Disclose or not disclose?

shawbridge
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 07:37:53 +0000

Whether to disclose or not depends upon whether the dyslexia has affected your son’s schedule, interests, or plans. I think the triumphal essay about how one has conquered dyslexia and learned life’s lesson that hard work will conquer all is probably too cliched. But, I know someone whose son’s SAT I essay is pretty weak and probably should comment on that. My son has altered his schedule in part in response to dyslexia. He hasn’t taken a conventional foreign language course. He’s been partial homeschooling, in part because he found even the Honors and AP courses at our high school to slow and in part because he was overwhelmed by the volume of reading/writing he was required to do. By doing some subjects out of the school, he’s been able to work at a faster pace in some subjects and to improve his writing. So, he will definitely have to disclose or his schedule will look a little strange.

He has actually thought that he might use his sophomore year Honors Chemistry teacher as a character reference. She was actively hostile to giving him extra time even though it was mandated by the IEP. So, she watched him take tests to see what he was doing with the extra time. He got sick, in part from overwork, and had to struggle to recover. But, by the second semester, he got an A+ on every test. She’s become an advocate for him to other teachers and when I appealed the decision by the College Board on testing accommodations, she wrote a sterling letter stating that a) despite her skepticism, he needed every minute of the extra time; and b) that he was one of the best, and most intellectual students she’d ever had. He was going to ask her to comment on how he’d dealt with his dyslexia, how he advocated for himself, and what a great student he was.

If you think it is necessary to explain your son’s performance or can help portray him to advantage, I think disclosing is desirable. However, if your son has a pretty good record with no apparent need to explain, I’d guess some admissions committees would say, “Great. He’s an overachiever – by super hard work, he’s managed to amass a pretty good record. Good for him. He could will his way through high school but he’ll never be able to manage the workload here.” So, I think that there is a risk.

I think one can get accommodations without disclosing. So, I would investigate, as emeraldkity4 suggests, whether the school is responsive in regard to requests for accommodation (my sense is that some are and some aren’t) and what resources they have.