CDBC/BCAAN Education Bite – originally emailed June 21, 2024
Purpose of accommodations in education
Accommodations enable the student to access the curriculum (including exams) without interference from the disability. Accommodations do not necessarily ensure success or the ability to perform to one’s potential (Lovett & Lewandowski, 2015). Schools have policies in place to make sure that students from all backgrounds have equal opportunities and access to education.
Disability diagnosis, accommodations, and the “seven sins of clinicians” (Harrison & Sparks, 2022)
- Bias and conflict of interest – Be aware of the tendency to search for and favour evidence to support prior hypotheses; there is a higher risk when you have a dual relationship (e.g., you are a treating psychologist doing an assessment).
- Naivety – Include objective review + self/collateral report, use performance validity testing and symptom validity testing.
- Base rate blindness – When a condition is rare, first consider more obvious possibilities.
- Cherry-picking – Do not choose to focus on one or more low subtest scores; variability is the norm. For those in the CDBC/BCAAN network, check out a webinar on this topic.
- Counting apples as oranges – Cognitive processing speed alone does not predict performance on academic tests. It is best to use performance on timed academic measures.
- Psychometric slight of hand – Average scores are not evidence of disability, even with superior abilities in other areas.
- Blissful ignorance – Be aware of the research, for example on when and how much extra time is reasonable.
Extra time – evidence based recommendations
Harrison, Pollock and Holmes (2022) reviewed the literature around evidence for extra time in the post-secondary setting and concluded that the evidence suggested extra time being appropriate for students with learning disabilities (with 25% typically sufficient to equalize access), while those with ADHD did not benefit from extra time. A “stop the clock” type of accommodation was thought to be more useful for those with ADHD. There was not sufficient research to make conclusions about extra time in students with Autism.
For students mental health conditions such as anxiety, the authors said, “there must be a clear link between the functional impairments that arise from the disorder and a need for additional time for tests and examinations. For example, is the student reporting a tendency to freeze and panic in test situations, which they claim is impairing their ability to complete the test in the typical time allocated? In such cases, might it make more sense to recommend stop-the-clock breaks to allow the student to implement anxiety reduction strategies rather than simply remaining longer in an anxiety-producing situation?”
Canadian/BC resources
- Canadian Human Rights and the duty to accommodate
- An example of the duty to accommodate in post-secondary
- BC Ministry of Education Graduation Program Policy Guide describes the guidelines around adjudication (accommodations) for provincial exams in secondary school. Of note, documenting accommodations in the IEP or Student Learning Plan and regularly using them is important for being allowed to use those accommodations during provincial exams.
Recommended listening
For a great podcast on biases and errors in decision making (including ways we can do better), check out Dr. Stephanie Nelson the Testing Psychologist Podcast.
References
Lovett, B. J., & Lewandowski, L. J. (2015). Testing accommodations for students with disabilities: Research-based practice. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Harrison, A.G., Pollock, B., & Holmes, A. (2021). Provision of extended time in post-secondary settings: A review of the literature and proposed guidelines for practice. Psychological Injury and the Law, 15, 295-316. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12207-022-09451-3
Harrison, A.G., Pollock, B. & Holmes, A. (2022), Provision of Extended Assessment Time in Post-secondary Settings: A Review of the Literature and Proposed Guidelines for Practice. Psychological Injury and the Law, 15, 295–306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-022-09451-3
Harrison, A.G. & Sparks, R. (2022). Disability diagnoses: Seven sins of clinicians. Psychological Injury and Law, 15, 268-286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-022-09449-x