PSAT accommodations

[bigmighty]

We supplied a letter from our pediatrician to high school explaining PANDAS and DS's educational issues and needs in detail. They submitted that letter with a request to the College Boards requesting possible keyboarding on PSAT test for DS. College Boards responded immediately asking for: a clearer statement of the exact disability (which we thought we already provided in the fact sheets we attached); a thorough summary of the assessment procedures and evaluation instruments used in making the diagnosis; full narrative summary of evaluation results along with a listing of exact symptoms and explained impacts; an exact rationale for each accommodation requested; a list of all evaluators' names, titles, license numbers, professional credentials, addresses, and phone numbers; significant scholastic proof of degree of difficulty without accommodations; documentation of a specific defined fine motor problem along with its separate diagnosis; several academic tests of writing;..... okay, there's more, but you get the general idea.

 

So, I e-mailed NIH and asked them to send a letter of diagnosis and they responded that there are no "official assessment tools" used to "diagnosis" PANDAS, so they are not sure their letter will help. They are going to send a letter, but no idea if we will have any luck gathering this info. The guidance counselor at the HS said that DS probably would not qualify for the keyboarding accommodation because he does not attend OT therapy and have a separate diagnosed motor challenge. Also, we do not have significant scholastic proof of degree of difficulty without accommodation because his middle school offered every accommodation we requested. They were very proactive, so they offered assistance as soon as he said he was struggling.

 

Has anyone had any luck getting keyboarding accommodation on the written portions of the PSAT/SAT, AP exams, etc.? DS can print about four sentences, but that's the max and then he's out. The school is telling us that it looks like there's no chance of meeting all of these expectations to the CB's satisfaction and that we ought not to even bother. Any BTDT advice would be appreciated. Thanks - Suzanne

[tpotter]

No...and we did try.

[MomWithOCDSon]

No, we did not get keyboarding, either.

 

What we did get was the right for a scribe, which I suppose would be a compromise if your DS would be willing/comfortable dictating test responses to someone who can do the actual writing on his behalf.

[JAG10]

This is frustrating. I filled out these applications for two of my students last year; both diagnosed with speech/Language impairment. One boy stutters and received 1.5 time for all sections. He's had an IEP since 2nd grade. The other girl has a 504 plan for artic and word retrieval and she also received 1.5 time for all sections. She had had an IEP until 9th gr when I switched her to 504 plan.

 

Both my school psychologist and counselor told me my students didn't have a snowballs chance in Miami because both students score advanced on PSSA (state assess) and take AP courses, but both utilize extended time consistently.

 

 

I think the key is to have an educational paper trail of accommodation use tagged to one of the educationally defined disability categories. There are 14 and one is OHI; other health impaired (commonly used for ADHD) This info isn't going to help those of you on top of taking the SAT, but those with younger children need to think in terms of working the system as it exists now and try to avoid introducing the diagnosis of cause of symptoms, but rather the diagnosis reflective of symptoms.

[MomWithOCDSon]

This is frustrating. I filled out these applications for two of my students last year; both diagnosed with speech/Language impairment. One boy stutters and received 1.5 time for all sections. He's had an IEP since 2nd grade. The other girl has a 504 plan for artic and word retrieval and she also received 1.5 time for all sections. She had had an IEP until 9th gr when I switched her to 504 plan.

 

Both my school psychologist and counselor told me my students didn't have a snowballs chance in Miami because both students score advanced on PSSA (state assess) and take AP courses, but both utilize extended time consistently.

 

 

I think the key is to have an educational paper trail of accommodation use tagged to one of the educationally defined disability categories. There are 14 and one is OHI; other health impaired (commonly used for ADHD) This info isn't going to help those of you on top of taking the SAT, but those with younger children need to think in terms of working the system as it exists now and try to avoid introducing the diagnosis of cause of symptoms, but rather the diagnosis reflective of symptoms.

 

I hear you, JAG, and I agree that our DS benefitted from an extended history of issues and accommodations (he's also an AP student and does well on standardized testing, as a rule).

 

We were successful with 1.5 time, small-group setting, and scribe, but despite our extended history and lots of back-up, we could not convince them to grant a keyboarding option.

 

Maybe I'm just rationalizing, but I'm wondering if they're particularly sticky about a keyboarding accommodation because it would require some extensive work on the school's part to make a keyboard available that would not also perhaps, unintentionally, give that student some other advantages such as internet access, spelling and grammar checking, etc.?

[JAG10]

You are making a good point there!

