bushka5

My previous public schools were so incredibly below my intellectual/academic level that extra time was not necessary... I barely had to study to get A's.
This is perhaps THE toughest school in the country. It is at my intellectual/academic level, and thus with my ADD, I need extra time to achieve a test score which reflects my ability.

Our insurance covers psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist. Previously, my ADD was not an issue in school because the schools' academics were incredibly below my level, my ADD didn't have a chance to become a factor in my success. So, it was never documented at schools that I know of. Now it is a factor at this tough school. I only mentioned it at midterms when they began asking me what was preventing me from achieving. I wasn't taking medication at that point because I was in the midst of switching, etc.... so I was without meds for the first half term. Then I hustled and got back on meds and sought accommodations from all teachers.


Since my parents are far away, it's not like they can have a meeting w my teachers, etc.


What should I do for the start of next term?? I have all new teachers except for one (physics).

paying3tuitions

I'm feeling as though, if your parents are paying to send you far away to a top quality school, they will find the opportunity to phone this one in to your Dean, if you choose to send them this thread. They will also see the report card anecdotes, right? That could become a chance to talk with them about what to do next.

You seem to want to handle all of this yourself, which is admirable, but I want you to bring your parents into the loop because you are dealing with a complex medical issue, that requires a Dean to communicate with teachers about expectations for an individual student. That is more than any kid can do themself.

Are you afraid your parents will be angry or upset with you for not excelling a the new school?

Can you phone the psychiatrist and ask him to contact your parents?

Are you able to make a proper appointment yourself with the Dean to discuss all of this? The fact that you faltered on the meds early in the term is typical; you fixed it. Don't be ashamed of that. Good schools understand that kids make mistakes. What's important is you're on the meds now, and that will help your concentration as you study. STILL, you need the extra time on tests, if your psychiatrist said so. If not, your parents should have the psychiatrist call the Dean. Extra time on tests means, even if you took your meds, did your homework, concentrated and studied...you may still need extra time because the actual test takes time and attention/processing, even if you;re l00percent prepared for it.

Suppose you had a hidden join problem in your hands that made it clumsy for you to hold a pencil. And somehwere a doctor had xrayed it and said, "This kid can do the work, but needs extra time to hold and push the pencil around to say what she wants it to." As well, we'll give these pills to help strnegthen the muscles in the hand; that'll help a bit, but still needed is some extra time during tests.

Suppose the teachers didn't know ANY of that. You have a hidden medical need and must get your parents and Dean on your side to do what the DOCTOR says is necessary for you to show your best stuff.

It's more like a school to want kids to excel than to want to downgrade their performance. Get your parents talking to the Dean, and not just writing him tuition checks, so everybody can do their best job: you, the teachers, Dean, and parents will all feel better. SPEAK UP.

bushka5

we don't exactly have a dean.. we have a principal (never around, just raises money for the school), a dean of student life, a dean of residential life, a dean of academics.... goes on and on.. about 12 of em. theres also the time management coach (who can pull strings to accommodate my academic success), the psychologist, and my adviser (who i, nor my mother, am fond of, and is not helpful, and we're in the process of hopefully switching advisers).


who should i contact first? or my mother, since she would have more authority?

pafather

The following discussion is not based on any legal arguments (e.g. HIPAA or various disabilities acts). Just what seems fair to me.

There seem to be multiple issues here. (1) Some of the teachers seem to be providing false information about extra time provided/required for the OP on exams. This false information definitely needs to be corrected, and the OP's parents can definitely take steps to make sure this happens. (2) Other teachers, for whom the OP actually DID take extra time, have also indicated this. I do not see a problem with indicating how much time was allowed for a particular student.

Why should this not be indicated on a transcript? I assume that the OP is interested in being allocated extra time while taking some exams in college. Is this not relevant for college admissions? How many students would like to have extra time when taking exams? How much extra time is fair to give to such a student? Are there some students who are not diagnosed with ADHD but who could benefit greatly by having an extra 10 percent or 20 percent of time for tests? Should a college or even a high school only make provision for students who have psychological tests that prove that they require extra time on tests? What about students who occasionally panic or get nervous and fritter away the first ten minutes of a test? My son sometimes gets very nervous when taking exams. He scores much higher on practice SAT tests than on a real test, but he just needs to learn to deal with nervousness while taking tests. I personally think the amount of time required by a student is relevant to an overall rating of the student. Certainly a student should be allowed to explain a requirement of extra time, but the fact that the student is given extra time to me should not be hidden. If a student is blind and has to have someone read a test to them, there is nothing wrong with that being indicated on a transcript. Many admissions personnel would be favorably impressed by such a situation. In the same way, if a student has a legitimate medical reason for requiring extra time on certain exams or assignments, then I would favor honesty and complete disclosure for the college to evaluate an applicant's situation.

Muffy333

If you have medication, the school physician knows about your condition? I assume a boarding school would have knowledge of all prescription drugs. You really need to insist that your advisor, the medical staff, parents, teachers, all get together and agree on a plan for you. If it is in fact a top notch boarding school, they can't just ignore issues like this.

UCDAlum82

I think all these problems stem from the school not having the proper documentation of your ADD diagnoses in your file. It sounds like none of your teachers knew about your diagnoses until you told them about it, and so none of them knew why you needed extra time. Perhaps the comments on the grade report was their attempt to get this clarified. Certainly it is unfair that you have to plead to each teacher on every test for more time, as it is unfair to the teachers to scramble at the last minute to make that kind of accomodation, and certainly taking tests unchaperoned in a teacher's apartment, or just left alone to lock up in a classroom could leave the school open for massive liability judgements if something went wrong. It's time for everyone, including your parents, to get together and talk about how they can accomodate your disability. Once this disability get officially documented in your file I'm sure the comments will be taken off your transcript.

