would be getting, and I was sure to go over them with the proctor — I even asked to see the large print test booklet.
I’m not sure if I mentioned in my earlier post that my daughter last year was a little 4th grader, and I held her hand as we walked to the classroom for the test. It was the Explore test given to kids who scored well on the norm-referenced tests (this test is normally given to 8th graders).
In a way, I’m amazed that the ACT sprang for the extra expense involved with getting a special proctor. It will be even more amazing that it will be this year 50 % longer the special proctor has to sit there with her.
It occurred to me that we will now be relying on a human, rather than a machine, to fairly score her test. I was wondering whether this human transfers the answers to a bubble sheet or just grades each question, and what if they get it wrong! I think, though, in weighing the risks vs. benefits, my daughter will be better off with more time. I have to believe they have a system for double checking hand-coded answers.
Does anyone know for sure?
Eugenie
Re: Extended Time Testing
Many years ago, my mother was working in a government office. Down the hall was a large room with a number of clerks employed by the Ministry of Education who were spending their whole days darkening in bubble answer sheets so the machines could scan them properly …
There is room for human error in any system!
Nothing is perfect, and nothing is ever completely objective.
Just do your best, and if the test scores are really off the wall compared with your child’s performance otherwise, challenge the scores and arrange for the child to redo the test and if at all possible have the new scores replace the inappropriate ones.
Beth in FL
Eugenie,
My son had extended time in public school for standardized testing. He now is in parochial school which allows him some classroom accomodations but he didn’t have extended time for standardized testing. I let it go, since it isn’t the high stakes testing of public school and the asst. principal was opposed to it. I decided to spend my energy working out classroom accomodations.
I expect he will return to public school for high school. In reading your posts, I am wondering if there are things I ought to be doing to ensure he will get extended time when he returns, as well as be able to take ACT ect with extended time. He will have to pass the FCATS to graduate.
Beth
Re: Extended Time Testing
Now the link works: www.ld.org and click on SAT where it’s at in the Jan. Newsletter.
Congratulations!! You might want to look at www.ld.org/newsltr/0104newsltr/0104feature.cfm
This article reviews research on who benefits from extended time on SATs and said that high-scoring students tended to benefit more than lower-scoring students, with extra time creating no increase in scores for students with SAT scores of 400 or lower.
My son is in 7th grade and receives no services or accomodations but I will take your advice and have him retested privately before high school just to see if he might be eligible for a 504, and accomodations.