testing accomodations - opinions

I’m grappling with this now for my 4th grader who is on “transition” on her way to special ed declassification. She has testing mods for standardized tests (seperate location, extended time, spelling waived).

My dd has trouble with directions and “switching gears”. With the directions, sometimes she has trouble understanding them, other times she reads 1/2 of them and has no patience to read the rest of it, possibly missing out on major instruction and supplying incomplete answers. The switching gear example is on a math test, changing tasks for the different sections of the test. I know she knows the material and so do her teachers, but it is not always evident on tests.

ADHD’ers do have trouble with sequencing and following directions - that is not a crutch but skills that need to be explicitly taught and overlearned. Just b/c those skills may be taught in varying degrees in general elementary school classroooms, doesn’t mean the ADHD’er mastered them.

I have talked with dd’s school about directions being read to her for the standardized tests and was told since she doesn’t have a language LD, she is not eligible (I’ll curb my impulse to go off on a rant here). I *know* my dd’s efforts would be better spent and she would do better on the tests if she didn’t have to expend the mental energy reading and processing the directions. This is a child who is making progress in reading/processing all the directions as a HABIT, but still requires reminders to do so.

Anyway, this info. may or may not apply to your student. But I *hate* the restrictive sp ed laws and the way ADHD’ers can fall thru the cracks (“but they are not LD”). The diangosis wouldn’t be there unless it was significantly affecting them.

d
My older son is OHI for his adhd, he has the reading directions (clarifying directions) in his iep. Go back and insist. I got this in VA and in DODDS school districts.
Amy

Thanks Amy. My dd is also OHI, but thru intensive early intervention, her “gaps” are no longer “significant” - that’s why she is on “transition” to be declassified.

I’m taking a wait and see attitude with the upcoming math standardized test. She just bombed on a classroom multiplication test (grade was less than 40% so the teacher didn’t put that ugly red grade on the paper for dd to see.) Her classroom teacher was completely stumped so she attached the 5 quizzes leading up to it (one 84%, the rest 100%’s) when she gave me the test back. Go figure, right?

One size doesn’t fit all, that is what bothered me about their “rule” - no language LD therefore directions can’t be read. I want to see how she does in the next two months before the state math test - she is currently struggling through getting the sequence of long division down. The school may rethink their position given that dd has stumped one of their best teachers, nor do I have any qualms about advocating for whatever I think is necessary.

I’ve never thought about asking for this, but the seventh grade grammar test my son brought home last night for me to sign gave me pause.

The directions were printed in about 10 point (or less) single space print and were along the lines of: “For each of the sentences below, list the words that are nouns and state whether they are plural or singular, common or proper, or collective or group.” There followed a list of sentences. Each tiny print sentence had a line at the end of it for the kids to squash their answers into.

Naturally, ds wrote a one word answer for each sentence, whichever popped into his mind first, so for “boys” he wrote “plural”, but not “common,” etc. So he received a D- on a test that, had some double spacing and blank boxes for each attribute been used, he would have received at least a B on based on knowledge.

Well over half the class are getting Cs and Ds in grammar. The teacher sent a progress report last quarter that had checked off on the recommendation section “More effort on homework and class work.” I wrote back that in my view this recommendation could not be implemented because ds was already working as hard as he knew how and asked her to call me if she had any questions. Never heard back, but on this quarter’s progress report she didn’t check any recommendations.

Maybe the kids need questions read because the teachers don’t stop to think how readable their test questions are from both a language and visual point of view. And then they attribute the kids’ poor results to the kids shortcomings and not to that of the tests or teaching.

I wanted to mention that my 8th grade son also is allowed to write in the test booklet, he does not fill in the bubblesheet.

Depending on how your daughter is doing d, I would want to keep her in consult at least for a while. My son qualified in 4th grade for sp.ed. In 6th,7th and now 8th grades he was/is included in all reg. classes with sp.ed support and accommodations. His sp.ed teacher and I see this as necessary through high school.

4th grade is when all the poo hit the fan so to speak, he had problems with multiplication, multistep math problems, he was 2 yrs behind in lang.arts/reading, despite reading class during school and tutoring during summer 2nd through 4th grades. I believe him to be a victim of poor teaching in his first two years (K and 1st) as well as whole language and spiral math curricula in adddtion to having the dubious gift of adhd/inattentive.

He has done very well in middle school except now he struggles with math. I think we worked so hard on the reading that math may have gone by the wayside. Of course he also has weaknesses in fluid reasoning and processing speed so that affects the math.

Amy

You didn’t mention his primary disability but I’ll assume it is not Reading. We are getting pounded to not put accomodations into IEPs that are not supported by the psy eval. I buy into that. So many kids have every bell and whistle available to them that they forget to think. If there is not disability - there is not service. It’s amazing how well they use that average level of performance to do the work. Unfortunately average means average - not performance at the A level. I think sometimes that is the expectation that the student will get an accomodation that will allow them to get As. Missing the point of an accomodation - should first have a need not a want.

I would suggest, being a teacher and sometimes we miss the forest for the trees, that you make a larger version of the assessment and ask her which she would rather take.

