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Given that so many individuals with learning disabilities struggle with spelling and grammar - even with the physical act of writing itself - can you tell us how these types of disabilities are taken into account?
Paula Kuebler
Writing on our tests is not new, as the College Board has been providing accommodations for some time to students with disabilities on the SAT II: Writing Subject Test and AP exams. The Board's procedures for determining appropriate accommodations on our tests provide for considerable flexibility customization, if you will to accommodate each student's special needs. The Board continues to review each student's documented need, either as verified by his/her school and parent or as reviewed by the Board, and provide for the appropriate accommodations. In the four major categories for testing accommodations, the following are examples of accommodations the College Board provides to ensure that eligible students get the accommodations they need, such as:
Presentations
- Large print (14 pt; 20 pt) • Fewer items on each page
- Reader
- Colored paper
- Use of a highlighter
- Sign/orally present instructions
- Visual magnification (magnifier or magnifying machine)
- Auditory amplification
- Audio cassette
- Colored overlays
- Braille
- Braille graphs
- Braille device for written responses
- Plastic covered pages of the test booklet
Responding
- Verbal; dictated to scribe
- Tape recorder
- Computer without spell check/grammar/cut & paste features
- Computer with spell check feature
- Record answers in test booklet
- Large block answer sheet
Timing/Scheduling
- Frequent breaks
- Extended time
- Multiple day (may/may not include extra time)
- Specified time of day
Setting
- Small group setting
- Private room
- Screens to block out distractions
- Special lighting
- Special acoustics
- Adaptive/special furniture/tools
- Alternative test site (with proctor present)
- Preferential seating
The claim is often made that some parents will try to win their child an extra time accommodation on the SATs, even though their assertion that the child has LD may be spurious. There seems to be evidence, however, that students without disabilities who are granted extended time do no better than those who are kept to the prescribed timeframe for testing, and that only students with documented disabilities benefit significantly from an extra-time accommodation. Are there studies in this area and have they found the above to be true?
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