More time and more room

[Broncobiv2]

Giving someone a bit more time and a quiet testing environment is a pretty small sacrifice if that's all it takes to allow someone to get all the same opportunities that others get. It's not harming anyone else since it's not lessening the material difficulty.

In a way, it could be lessening the material difficulty. I can remember some tests where if I had a bit more time, I could've completed more test questions than I actually did. I know that extra time is given to them because they have a disability, but that's a really hard thing to quantify. How much extra time should they get? It's impossible to judge...maybe they actually get more time than they realistically should, maybe less (based on their mental capacity or however you want to put it...the detriment to their test-taking ability based on their handicap). But I sure could use a bit of extra time sometimes. So in a way, it is harming me by inadvertently lessening the material difficulty for them.

 

[Anakha1]

But for someone with a learning difficulty it balances out. Take dyslexia for example. You can absorb and read the material faster than he can so you don't get as long. Either way it's just as difficult for either of you. There's nothing wrong with his ability to process the info, but he has a condition that makes it more difficult to take it in.

 

[Ash Housewares]

I don't really see how it's at all your concern

 

[Lostprophet]

People are far too quick to deny the exisetence of something if someone else benefits from it.

But then again, if a child isn't doing as well on tests as his or her classmates, then he or she obviously has a learning disability and deserves more time, because his or her parents know the kid is obviously more intelligent than his or her classmates.

Basically, it comes down to your mentality. You can ***** and whine and moan about people who get extra time, or you can worry about your own performance and doing as well as you personally can. People with learning disabilities need a little more time to do their best on tests; you can obsess about how unfair everything is and how much your life sucks, or you can study, do as well as you can, and move on.

That being said, I am sick and tired of the parents I described in paragraph two. There was a girl in my physics class last semester who did (and does) not have a time limit on tests. At all. Nor does she have to take the test at the same time as everyone else. She has not been diagnosed with a specific learning disability (not clinically, anyway. I'm sure her mother has self-diagnosed her several times), but her mother petitioned the school because her daughter "was too nervous" during tests to perform well. That was it. The school said no at first, but threats of lawsuits arose, and all this stupid ****, so the school finally relented. The girl scores perfects on every test now; not because of absence of the time limit, not because she has the leisure to not be nervous, but because she has access through her friends to the material on the test. Parents who pressure their children to be perfect suck, especially when they blame their child's studying problems or lack of dilligence on learning disabilities that don't exist.

I am officially the champion of talking out of both sides of my mouth.

Peace.

 

[maccool]

Perhaps I am being an ***, but it doesn't settle too well with me. Unless someone can come up with a really good arguement then I can be swayed.

You are being an ***. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (1991?) requires that students with diagnosed disabilities be accommodated as much as possible. Deal with it.

An excerpt

104.44 Academic adjustments.

(a) Academic requirements. A recipient to which this subpart applies shall make such modifications to its academic requirements as are necessary to ensure that such requirements do not discriminate or have the effect of discriminating, on the basis of handicap, against a qualified handicapped applicant or student. Academic requirements that the recipient can demonstrate are essential to the instruction being pursued by such student or to any directly related licensing requirement will not be regarded as discriminatory within the meaning of this section. Modifications may include changes in the length of time permitted for the completion of degree requirements, substitution of specific courses required for the completion of degree requirements, and adaptation of the manner in which specific courses are conducted.

(b) Other rules. A recipient to which this subpart applies may not impose upon handicapped students other rules, such as the prohibition of tape recorders in classrooms or of dog guides in campus buildings, that have the effect of limiting the participation of handicapped students in the recipient's education program or activity.

(c) Course examinations. In its course examinations or other procedures for evaluating students' academic achievement, a recipient to which this subpart applies shall provide such methods for evaluating the achievement of students who have a handicap that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills as will best ensure that the results of the evaluation represents the student's achievement in the course, rather than reflecting the student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where such skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).

 

[ULTIMATER]

A former friend of my got his exams on tape from the teacher because of his serious reading disorder. I thinks that very fair, since probably would spend 2 hours on reading this post.

But instead of taking the test, he turned on the radio on the walkman, and flunked the test. Now he collects a monthly fee from our tax money . . .

Ohwell

 

[Anakha1]

Maccool... king of subtlety. You should be an ambassador.

 

[maccool]

Hey, I put the *** in ambassador. And it's not because of my body.

 

[Corneo]

You are being an ***. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (1991?) requires that students with diagnosed disabilities be accommodated as much as possible. Deal with it.

An excerpt

Ok then, *flips off *** switch*

Aren't you a college professor? How do you accomadate students at your college then?

 

[maccool]

How do you accomadate students at your college then?

Good question. We have an Office of Disability Services or whatever it's called. They administer tests to determine the level of a student's disability and then make recommendations to instructors as to what to do. Usually, it's just extra time on exams. Occasionally, a student will require a quiet room or a reader. It's never been a big deal.

 

[LunarSolaris]

LunarSolaris, you can tell we both have that human services background, huh.

*high fives lunar*

It's funny, because there are actually several of us with human services/sociological backgrounds running amok here (Aklanaka, FWB... to name a few). We are certainly not without our OTF bleeding hearts.

As Mac pointed out though... to be honest it's not altogether a very big deal at all if we look at it. Not only is accommodation a part of the law (the ADA as Mac pointed out), but it's also just fair for those with a disability to have equal access. (not special access or privileges).

And Mac... the law was passed on 1990 just so ya know. You were on target.

 

[Starseed]

As someone with a slight learning disability, I can say it's definitely a two-sided coin and it does vary from person to person. Since grammar school I was always very bad in math. I can add and subtract on my fingers but multiplication/division takes a calculator and the concepts of fractions/percentages et cetera are completely foreign to me. My parents spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on tutors and summer schools but as much as I tried to apply myself early on, I just could not grasp any of it to the point where I just couldn't muster the desire to try anymore.

In HS, until my Junior year (when I withdrew) I was in freshmen remedial basic mathematics and that was part of the reason I left. In certain other subjects I was excelling beyond what the teacher could supply us with course-wise and in others I was far, far behind; so on one hand I felt that in certain areas I've learned all that I was going to and I felt I was wasting time on the rest.

I've gone back to school and gotten a degree, and I'm going back again in July but the main thing for people without disabilities is that these kinds of things aren't always an advantage from a psychological point-of-view because you have to consider how that person feels about being given certain treatment when taking tests and how they feel about the difficulty they have with a particular disability that requires this treatment.

 

[Wuhan_Clan]

Before everyone starts throwing a big fuss (even though some already have), I never complained about the accomodations given. Citing the law is also just like citing that the law allows guns, therefore guns on the street isn't a problem. I'm not saying that I am against the law on the case accomodating disabled persons, I'm just tired of people citing the law as if it were automatically right. Yes, we do have to obey the law but I'm not always in agreement with it.

I've thought about this and you're right, it probably isn't that big of a deal. The number of people who are disabled recieving benifits don't really make an impact on the rest of us. I'm not complaining. I still have to work harder then the next guy.

However at the end of the day, even if a disabled person can perform a certain job but require additional time, I'd rather have the guy who didn't require that extra time working for me.