Just got 50% extended time and a reader for the SAT

toledo · 06-23-2008, 04:12 PM

Wow! I requested extended time at the beginning of the month, telling the counselor that we'll try this first before requesting a reader. My D has both of these accomodations in her IEP, but doesn't use them all the time. Would it be any advantage to just try the extended time and not the reader, or as long as we've got the accomodations, should we just use them? Her IEP is for ADD.

AnonyMom · 06-24-2008, 02:23 AM

If you just use the extended time, your D may be in a room full of kids getting 50% extended time. Would this environment work for her? With a reader, on the other hand, she will be in a quiet environment by herself with one calm adult person. Have the coordinator at your school look at the handbook and see what it says about having to use a reader for 100% of the test. If it is not mandatory, your daughter could conceivably use the reader or not on different parts of the test, depending upon what she needed at any given moment. It may be that it will be easier to focus at the beginning of the test but a lot harder at the end, which might make the reader more useful for some parts of the test and not others.

Oh, this is kind of ridiculous, but be sure to let your school know well in advance about every test your D signs up for. The ETS/College Board apparently doesn't let schools know how many LD kids are coming or what accommodations they need until just before the test, and you don't want the school scrambling for a reader or a private space for your D and the reader at the last minute.

And giant congrats on getting accommodations beyond 50% time without doing major back flips or doing an appeal! Things have been pretty grim at our school recently when the school so much as requests 50% plus a keyboard that the kid has been using since age 5 in accordance with a plan. If the school counselor who filled out your daughter's application for accommodations has any helpful tips, please share them here!

toledo · 06-24-2008, 07:32 AM

They mention giving the school at least 3 weeks notice before the test. I wouldn't think reading the math section would be a good idea. I'll have to see if she can do that on her own. It looks like it would be major work just to cancel the reader portion of the test so I guess we'll go ahead with this. We'll try with ACT, too. Our counselor said they are much faster than ACT. I'll let you know if she has any advice for getting accomodations. Thanks for your advice.

AnonyMom · 06-24-2008, 11:09 AM

When I talked to our school about a week before the test, it was news to the person who coordinates the test! Three weeks may be optimistic. Let us know what happens with ACT.

marnik · 06-24-2008, 11:12 AM

The irony, for my son at least AD/HD, is that, though he received 50% extended time, due to the hyperactivity component, he was the first one done (read, he could not sit still for that long). At least he knew it was available, though. He did not request a reader; therefore, I could not tell you how helpful that might be.

Cardinal Fang · 06-24-2008, 12:08 PM

You as the parent may have to keep after things up until the end. My son is approved for extra time and use of keyboard for typing. He had signed up for a particular SAT test date, saying that he would use his accommodations, and I talked (at length, several times) to the school district about it. When my son showed up at the SAT location the morning of the SAT, he went to the room he had been told to go to and he encountered the proctor he'd been told to talk to. Nevertheless, nothing was ready, there were no test materials for him, the proctor did not have his name and had never heard of him, and no keyboard was there.

Fortunately I had happened to walk in with him, so I swallowed my fury and politely asked the proctor to call the College Board. After a ten minute phone conversation (while I got madder and madder) everything was straightened out. My son remained calm through the entire experience, and ended up with a fine score.

toledo · 06-24-2008, 02:58 PM

I guess we're lucky because our small high school is a testing site. I'm sure my D will know her reader.

Marnik, my d would be one of the first ones finished, too. She reads so fast (much faster than I can read), but doesn't comprehend much. She needs the reader to slow her down.

UCLA77 · 06-24-2008, 10:03 PM

My son found having a reader was more important than the extended time, even with the math (word problems!).

The ACT was way easier to deal with than the SAT and Collegeboard. I'm convinced that all of the phone answerers at Collegeboard have never been to college, and perhaps not graduated from high school.

1261 · 06-25-2008, 09:29 PM

My son got an SAT accomodation for extra time but we didn't ask about a keyboard, which he uses for writing tests. Is it too late to ask for this after the extra time has been approved?

Cardinal Fang · 06-25-2008, 11:43 PM

It's definitely not too late to ask for use of a keyboard, but the student has to demonstrate that his disability requires it. Bad handwriting in itself is not considered a justification.

I agree with you about the phone answerers at the College Board, UCLA77. I learned that as soon as someone answered the phone I should ask for her supervisor, right away. That ended up saving a lot of time; I didn't have to spend ten minutes each phone call hearing why whatever I was requesting was impossible.