In-School Test Accommodations for Kids with ADHD & Executive Function
Standardized testing. It makes everyone a little off-kilter. Teachers, parents and students tend to dread those days and weeks.
It’s no surprise that testing is one of the most nerve-wracking aspects of school. There's a lot riding on them for teachers. Parents are acutely aware of the potential for retention. And students are typically overwhelmed.
Testing requires a lot of prep time and is stressful. Even worse, it doesn’t fit with every learning style. That is why testing accommodations for kids with ADHD are so important. Unfortunately, they can sometimes make things more complicated.
According to Guest Expert Cindy Goldrich, some of the testing accommodations schools provide end up causing more harm than good. For example, students who get extended time often have to break in the middle of their tests to go to their other classes. A lot of these students then have to go to a “testing room” where they are surrounded by students who require very different types of accommodations.
Goldrich explains: “That testing room is usually proctored by one or two people who are charged with monitoring a variety of different kids taking a variety of different tests…” A kid with ADHD taking a math test could easily be distracted by the English test going on right next to him. “These kids are actually in the WORST kind of environment to take their test.”
Luckily, there are things we can do to help -- not only the kids, but the schools as well. “We can help the teacher understand this kid’s complex profile…[and] what happens when that kid is one-on-one…” Each student has unique strengths and challenges, and it’s important to understand those individual differences. Otherwise, it’s easy to lump all complex kids into a single category.
Listen to this insightful interview to learn more about making sure you get the right testing accommodations for your kids with ADHD.
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