|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SAT time for high school students looking forward to applying to colleges is one of the most stressful times in a young person's life. Students with TS and/or associated disorders are very much affected by the stress this creates and this will almost always result in worsening of symptoms of all their disorders. A large majority of these students are appropriately classified under IDEA and as a result receive testing accommodations which they desperately need to be able to achieve successful results on these tests. Up until the summer of 2002, these most needed accommodations have been a double edged sword because if a student received the accommodations needed, their test scores were flagged and weighted as such. I have met many a parent of a student with TS who has refused testing accommodations for their child for this very reason. Scores in these cases were very rarely indicative of the child’s innate ability and intelligence.
Finally, the US Department of Education has seen fit to eliminate this "flagging and weighting" of accommodated SAT test scores. In doing so, they have finally acknowledged what so many of us have known all along, that learning disabilities do not define intelligence. What a tremendous coup for all learning disabled students!! This country has been far above any other country in leveling the playing field for physically challenged individuals. We mandate handicapped accessibility in all public buildings, students with physical impairments are provided every opportunity to have their needs met and rightfully so, but students with learning disabilities who may have needed just a little extra time, a quiet location, a test recorder had to do so at the expense of their test results being thus highlighted.
I could not be more elated with this recent decree, but sadly, no good deed goes unabused. My fear is that this ruling will become an inducement for less than honest students to "claim" disabilities in order to receive accommodations and thus get a leg up on the competition. Will this force CSE's to become even more vigilant and refuse classification and thus accommodations for those students who really need it? I certainly hope not, but let parents and advocates beware.
I prefer to be an optimist and say BRAVO for the assistance this will be for all learning disabled students in helping them overcome the tremendous hurdle of the dreaded SAT's.
©2007 Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc. 42-40 Bell Boulevard / Bayside NY 11361 / 718-224-2999