This year, I'm getting one of my former elem students back as a 9th grader. She is non-verbal and uses an iPad as a communication device. Writing is extremely laborious for her beyond 20-30 words fill-in-the-blank style. It will be interesting to see what they say to her. She has a diagnosis of orthopedic impairment since school age. She is one fantastic young lady and they better not mess with her. Grrrr

[lynn]

We got an accomodation for extra time for DS when he was going into 8th grade so he could take the SAT to qualify for the Johns Hopkins camps. We didn't involve the school and it was a major pain in the um neck. They denied us twice because all of the data was just not sufficient. Ultimately we asked them what test it was that they were looking for. They told us what test it was(name and edition.) The test was not relevant to DS's problem and we couldn't find anyone to administer it (they all wanted to use a different test and had never heard of the SAT test). Finally, we went to Rutgers, where there was a young woman who needed to have a subject to complete her internship and would administer and interpret the test for $150. Then we had to go through the bureaucratic nightmare of them losing our application no less than 3 times and having to have it Fed Xd again. We got it though, and the good thing is that it is good forever as long as the school stands behind it, through PSAT and for-real SAT. Lesson learned: be really persistent and patient.

[airial95]

This is frustrating. I filled out these applications for two of my students last year; both diagnosed with speech/Language impairment. One boy stutters and received 1.5 time for all sections. He's had an IEP since 2nd grade. The other girl has a 504 plan for artic and word retrieval and she also received 1.5 time for all sections. She had had an IEP until 9th gr when I switched her to 504 plan.

 

Both my school psychologist and counselor told me my students didn't have a snowballs chance in Miami because both students score advanced on PSSA (state assess) and take AP courses, but both utilize extended time consistently.

 

 

I think the key is to have an educational paper trail of accommodation use tagged to one of the educationally defined disability categories. There are 14 and one is OHI; other health impaired (commonly used for ADHD) This info isn't going to help those of you on top of taking the SAT, but those with younger children need to think in terms of working the system as it exists now and try to avoid introducing the diagnosis of cause of symptoms, but rather the diagnosis reflective of symptoms.

 

Thanks for this insight! Our son is only 4, another year in his EELP Pre-K before we delve into Kindergarten, but he got his IEP at his 3rd birthday, thanks to lots of wonderful folks advocating for us, and we were sure to classify him as OHI - which has also helped us get other accomodations that wouldn't have been available to us without it. We're starting the process for my daughter this year (she started 1st grade today). Her school has been amazing, but they were asking if what we needed couldn't be accomodated by a 504 instead of an IEP - I know there are stronger legal protections with the IEP - as well as services offered (which I'm not sure we need for her) - but i'm not familiar enough with the system. Would a 504 paper trail help her when she gets to this point?

 

(I should point out, that the reason we're pushing her IEP this year is because here in Florida we have the wonderfully high stakes FCAT test starting in 3rd grade which decides everything from whether or not they pass/graduate (regardless of school grades or competency), teachers saleries and tenure, school funding, future career and earning potential, fanatsy football draft status, IQ of their future unborn children...you get the idea... and we want to have her accomodations for extra time/writing assistance to be in place long before then.)

[NancyD]

For us, it was no problem getting accommodations for MCAS (our state tests), but for PSATs we were denied any accommodations (and all we asked for was additional time). We have to appeal again this year. I have letters from doctors and clinicians but I don't know if it's going to be enough. Just because you have an IEP does not mean you will get any accommodations for PSATs or SATs. Very different than state or regional tests.

[bigmighty]

Thanks, all. DS would not speak to someone he did not know, so the idea of getting a scribe is not realistic. If they never grant keyboarding accommodations, there is no sense in my pursuing that part. I will keep gathering and submitting data in an effort to get him approved, at some juncture, for the additional time.

[MomWithOCDSon]

Thanks, all. DS would not speak to someone he did not know, so the idea of getting a scribe is not realistic. If they never grant keyboarding accommodations, there is no sense in my pursuing that part. I will keep gathering and submitting data in an effort to get him approved, at some juncture, for the additional time.

 

Just to put it out there . . .

 

The scribe can be someone he knows . . . a teacher, his caseworker, etc. The College Board accommodations our DS was granted did not put any stipulations on the scribe role.

[kos_mom]

WE did not ask for keyboarding--writing was not a problem for DS. We easily got the ability to circle answers in the test book instead of filling in the grid--he spent so much time trying to make the fill ins perfect on lower level standardized school exams, the school actually asked us to request this. I doubt he would have gotten through ten questions without the accommodation. Betrween tics and OCD we got time and a half--the school, which was parivate, filed for us once we provided documentation that they supplemented. I don't know ;what the school said, but it must have been good as there was no hassle at all in getting the extra time.