Just need to vent. My daughter is a junior at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY. I just had her tested for the third time to see if there are any miracle remedies to her problem since she was first tested in the fourth grade. She has ADD with auditory dyslexia. In high school she was on the 504 plan which I had to fight with constantly. She has had every type of accommdation that the school offered, plus I have paid for outside tutoring and she attended Sylvan Learning Center for 2 years. Now as usual, she is struggling with her classes because she can’t pass tests. She took the ACT three times with extra time and scored 14 twice and 13 the final try. She was able to enter Morehead on probation and take remedial courses before being accepted. She is maintaining a 2.0 GPA, but the majors that she wants to attempt requires at least a 2.5 GPA. She couldn’t even rush for a sorority because she didn’t meet the required GPA.She has changed her major three times and is now at the stage she will lose credits for some classes if she changes again. Morehead has the typical disabilites dept. but like so many others, its in writing only. The director of that dept. took me college wasn’t for everyone. She doesn’t want to transfer to another university at this point. The test taking is the problem. She can’t take the multiple choice test. Has anyone experienced this type of problem, and if so any solutions? Also, does anyone know of any money available to students with disabilties? I just tired of it all after years of battling, but I’m determined that she will get her degree
Re: Testing problems
This website list schools that offer summer sessions for LD students http://www.heath.gwu.edu/bookstore/pre-college.html
If your daughter doesn’t mind tranferring, she might try Landmark College www.landmarkcollege.org. It is the only college devoted to students with learning disabilties.
Re: Testing problems
IT really does sound like she either needs to figure out how to pass those tests, or take the courses she needs somewhere else. Often it’s the lower level courses that have the multiple-guess kinds of tests — and for our kids, the “harder’ classes are easier because they can really show what they know. Can she take a problem course at another school (junior college?) and transfer the credit? It’s what one of my brothers did so he could get back into school (it worked, he graduated :))
Re: Testing problems
Thanks for responding. When she tested in the fourth grade, we were told she would never test well and this last evalution a month ago states the same thing, that multiple choice tests are very difficult for someone with her problems. Her problems focus on reading and comprehension. So far all of her classes have been test oriented and occassionally a paper. Her English 101 and 102 which were all papers, she came out with a A and B. I ask the university if they could help her basically with the correct strategy to take these tests, but all they could advise was peer tutoring which did not work. She took the study skills class, but that has not helped with her test taking. She’s just getting by with a 2.0 GPA which I guess could be worse. This university was recommended, but has not helped in any way. Anyone with a child that has a LD, don’t send them to a public university, send them to a university that deals with students that have LDs. I wish we could go back, but now she has already three years behind her, so I guess we will just plug along and get through it like we’ve always done.
Can you figure out why she can’t take the tests? Is it reading? Poor test taking strategies? I teach college level and occasionally have a student who just plain uses bad strategies. One common one is for students to change answers. Your odds of getting it right the second time are lower than your first answer. If it is test taking, check the testing department and see if they offer any courses in test taking.
If it is reading, that is tougher. My husband tests people for aborists licenses and occasionally has people who can’t read well enough to pass the exams. They have read it to some people but multiple choice tests are hard to comprehend when just listening. They eventually went to demonstrations but would be very difficult to do that for college material.
Can she take essay tests? If so, she could be selective about teachers. Also, some teachers put less weight on tests. I had a n LD student a few years ago who flunked all three exams. But I put a substantial weight on written homework, class participation, and two projects. She got a C.