Newsletter #65 for Internationally Adopting Parents
June 21, 2007
PAL Center Inc.

Latest Articles
from the
International Adoption Articles Directory

Sara-Jane Hardman and Jean Roe Mauro, LCSW
Finding the help you need for your child
When our children's behaviors concern us we often do not know how to get needed information. This article gives parents help in defining the problem, getting help and working with schools.

Test accommodations for internationally adopted children with disabilities
B. Gindis Ph.D.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, all public school students must participate in annual testing in academic areas outlined in the law. According to NCLB, students with disabilities who have educational handicapping conditions, are protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and must be provided with appropriate accommodations necessary to participate in these tests.

This provision of the federal law has specific value for children who not only have an educational handicapping condition, but also have "atypical" educational background being internationally adopted pos-institutionalized children. For those of them who were adopted at the school age (6 years and older), test taking is a culturally unknown territory: there was no such phenomenon in their native country. In this domain they compete with peers who grew up taking tests practically from kindergarten. Along with test accommodations, they have to be specifically taught how to perform, feel, and think during test taking activities. Even some children who were adopted as infants and toddlers and entered our school system at the appropriate age, these children along with educational disabilities may have elevated performance-related anxiety, limited self-regulation of goal-directed behavior, minimal tolerance to frustration in academic activities, and low self-esteem. The emotional component of their learning disabilities is particularly evident during test taking activities and is to be addressed by the appropriate testing accommodations.

Determination of the appropriate accommodations, which students with disabilities need in order to fully and equally participate in state-wide testing, is an important component of these students' Individualized Education Programs (IEP) or Sections 504 Plan.

Definition:

Accommodations are the procedures, which provide equal access to testing for students with disabilities. They are provided to "level the playing field." Without accommodations, students with disabilities may not be able to participate fully in tests. Accommodations can be divided into four categories:

• Presentation (e.g.: repeating the directions, reading aloud, using answer sheets). Presentation accommodations allow students to access information in ways that do not require them to visually read standard print. These alternate modes of access are auditory, multi-sensory, tactile and visual.
• Response (e.g.: marking answers in the book, using reference aids, pointing, using computer). Response accommodations allow students to complete activities, assignments and tests in different ways to solve or organize problems using some type of assistive device or organizer.
• Timing/Scheduling (e.g.: extended time, frequent breaks). Timing/scheduling accommodations increase the allowable length of time to complete a test or assignment and may also change the way the time is organized.
• Setting (e.g.: study carrel, special lighting, separate room). Setting Accommodations change the location in which a test or assignment is given or the conditions of the assessment setting.

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