ACT test accomodations denied, what can i do?

I don’t have personal experience with the ACT, but I have fought bureaucracies before. I also have a lot of experience with fatigue, having a nasty auto-immune syndrome that cause digestive problems and has destroyed my thyroid; when I was at the lowest ebb I had the same feeling you have, of things just sliding off the surface of my mind.

Three suggestions:
(a) I sincerely hope you kept originals of all that paperwork, because you are going to need it. Get your mom or other support person involved in this, because it is going to take a heck of a lot more than one hour. Call the ACT people and explain your problem nicely and at length. Every time someone tells you that they don’t have authority to make that decision, ask politely but firmly to be passed up the line to somebody who does have authority. If you hit a stome wall of refusal or if you get hung up on, call again and ask for a supervisor. It is best to take names as you do this and keep a paper trail. (I’m lousy at this but it is best.) If you can’t get anywhere working up, start with the president/CEO’s office and work down. Once you finally find someone who actually makes decisions — and it can take several days of a couple of hours on the phone per day — send directly to the name and office number of that person, all the copies (you keep originals again.) Send by express mail and give a follow-up call the day after it should arrive and every three days after that. You maintain politeness (except if people hang up on you — then you mke a complaint to their supervisor) but you make it so that it’s easier to deal with your problem than to ignore it.

(b) If you have the money, get a lawyer involved. Just mentioning the lawyer’s name can change bureaucrats’ attitudes rather quickly. You may check the Wrightslaw website and see if anything applies to you.

(c) Apply to take the SAT and apply for accomodations there. If they will give extended time, you are set, take it and send in the scores.

Just don’t get mad at me; I do believe and realize that you have significant physical problems, but perhaps if nothing works, just take it under regular conditions and see how you do. I am 21 and in college, but I never took the ACT (only the SAT) and so am not sure about ACT score reporting. Are the scores from ALL SITTINGS sent to colleges, or can you pick and choose which scores you want sent? If the latter is true, just take it next month under regular conditions and if/when your accomodation issues get settled, take it with extra time. Otherwise, definitely don’t risk it and wait until you are granted accomodations.

I know that with the SAT, THE SCORES FROM ALL YOUR SITTINGS GET REPORTED, but I think I’ve heard that with the ACT you can pick and choose (although it is just a vague hunch). And definitely, as Victoria said, apply for the SAT accomodations. I believe that SAT accomodations are unflagged (nobody will know you took them with extended time), although the Collegeboard is very stingy at granting them. However, don’t risk it taking the SAT without accomodations.

As far as I know, ACT requires single-day testing.

From ACT option two, which includes extended time:

“However, students must complete the test in one session (i.e., not across multiple days).”

All I can say is follow Victoria’s advice and politely work on them.

John

Hi Aaron,
Given that 1.5 hours is your limit for staying focussed?
Perhaps you could try a strategy to extend this?
Basically, after every 15 to 20 minutes, take a break and sit back for maybe as long as half a minute? Clear your mind, and just focus on taking long slow breathes.
Then get back to it again, for another 15 to 20 minutes.
This may extend your time to keep focussed, as well as perhaps enhance it?
Geoff.

Hi, thanks all for the responses & also for the advice victoria.

I forgot to mention in the original post that I did take the test a few weeks ago even though ACT did not give me extended time on it. They denied the extended time, but they did give one accomodation… if you could call it that. They gave me a 5 min break between each of the four tests. Considering regular takers receive a 10 min break in the middle, well.. it didn’t amount to much. The small break did not seem to help at all that I could tell with my concentration problems nor my fatigue. I didn’t finish the last two parts of the test in time (12-25% of the test unanswered), and I had to rush through both tests just to get the questions done that I did.

I’ve noticed (while I was studying for the ACT recently and also back when I was doing homeschooling) that I needed somewhere around a 1-2 hour break of lying down, eyes closed, after a 1-1.5hr period of working before I was able to continue fully rested and able to think clearly again. That’s obviously not feasible at a testing center though. Extended time allows, instead of the usual 4 hours, a total of 5.75 hours, rest breaks already included. I think it’s the best option considering my circumstances, if only I can get ACT to realize that.

I am going to do as you suggested and call ACT either today or tomorrow and see if I can make any progress with them over the phone. Thanks again.

To Geoff: extreme fatigue with a physical cause just does not bounce back with a couple of minutes’ break, sorry.
That is good advice for someone who is mentally stressed, yes, but it just doesn’t cut it with physical breakdown. I know with my thyroid I can push myself past the first fatigue warnings, as one does when exercising — and pay for it with total collapse later, and I mean total, unable to walk, vomiting from fatigue, and two or three days’ bed rest to follow.

