School for documenting accommodations ?

[laundrycrisis]

I have read several times, in several different places, about kids who were denied accommodations for the ACT, because the accommodations listed by a homeschooling parent plus results of testing were not considered enough.  And I have read of cases where the accommodations were approved for a homeschooler, but only by the child taking some classes outside the home and having the instructor document accommodations. 

 

I have also read that accommodations need to be documented before high school begins - basically in the middle school years.

 

I believe our son may really need accommodations for this test which is several years away.  Next year will be the start of middle school for him, and I do not have any way here for him to take graded classes outside of the home, with an instructor who can record accommodations.

 

I am considering school for him next year.  There are several reasons, but one that keeps popping up for me is that if they tested him, or considered the testing we had done after 4th grade, and provide him with either an IEP or a 504 or just some less formal accommodations, but that were documented on paper, then I would have something I could use to help make the case for the ACT. 

 

I am afraid of keeping him home through middle school, not making enough progress with these issues over those years, and then having it be too late to get a track record of official accommodations, and being stuck with him not being able to get them for the ACT. 

 

Has anyone else been in this situation, and considered middle school for this reason ?

 

TIA....

[Heathermomster]

No...In the event that we are unable to obtain college board accommodations and he scores poorly on the ACT/SAT, I expect DS to attend CC first and transfer to a 4 year university.  

[MerryAtHope]

No...In the event that we are unable to obtain college board accommodations and he scores poorly on the ACT/SAT, I expect DS to attend CC first and transfer to a 4 year university.  

 

I agree.  I wouldn't send a child to school for this reason. What I would do though is get a baseline--get a diagnosis, and start keeping your own written record of the accommodations you are making and the rationale. One thing College Board wants to know is that there was a written plan, and when did you first start keeping a written plan. It doesn't have to be an IEP or 504 plan, but it does have to be written. So, keep your paper trail now.

 

Another thing that they will want to know is that the accommodations you request from them are on the written plan now, and that you use them in testing situations. 

 

I have heard of homeschoolers who DID get accommodations as well as those who haven't--and I think that it's hard to know all of the details about why--was it that they requested things that were different from what their evaluator recommended, or things they didn't currently use specifically in testing situations, was it that they didn't have a written plan in years past, or some reason that College Board was being picky...we just don't know.

 

I did get the feeling from reading on the College Board site, for example, that they favor giving out extra breaks over extra time. It may be that some accommodations are harder to get than others. They did also say not to "double up" (like, don't ask for both larger text and a cassette reader--go one way or the other).

 

I would start documenting now, and study the kinds of things that are on an IEP, and start keeping your written plan now, just to be prepared.

 

Merry :-)

[Tokyomarie]

It can be difficult to know how the testing organizations make their decisions, but some combination of low scores on key ed-psych or neuro-psych tests and documentation of prior use of accommodations is important.

 

I know a student who had an IEP in school, I think since elementary years, who was denied ACT accommodations based on the fact that he hadn't regularly used what was offered to him in his high school.

 

OTOH, my son had no history of accommodations use in public school prior to application to both the College Board and ACT. He had been in school for one school year; the school took its time about granting him a 504 such that two semesters had already been completed before his 504 was approved. However, he had a history of accommodations use at home K-10 and this was noted in one of the evaluation reports. We came out of the 504 meeting and barely a month later the application process for testing accommodations was initiated. DS was granted extra time plus computer use for essays from both organizations. These accommodations were amply supported by his evaluation data.

 

The key is document, document, document. Without some consistent personal documentation and strong evaluation data supporting the request, it will be harder to get approved.

[OneStepAtATime]

Wow.  I had not thought of this issue and am now concerned myself.  Is there a specific format that might be better accepted for documenting accommodations?  

 

My daughter repeated 4k because she just didn't seem to be grasping basics like reading and basic math, but seemed really bright in everything else.  We didn't know what was wrong, but her birthday was right before the cut-off so we thought maybe she was just too young.   We just started homeschooling her for 6th grade after years with no diagnosis of why she had issues in school (dyslexia and dyscalculia).  She didn't receive any diagnosis or accommodations until mid-5th grade, then we started homeschooling for 6th because she was so far behind in reading and math skills.  I had to reteach everything every night while she was in a brick and mortar school, and frequently she did not retain the information past the tests.  This means that her report cards do not reflect how far behind she was when we pulled her out of school, so in looking at those, it would appear that she maintained a solid AB average throughout school without ANY accommodations.  In fact, the one C she got in school was AFTER accommodations were in place, but it was in Spanish and she just could NOT learn a foreign language and retain anything.

 

She is now in 7th grade based on where she was in her last year at a brick and mortar school, but age-wise she should be in 8th grade.  Material wise, she is functioning closer to that of a 5th grader in many areas but in reading and independent writing she may be closer to 4th grade in fluency and decoding.  I provide accommodations for her every day, as we work on remediation.  She is making great progress, and excelling in some areas compared to where we were, especially in spelling and some advanced math concepts but I don't think she will be at grade level in reading, writing and most math concepts before she hits high school at the end of next year.  Maybe, but I just don't think so.  I had thought of having her essentially delay high school material another year, so we would have this year, next year and the following year to get her up to speed, but intellectually I think she would hate it unless I keep up significant accommodations so she can experience richer material without getting bogged down).  I was just hoping to have the extra time to wean her off some of the accommodations before high school.

 

If I document accommodations (which I hadn't even thought to do), does that need to be daily, or just a written plan for the year, or by subject...?  Is there a website that might explain this?  Would her age be an issue for the ACT/SAT if she is supposed to be two grades ahead of where she would be if we delay her going into high school level material?

[TravelingChris]

I just did the whole accommodations process for both my daughter and another girl who is also enrolled in the same church school (I am the SSD coordinator for the church school as a volunteer so the kids can get the accommodations).  Anyway, both girls got accommodations within a week of filling out the forms online.  I didn't have to send any documentation in though both girls had oodles of documentation.  My dd got extra time (50%) and special seating.  This is for the College Board exams and it is what her neuropsych report recommended.  She has dyslexia, ADHD (inattentive) and a few other issues.  I truthfully said she had a written plan (the neuropsych report) and that we had been following it for more than four months.  They would have requested documentation if she had requested more than 100% time or some of the other stranger requests.  All this extension will do is enable my dd to actually have time to read the test since with her dyslexia, it takes her longer to read.

[Heathermomster]

I just did the whole accommodations process for both my daughter and another girl who is also enrolled in the same church school (I am the SSD coordinator for the church school as a volunteer so the kids can get the accommodations).  Anyway, both girls got accommodations within a week of filling out the forms online.  I didn't have to send any documentation in though both girls had oodles of documentation.  My dd got extra time (50%) and special seating.  This is for the College Board exams and it is what her neuropsych report recommended.  She has dyslexia, ADHD (inattentive) and a few other issues.  I truthfully said she had a written plan (the neuropsych report) and that we had been following it for more than four months.  They would have requested documentation if she had requested more than 100% time or some of the other stranger requests.  All this extension will do is enable my dd to actually have time to read the test since with her dyslexia, it takes her longer to read.

 

When you say oodles of documentation, do you think a diagnosis of dyslexia and two NP reports dated 4 years apart would be enough documentation?  My son's private Christian school had a counselor but would not write IEPs until high school.  He started using a keyboard in 4th grade, though I have no paperwork to prove it.  He's typed everything but math since 6th grade, and he's home now.