Parents: Exams and your Aspy child

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I am posting this link into the parents forum because I believe it is relevant to parents of aspy children:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/asperger.htm ... 605#214605

If you are a parent of an aspy child, you might want to consider talking to your child's teachers, showing them the aspy diagnosis, and asking for an additional time allowance (or no specific time limit) when your child is required to do exams.

This is because as I explain in the linked post, your child may be unfairly penalized by the time limit, and discouraged from working in school.

Timed exams have the potential to turn a good student into a bad student.

Thanks for posting this. My daughter already gets accomodations, but there may be some people who need them and do not get them.

On the subject of IQ tests, the ones my daughter took had parts that were timed and she did not do nearly as well on those as she did on the parts that were not timed. They were unable to give her an IQ score due to extreme subtest scatter.

I do well enough on timed IQ tests to qualify for admission to MENSA, but I would do much better with extra time. I have tried all the tricks I can think of to work faster on tests of this type, but I never finish them.

When my oldest was in first grade I first encountered the "speed" test. They had 1 minute to complete 30 addition problems. My previously self-assured, confident (and very smart) daughter came home crushed, in tears.

I've fought against these kinds of tests ever since in the lower grades especially, but no luck.

I realize that kids need to learn their math facts by rote memorization, but whether they can kick out 2+2=4 in 3 seconds or 5 is probably never going to be an issue.

I had an unfair advantage in tests because of a fast reading speed. This gave me more time to actually work out the answers.

Finally, some people are just natural born test takers.

fortunately, we've obtained additional time allowance and alternate test-taking site for our son through his iep. he especially has difficulty with math and the extra time affords him the ability to try and recall the formulas he needs to complete the task~also enough time to go back and check his work. he often skips steps when doing math, and the additional time sure is a great help !

Hey everyone,

I've got to tell you. Extra time is critical, not so much for recall, as comprehension. I have AS and in writing exams I had the difficulty of trying to figure out what they were asking. If the question was compound I always answered the first statement. For example if in true or false The question asked "If you are embarrassed, do you feel anxiety" I would answer false I don't get embarrassed. So in most of my exams I was answering the wrong questions. I had read that people with AS don't read intention in peoples faces or spoken language, but it applies to written statements too. You've got to make sure teachers understand this. I was considered very bright and gifted in alot of subjects, but then I'd fail terribly. I was so shocked because I had given great answers, they just weren't the answers anyone was looking for.

Later
Jetgirl