To the original poster: how do you react to caffeine?
When my thyroid was at its bottom and I had not yet found a good endocrinologist, I kept myself moving with Coca-Cola. This had unfortunate side effects due to excess sugar so a couple of years ago I had to stop it. Then just last week I found an “energy drink” called Red Rave that has caffeine, guarana, vitamin B, and who knows what else in it, and it doesn’t annoy any of my allergies too much. It has a real kick and realy helps me get a lot more done in the day, has increased my working time by as much as thirty percent; I do have to be very careful to drink it early in the afternoon so as to be able to sleep twelve hours later — as I said, a real kick. If you can find a resource like this, you can use it in moderation (please do not overdo as there will be payback!)

Well, I was finally able to get ahold of someone today at ACT who explained what the previous paperwork I submitted was lacking. To quickly summarize the main point, they said:

“We have accommodated the fatigue issue. Now we need evidence/proof that supports that Lyme is causing a learning disability.”

I mentioned that the note my doctor wrote requesting accommodations stated plainly that Lyme disease can cause concentration/memory loss/etc problems. I mentioned that my school IEP showed I was only able to tolerate 1-1.5hrs a day of home schooling. I pointed out that it’s even stated clearly on the the CDC website that Lyme can cause cognitive problems.. but apparently none of that is enough…

They said that they would require the results of ‘cognitive tests’ that showed a learning disability before approving extended time. I don’t understand why ACT requires this of a person with a physical illness which is already well known to cause many of the symptoms that mimic a learning disability. I would think a diagnosis by a competent doctor would be enough…

I have no idea what a cognitive test entails and neither did the person who I was speaking to about it, although she did say they can be very expensive. She sent me a list of the cognitive tests done by a psychologist that ACT accepts as proof of a learning disability:

[quote]Professional guidelines for documentation of a diagnosis state that the following tests of academic achievement are comprehensive: Wechsler
Individual Achievement Test (WIAT or WIAT II), Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (-Revised or -III), Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA) or Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT).

Professional guidelines for documentation of a diagnosis state that the following tests of cognitive ability (i.e. intelligence tests) are considered technically adequate assessments: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd Edition (WAIS-III) or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd Edition or 4th Edition (WISC-III or -IV), Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability (-Revised or –III), Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: 4th Edition (SB: FE), Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test, or Differential Ability Scales (DAS).[/quote]

I have my doubts that those tests would show anything, since i’m guessing most of them are fairly short. (1-1.5 hours or less?) Do any of these actually test for a large degradation in performance over a time of 1hour+? The person I spoke with had no idea. It’s very frustrating to have to jump through so many hoops just to get extended time. And then it would be awful to have one of these tests done, just to find have nothing show up, and be out all of that money and be back at square one again.

Based on the excerpt you posted, it looks like they want standard IQ and achievement testing to show that there is a significant discrepancy (usually 2 standard deviations) between potential and performance.

Do you have medical insurance? If so, call up your medical insurance and ask about getting a neuro-psychological battery. They might cover it, and the neuro-psych may be able to order the IQ and achievement testing. If you can find a sympathetic neuro-psych (or clinical/educational psychologist — the ones who normally do the IQ and achievement testing), they should be able to arrange testing to take enough time for you to become fatigued.

IQ and achievement testing typically costs around $1,800 and up around here, and there is no guarantee it would show the type of discrepancy you need. If you do this, what I would suggest is that you show up very well rested for the IQ testing (and ask that it be split up over several days — very easy for them to do). Ask that the achievement testing be done all at one go and be sure to spend plenty of time on fatiguing tasks beforehand (without a rest, of course).

Nancy

It is kinda ridiculous that you can’t get extended time when it’s so obviously the direct accommodation for your well-documented symptoms. It’s more appropriate in some ways for you than for somebody with a learning disability (because the time isn’t directly affecting the LD; the rest *does* directly affect fatigue).
I would be looking for a lawyer who wanted to make his/her name known, ‘cause it sure seems winnable to me. (Of course, I”m not a lawyer…) … and of course, it could be that once you use that laywer word they may start thinknig harder…

I spoke with ACT again and found out some interesting information. Apparently, after denying me extended time for the last test and granting only the 5 min breaks, ACT also had approved me to take the test over separate days if I had wished to. Except, they failed to mention that in the letter they sent out just weeks before the test, which should have clearly listed the approved accommodations…

They say that since the accommodation was already approved before, I could skip the paperwork and take the next test with that accommodation right off the bat.

The good news: Having it split up over multiple days will no doubt help tremendously with the cognitive problems i’m facing due to the illness, since the longest test is only 1 hour.

The bad news: In contrast to extended time, had it been approved: because i’m having the test split up over multiple days, the test will now be ‘flagged’ and all colleges will see that when the scores are sent out to them. An extended time test, on the other hand, would have been flagged just like any other normal person’s test.

Nevertheless, I think it’s the best i’m going to get. I would be completely thrilled about this if it weren’t for the flagging issue, but apparently ACT does not consider the flagging as any concern of theirs when making accommodations decisions, as indicated while talking to the representative.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and help in dealing with this.