Thanks for covering this topic, Laura (even if you had to hustle to finish it in the morning!). When I was a professor, I was quite willing to accommodate students' special needs. Of course, my half of the courses that I taught were for people who wanted to become special education teachers; it would have been a bit hypocritical not to do so!
Some of your readers might benefit from knowing that there is a professional organization focused on disabilities in colleges and universities. It is known as AHEAD—the Association for Higher Education and Disability (https://ahead.org). It provides good info about the topic in general (but it's not about specific services for any one individual).
Good article, I think that disorders like autism and ADHD are more prevalent than we used to acknowledge. But I think social media produces people who falsely claim to have these disorders is increasing. But most are actually disabled and the accommodations for them who qualify as disabled is mostly good. But the other trend of unqualified students who can’t do math or complain when they have to do work is unacceptable. Testing and passing standards need to be rigorous and I think the high schools need to be part of the solution for our drop in math competency.
It’s been a while since I looked at the data but the last time I did i remember it was due to faculty concerns about the number of students requesting accommodation. I believe that the % of higher ed students requesting accommodations was still below the % of people with the corresponding disabilities in the general population.
This article was unmoored from reality: I don't doubt that wealthy families use resources to create advantages for their children, but time and a half on exams just isn't all that. And accommodations are SO hard to quality for in college, and often really don't address what's needed. Students whose IEPs or 504 plans had executive function supports built into them find very little in the formal accommodation process to support them, and the understaffed access offices don't have enough capacity for advising and other support. That more people are requesting services is a good thing! Problems abound in the implementation, though.
My sister went through her secondary and upper education with time and a half for all oral exams: she has a severe stutter. Perhaps the one and only instance where this accommodation is actually what’s needed!
Great article Laura. My child gets accomodations from the Moses Center, but as you said it is not easy to navigate with executive functioning disorder, adhd, depression, anxiety, etc. They don't hold your child's hand and colleges these days don't notify parents if their students are struggling like public schools. Or even notice unless the student is proactive in getting help.
I didn't know about disability consultants, do you have any recommendations?
Throughout my education, it always struck me that Disability Accommodations compromised the very purpose of a standardized test:
To measure ability according to a common standard.
I believe there is no student more discriminated against than the student who is simply… dumb. No doctor’s note, no excuse. Just not as capable.
As sad as it seems, this is the point of educational rigor, to separate students by potential ability level through evaluating results. But dumb students must sit longingly as they watch their equally unable colleagues, the ‘disabled’, gain accommodations, and be tested to a different standard.
Disabled people, and dumb people for that matter, deserve no less dignity based upon their intellectual performance. They are images of God. But a society that provides standardized tests, and then alters the standards to change results for some conditions that affect ability, but not others, is in an absurd state of self-denial.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that, at least as I recall (I haven't reviewed the studies recently), the evidence about testing accommodations with K-12 students was that they (the accommodations) helped kids with disabilities but didn't benefit kids without disabilities.
BTW #2: Most the my assignments in my classes were "open book, open notes, closed neighbors." I actually wanted the students to use what we had worked on during classes. I didn't want them doing Quick Draw McGraw and shooting from the hip. Open materials exams would be much more like the environments where they would have to apply what they learned. If the real-life exam a few years later required that they design an intervention plan for a student, I hoped that they *would* use materials and resources. That's not cheating! That's trying to do your best for the kids whom you're serving.
Sigh. I guess that's a point for another time, place, and question.
Thanks for covering this topic, Laura (even if you had to hustle to finish it in the morning!). When I was a professor, I was quite willing to accommodate students' special needs. Of course, my half of the courses that I taught were for people who wanted to become special education teachers; it would have been a bit hypocritical not to do so!
Some of your readers might benefit from knowing that there is a professional organization focused on disabilities in colleges and universities. It is known as AHEAD—the Association for Higher Education and Disability (https://ahead.org). It provides good info about the topic in general (but it's not about specific services for any one individual).
Good article, I think that disorders like autism and ADHD are more prevalent than we used to acknowledge. But I think social media produces people who falsely claim to have these disorders is increasing. But most are actually disabled and the accommodations for them who qualify as disabled is mostly good. But the other trend of unqualified students who can’t do math or complain when they have to do work is unacceptable. Testing and passing standards need to be rigorous and I think the high schools need to be part of the solution for our drop in math competency.
It’s been a while since I looked at the data but the last time I did i remember it was due to faculty concerns about the number of students requesting accommodation. I believe that the % of higher ed students requesting accommodations was still below the % of people with the corresponding disabilities in the general population.
This article was unmoored from reality: I don't doubt that wealthy families use resources to create advantages for their children, but time and a half on exams just isn't all that. And accommodations are SO hard to quality for in college, and often really don't address what's needed. Students whose IEPs or 504 plans had executive function supports built into them find very little in the formal accommodation process to support them, and the understaffed access offices don't have enough capacity for advising and other support. That more people are requesting services is a good thing! Problems abound in the implementation, though.
My sister went through her secondary and upper education with time and a half for all oral exams: she has a severe stutter. Perhaps the one and only instance where this accommodation is actually what’s needed!
Fascinating
Great article Laura. My child gets accomodations from the Moses Center, but as you said it is not easy to navigate with executive functioning disorder, adhd, depression, anxiety, etc. They don't hold your child's hand and colleges these days don't notify parents if their students are struggling like public schools. Or even notice unless the student is proactive in getting help.
I didn't know about disability consultants, do you have any recommendations?
Yup! I’ll send the info to you a little later today
Throughout my education, it always struck me that Disability Accommodations compromised the very purpose of a standardized test:
To measure ability according to a common standard.
I believe there is no student more discriminated against than the student who is simply… dumb. No doctor’s note, no excuse. Just not as capable.
As sad as it seems, this is the point of educational rigor, to separate students by potential ability level through evaluating results. But dumb students must sit longingly as they watch their equally unable colleagues, the ‘disabled’, gain accommodations, and be tested to a different standard.
Disabled people, and dumb people for that matter, deserve no less dignity based upon their intellectual performance. They are images of God. But a society that provides standardized tests, and then alters the standards to change results for some conditions that affect ability, but not others, is in an absurd state of self-denial.
Justice for those who are simply dumb!
They are claiming disability because it confers access to stimulants and extra time to complete exams and other tasks. A double benefit.
If a disability confers benefits, can it truly be said to be a disability?
Yet perhaps the student disability movement can be thanked for the exile of once-acceptable words for developmental delays. Perhaps.
Because gaming the system is the key to gaining a leg up on the competition.
Why is the second issue not a real problem?
Oh, and I forgot to mention that, at least as I recall (I haven't reviewed the studies recently), the evidence about testing accommodations with K-12 students was that they (the accommodations) helped kids with disabilities but didn't benefit kids without disabilities.
BTW #2: Most the my assignments in my classes were "open book, open notes, closed neighbors." I actually wanted the students to use what we had worked on during classes. I didn't want them doing Quick Draw McGraw and shooting from the hip. Open materials exams would be much more like the environments where they would have to apply what they learned. If the real-life exam a few years later required that they design an intervention plan for a student, I hoped that they *would* use materials and resources. That's not cheating! That's trying to do your best for the kids whom you're serving.
Sigh. I guess that's a point for another time, place, and question.