Unless this school is not set up to deal with ADD students, I bet they have a few they are already accomodating. You can probably piggy back off whatever they have set up. For instance, at my daughters large public school kids who can't take tests with their class for any reason (need extra time, need more quiet, taking make up tests, not enough desks in the classroom, etc) are sent to the library where a librarian proctors tests for any class.

paying3tuitions

from among all those deans and school people, and psychologist...Dear heart,

CALL YOUR MOM immediately, email her this thread, and let her help you by talking with the school administrators. This is a very complex matter. We are only cyber-parents.

If your mom is confused or wants our counsel, she can of course come on here and we'll keep trying to do our best.

Too much is at stake here. Good for you for flying up the flag to a parental group, but you need your OWN parents now.

Also, it's the holidays. She can figure out what to do the minute the New Year changes and move forward. If I were the mom, I think I'd be calling the psychologist with one hand, and the Dean of Academics with the other hand. She might know where she feels comfortable to begin with the school. It doesn't matter, because one guy will refer her to the other guy if she chooses the wrong one to begin with. BUt I'd start with Mom, calling Psych and Dean of Academics to get the ball rolling.

drb

I doubt they are ignoring anything. This is supposedly a "top notch private school", with an aggressive intervention for struggling students, 12 deans, lots of support staff - dealing with a student who only "mentioned" ADD when he/she is failing, then "hustled and got back on meds and sought accommodations from all teachers." Sorry to be unsympathetic, but I don't think we are getting the whole story.

-Allmusic-

Top notch private schools rarely have "aggressive intervention for struggling students". It's an oxymoron.

paying3tuitions

A student newly sent away from home to a boarding school, newly responsible to take medicine regularly, who has perhaps picked up on adult mixed messages about whether it's somehow "fair" to tale prescribed medicines and medically recommended academic accommodations (Pafather's post of personal opinion) does not surprise me at all.

I cannot believe people would question a medical decision in any other area.

OP, Why are you so far away from your parents on this holiday? Is school in session? Are they overseas? In the next room? I don't get it.

That's why I want you to bring them in on the communication with the school.

You need your parents to ensure the school meets you with a unified, coordinated response to the doctor's recommendations for the coming months of this school year. Then, you can concentrate next term on paying attention and doing your best. The extra time for tests is a medical recommendation, so you should be getting it with much less fanfare. If you had vision problems and needed a flashlight, that wouldn't go onto your report card anecdotes.

I find it miserable that a student is begrudged these accommodations by teachers. I imagine the kid was sent far to rescue from a dull local school system, and is making a big adjustment, not wanting to upset family at home as if s/he'd failed somehow.
There is no failure here.

Perhaps in the effort to simply get the child into the school, moved out there and adjusted, the Mom didn't quite iron things out well with the school regarding accommodations. Was there ever a conversation between the psychiatrist and the Deans? I think there should have been...all in advance of the kid's arrival. If not then, well go for it now.

tsdad

Private schools may not be covered under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended because coverage is based on the receipt of Federal financial assistance. Most private schools do not get money from the Feds although some may get it through the local school district, which does get Federal money, and would bring coverage. There is coverage under Title III of the ADA (public accommodations), which is enforced by the Justice Department. Good luck in trying to get them to work with you.

There is no need for your school to mention accommodations at the application stage and they should not.

drb

"Because of my low midterm grades (first term at this school 2000 miles away from home, notoriously intense workload), i was put on scholastic warning. I was then required -- due to my school's method of dealing with all kids who seem to be struggling -- to attend 3 time management sessions, 3 counseling sessions w/ a psychologist (not psychiatrist), check in early for a few weeks, and my teachers all had a meeting with the dean and my adviser to try to figure out what they felt was impeding my success"

Sounds pretty aggressive to me.

tsdad

Many psychologists, especially testing psychologists, arebetter able to diagnose learning disabilities than many psychiatrists.

paying3tuitions

Thank you, UCDAlum82. I agree l00 percent. A private school has every reason to want a student to succeed, not fail. That's why they take in the big bucks.

Let me add about "extra time." This is just no big deal. Some college courses, some majors, some careers are able to be performed with "extra time" worked in. For example, an ADD-affected college professor need not account to anyone how long he takes to write up his lecture notes or grade papers each night, as long as it's all done very well and handed in by deadline. By contrast, someone working in a corporation or with a TV newsroom would find ADD very troublesome, with all the quick-turn-around deadlines issued on the same workday. In college, with good career counseling, an ADD student with much good analysis to offer in class, might choose some courses, majors, and professions over others.

Needing extra time to complete a h.s. test is just no big deal. There's enough need in this world for all kinds of personalities, working styles, strengths, weaknesses.

I recently assessed one of my students reading a foreign language (Hebrew). She needed a moment of pause, more than the others. If nobody interrupted her, she could pronounce the words perfectly. She was a more accurate, "better" reader than others but had been thought to be poor, because others interrupted her before she could utter her correct response. She looked downright stupid in class. All she needed was a moment to pause and summon her thoughts. Quick isn't always better for some tasks, such as new language learning. Other classmates read more rapidly but with many errors. Eventually she'll need to improve fluency, but she'll be building on l00 percent accuracy, unlike her classmates. To appear as a credible student right now, she needs some extra time to demonstrate what she knows so far. We don't give written exams, as the task is aural...but if we did test, she'd be a perfect candidate for "extra time."

To empower her, I told her to tell all future teachers in this after-school language program to give her a moment's "wait-time" when she reads aloud. Accommodations are that little. Please don't begrudge them for students sharing your child's classrooms. It's not a huge advantage. It's just a moment of pause to summon thoughts to their fullest power. Many moments of pause, maybe 30 minutes more on an hour's test.