<p>Our schools were all or nothing when I was growing up too, including for disabilty accommodations. I regularly tested in the 98th and 99th percentile for every subject, except math which was in the 12th percentile. As a college educated adult I test at a middle school math level now, with great stress and difficulty. I wasn’t allowed into the special ed math classes, or even the slower standard ed math courses, because my other grades were too high-- “she’s smart, she’ll catch up,” they’d say. Also couldn’t do any advanced courses in my good subjects because math was so low. I was fully mainstreamed in pretty much every way until sophomore year of college. I think it’s a real tragedy that kids end up in that position… I’ve said this before, but in my case I was always either hopelessly out of my depth or bored out of my mind, and by the time I got to college I was thoroughly convinced that I was sincerely stupid. It makes me sad to think of what a waste much of my k12 education was… I was barely present, mentally, for most of it.</p>
<p>It pains me that larger districts do this “all or nothing”. We have an extremely small, rural, non-competitive district. We too had a huge problem with “all or nothing” in grades 2-8. My D is dyslexic, reading LD, and ADHD. She is a math whiz. Year after year, although she tested in the top 3% for math, they wouldn’t let her into the “high” math class because she struggled so with reading. </p>
<p>Boy, did this fry my cookies! She was so bored. Finally, in 6th grade, they allowed her to work independently and she increased 4 grade levels in a year. She has been the top math student in 8th and 9th grades. How much time was wasted and where could she be now if they hadn’t restrained her so?</p>
<p>ek- My D does the same thing with substitution within a sentence, using a more difficult word that means the same as the omitted word. I always thought this was strange. She also has extreme lack of phonemic awareness and tests at <5% for short-term memory.</p>
<p>My experience and research on spec ed tells me anyone who has a district who is urging them to get tested and get services is very lucky indeed. Spec ed is King of the Gatekeepers.</p>
<p>Anyone who is so jealous of the accommodations for SAT/ACT, difficult to obtain for many even with years of documentation and testing, I say, you don’t have a clue! If you could spend any typical day with the struggles these children face, many from teachers themselves, you would be eternally grateful you don’t <em>need</em> accommodations.</p>
<p>My son doesn’t qualify for accomodations simply because his diagnos is Aspergers and not ADHD although he has the same attention deficits. The school district will not pay for the timed tests that are required to justify a need for extended time since his disability is Other. My insurance won’t pay for educational testing which is what they consider it and I can’t afford to pay for the test on my own. I originally sought to have him tested for ADHD but it turned out he has Aspergers. I was “happy” with the Aspergers diagnosis because it explained so much more. It helped me understand him better. If I could go back, I’d just go with ADHD. I’m sure he would have received more appropriate educational support with that diagnosis.</p>
<p>I would be shocked if you as the parent could pick between ADHD and Aspersers. This is a medical diagnosis. No accommodations are granted without an official medical diagnosis.</p>
<p>If something affecting educational performance was medical, why doesn’t medical insurance pay for it? ;)</p>
<p>Diagnosis is by observation, there aren’t “tests” for asbergers.
There also isn’t any single treatment, & therapy, doesn’t provide a cure.
Many feel tha AddAsbergersautism is a spectrum, and the indicators often overlap. It is common for someone to be any where on the spectrum for various behaviors.</p>
<p>Anyway, a medical degree does not qualify you to diagnose learning disabilities and a school district that requires a student to have documentation from a Dr in order to receive an IEP or 504, is breaking federal law.</p>
<p>OhioMom, you’d be surprised. Like emeraldkity4 said, the “symptoms” have so much in common. It’s generally a matter of having 3 out of 5 vs only 2 out of 5 and 1 from over there. And it really depends on the tests that are given. My son’s pediatrcian could have diagnosed him with ADHD. But he has issues with kids being overdiagnosed and overmedicated. He referred me to a psychologist, that I could have refused to go to, who after 6 months of weekly sessions with my son, referred me to someone else, who made the official Aspergers diagnosis. If not for the weekly sessions and the observations of his social and language quirks, he would have been diagnosed as having adhd. I also could have downplayed the social deficit which is a major compnent of an Aspergers diagnosis. So as a parent, I did play a big part in his diagnosis though not as simple as I may have made it seem. So even when one gets a diagnosis, sometimes it isn’t the right one.</p>
<p>It may not have worked out as well as you think if he’d gotten the ADHD diagnosis. I have both ADHD and asperger’s, but I was diagnosed with ADHD in 3rd grade and Asperger’s junior year of college. I continued to have massive problems after my ADHD diagnosis and part of that was because we were overlooking the asperger’s.</p>
<p>If I were you I’d be fighting tooth and nail for accommodations for asperger’s, but I imagine you have already as you obviously care about your S very much. It doesn’t make sense to me that they wouldn’t be required to provide accommodations for asperger’s too, he still has a disability.</p>
<p>Emaheevul,</p>
<p>I’ve read your story on other threads (bits and pieces, here and there) and all I can say that I admire your perseverance. </p>
<p>While I don’t necessary agree with everything you say (I believe we disagreed on another thread that had to do with testing and LDs), I must say that your determination is something to aspire to.</p>
<p>One major point to keep in mind is that a diagnosis alone should not get you accommodations. Many school districts erroneously give 504 plans to all students diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, Aspergers, etc. a 504 plan if a parent requests it. In addition to the diagnosed disability, the disability must “Substantially Limit” a major life function. In the school environment, the life function would be learning. The rule of thumb used to be that if a student were passing from grade-to-grade there was no substantial limitation. More recent rulings have stated that the comparison now is to a “typical student”. More difficult to determine “typical student” in elementary school, but can be done at the secondary level through class rank, etc. The bottom line is that the intent of the law isn’t for students with 3.5 GPA’s & 1300 SAT’s to get accommodations.</p>
<p>Isn’t substantially limiting a function of life a criteria for most diagnoses? I haven’t read the DSM in a while…</p>
<p>No, meeting criteria for medical diagnosis does not take into account academic functioning, which is the determing factor for “substantial limitation” of learning.</p>
<p>You’re right csdad. Theyve told me that the accomodations are not so that your child can live up to their true potential but simply so they can perform on par with the average student.</p>