You’re right, primary is attentional problems. Reading is within the average range. Also, there appears to be no significant difference between when questions are read vs. not, as it has been done. That is why I am concerned about such a modification in this case.

It sounds to me as though this child has a visual processing issue. My son reads really well but does better on tests when the print is large and clear. My son does not have any language issues.

He misses visual detail. It can seem as though he is not trying or not paying attention but really that is just not the case. He has a real visual disability. He remembers every detail of what the teacher says although misses visual details constantly. He has always been the kid who knows more than he can demonstrate on paper. An understanding teacher that sees this has made a dramatic impact on his life. She sees him for the bright child he is. This isn’t about laws or about accomodations it is about seeing the child without discrimination or judgement.

He doesn’t have the tests read. He found that distracting. He really just needed clear large print, as few questions as possible per page.

If he was blind you would give him braille.

He has gotten better with eye exercises, visual spatial exercises and interactive metronome for sequencing. Without those he would probably need accomodations. He doesn’t really receive them because I never got the sped teacher to understand this and I decided it was easier to just remediate this deficit myself than educate every teacher he meets along the way. His regular ed teacher just sees him for the bright boy that he is even though she too doesn’t really understand what it means to have a visual deficit.

It seems that teachers are more understanding of language disabilities than visual disabilities such as these. That is just what I have seen.

I for one am ecstatic to see C’s on my son’s report card. Reading has been/is an issue for him as well as the attentional issues.

He is an average IQ student, I don’t expect A’s and B’s (although that would be nice), anything less than C is unacceptable though. C is average.

The majority of my son’s accommodations are environmental or teacher led, some use of technology tools, use of resource room for tests and can redo tests he bombs. He has a hard time taking tests, he always has whether teacher made or standardized.

Right now he has resource room instead of an elective for reinforcing math, which has been a real struggle for him. We made this change in Jan. and it seems to be working out.

Amy

Overall, she is doing fairly well and yes, 4th grade has been very demanding.

The math and test overload issues are only becoming apparent since Jan. But I’ve been down this road before too - Sept.-Dec. seemingly holding her own and then curriculum demands increase after Xmas causing setbacks or crashes. I’m not surprised anymore but her teachers always have been and then begin to better understand her. The next month or so will determine set-back, crash or somewhere in between.

For whatever reason, our district doesn’t do a lot of consult or transition. They wanted her off transition in January, after only three months. I postponed it until May - so we will see.

This child works so damn hard and maintains a positive attitude. While her teachers recognize how hard she works and have been great, my concern is potential burn-out. Crutches never entered my mind.

I hear what you are saying about reading/math. We did similar. We blasted her with reading 1st-2nd grades - supportive reading and RR at school plus extensive private tutoring 2x/week. In 3rd grade, we kicked into high gear on math - continuing supportive math at school, working with her at home and a math tutor over the summer (plus other on-going services including the private tutor). In my mind, we tackled one thing at a time - get the reading down first then math.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve politely smiled responses to teacher suggestions to “work with her a little on this that or the other thing at home”. Those years she had FOUR teachers (two supportive services, resource and classroom) offering suggestions for home. If I did everything they suggested, the child wouldn’t have had time to sleep. She already had so little down time and maintained that positive attitude. We could not have asked her any harder than she did.

Thanks for the preview of what may be our next few years.

I would start now having your child advocate for himself. He should advise his teachers as he moves through education that he needs to have some of his work in large print. This is very common and we do it all the time, even on the HS level. However, it is extremely important that sped kids advocate their needs, it is much more likely to occur and they are also taking a vested interest in their success. I think it is extremely important that kids with special needs know what they are and can articulate what they need to be successful.

Point out to the parents that the student needs to practice her reading and that they don’t want to handicap their child by doing something that she can do for herself. The accommodations are for deficiencies not for strengths. There is no documentation to support the need for this ‘crutch’. In a job situation, noone is going to read anything to her. Be very strong in your convictions and clue in the rest of the team as to the problem before the IEP. Remember it is a team decision, not just one person.

I don’t know of one standarized test that directions aren’t explained and clarified for all students, regular and special ed alike. This is the reason that we tell the parents that there is no need for this accommodation. For that matter, I don’t know of one teacher that doesn’t read and clarify the directions of any test or quizz. We even, as the student goes through the test, read and clarify individual different questions. I am talking about a regular 11th grade academic English class. Kids in general have a hard time understanding directions. For that matter, so do I! I always get two forms to fill out because I invariably make mistakes. Sometimes we parents of special ed students seem to think that our kids are the only ones that have the problems; what I like to say is the only differences between the kids that are labeled and those that aren’t, is the tests. I don’t know of one child that is excellent in all subjects; yes, even those gifted and talented ones. Very few kids in my high school know how to read and spell at grade level.

Tests are not the place to “practice” reading. And her attentional weaknesses throw their shadow over all other tasks including the attention-needy act that is reading a test.

If this student’s knowledge is to be judged on the basis of a test, then to judge it fairly would mean someone would read the tests to her if her learning issues preclude her successful reading of the test.