[nabs-l] Extended Time

Wed Feb 6 07:25:37 UTC 2013

Hi Arielle
This is a very interesting question. In the past I don't think I
needed as much extra time as I do now, because for a BA you could type
facts and think your answers like other people. With Law however I do
find that I need extra time more than sighted people, this could be
because I have not found a way to deal properly with my problem or it
just naturally takes longer. What I am meaning is this. When a sighted
person has their normal print paper with a complex case, what they are
taught to do in class is to underline and highlight the important
points, draw lines from a protagonist to matching points, they use
aids that are just not available to me. When I plan my answers, I have
to open another document and make notes, or have to rely on memory,
not being able to emphasise things on a paper or make lines etc. I
would never cope without extra time. Some other instances where extra
time is useful even if you are using braille is if you are trying to
write an exam in a language that doesn't have a speech synthesizer and
you totally have to rely on a single-line braille display to write and
check things which is a little slower.
I'm also interested in what you were saying about diagrams and the
problems. I don't have much experiences of diagrams, but I did some
geometry in high school, and I am probably a million times worse with
spatial things, geometry and maps than you are, as diagrams here are
possible, but they are very much a luxury. By the way my sense of
direction is also incredibly bad, would love some advice if there's
anything that can be done about that. I think to be honest that even
if you think you could improve your diagram abilities it is actually
very difficult. As far as I know a sighted person, the eye sort of can
capture the full image of a diagram in one go, and sort of processes
it better. I just find that when I'm trying to understand a diagram by
feeling it, it just feels like so much detail and interpretation that
is trying to going on there, I definitely think you need extra time
when trying to work with these. I'm sure its because I haven't been
exposed much to diagrams, but even if I get shown a diagram, I've
never seen it before I probably could never guess what it actually is.
I wonder if sighted people have that problem.
I'm also curious whether my university even uses the correct material
to draw diagrams. They use a thing called zyfuse oven, and I find the
diagrams from there really uncomfortable to feel and even more
difficult to interpret and use than if they are on paper.
For the most part I don't think one should worry too much about time
allowances on the job, because, if I'm correct you generally know ages
before what needs to be done and there's enough time, I don't think
one is under as much pressure as with an exam.
Ari
On 2/6/13, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Granted, I'm only a freshman, but I totally agree with this 100%.  I
> tend to use a little extra time on things like Theory tests because
> entering music into Lime takes a little longer, and I expect to use a
> little extra time on stats to allow for making graphs and verbally
> instructing the person who will act as my hands on the graphing
> calculator, but for everything else like English, History, or Psych
> tests I'm always able to take them in class and finish around the same
> time as everyone else if not before.  I think the key is to take it on
> a case by case basis if at all possible.  The way things work at my
> university is that if you want your testing accomodations in the
> testing center you have to schedule it via an online form.  Otherwise
> it's assumed that you will communicate arrangements with your
> professor and the responsibility falls on you.  I'm fortunate that my
> theory teacher will allow me to do as much as I can in the same time
> frame as everyone else and then still grant me my extra time if I need
> it; he stayed an extra hour and a half with me last semester when I
> took my final exam.  My stats prof is understanding too.  There was an
> issue with my braille from the disability office and he extended my
> due date the same number of days that I didn't have access to the
> material and was unable to do any work on the assignment.  On the flip
> side, last semester I scheduled my history midterm in the testing
> center since I thought it would be more in depth than a typical quiz.
> Out of the 70 minutes my sighted classmates had to complete the test
> and the 140 I had at my disposal I only used 35 and wondered why I had
> gone through the extra trouble of making sure my test was scheduled
> and my professor had got the file to the testing office if she could
> have just emailed it to me like she usually did.  It really is
> important to use discression when possible to make the most time for
> yourself in addition to all the other reasons Arielle and Julie listed
> earlier.
>
> On 2/5/13, Julie McGinnity <kaybaycar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Arielle and all,
>>
>> I agree that extended time is not always necessary for us.  I was
>> always given it in high school for tests even though I may not have
>> needed it.  In college it has become more of a hinderance than a help
>> because some professors expect me to take tests in our testing center,
>> when it would be easier for all of us if I took them in class.  Most
>> of us have our screenreaders reading at a speed faster than most
>> people talk, and I agree with Arielle that we should not be expected
>> to read braille slower just because it is braille.  That doesn't make
>> much sense.
>>
>> I think the problem is that there are situations when we actually do
>> need extended time.  When we use readers is a good example.  I think
>> besides that I only asked for extended time on my music history tests
>> because my professor would put matching on the tests.  Matching is a
>> little annoying to do with jaws and takes longer if you can't simply
>> skim what the choices are.  But I only needed an extra 10 minutes or
>> so.  My point is that it's hard to take extended time on a case by
>> case basis.  Either we get it for everything, or we get it for
>> nothing.  I doubt there is any other way to deal with extended time.
>>
>> On 2/5/13, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>> The last post about using extra time on quizzes got me thinking about
>>> why we automatically get extra time to take tests and whether or not
>>> this is a good idea. I think the extra time is intended to correct for
>>> any issues with our accommodations or technology that make test-taking
>>> slower; for example, it might make sense to use extra time if we have
>>> to have a scribe write an essay for us or if we are using a reader and
>>> asking them to repeat things or read answer choices a few times. Extra
>>> time also seems appropriate if we have a problem with technology
>>> breaking, files not downloading correctly, etc. But I question whether
>>> extra time is really appropriate for online quizzes, for example, or
>>> for Braille or large print tests.
>>> As a Braille reader I used extended time only on a few occasions and I
>>> found that I only "needed" it when, deep down, I didn't fully
>>> understand the material I was being tested on. This happened a lot
>>> when I had tactile diagrams to interpret since I have always been bad
>>> with spatial mapping and understanding tactile images. So I would use
>>> the extra time to agonize over test questions I didn't understand and
>>> then eventually guess an answer. I really don't think the extra time
>>> was helpful for either my test performance or my learning and I feel
>>> it only acted as a Band-Aid covering up the real issue which was that
>>> I didn't know how to interpret tactile images. Had I not been granted
>>> extended time this might have become a more pressing issue for me to
>>> deal with back in high school. Similarly, I worry that when Braille
>>> readers are automatically granted double time across the board, it
>>> allows teachers to grow complacent with slower Braille-reading speeds
>>> than is desirable and almost sets up the expectation that Braille
>>> reading is inherently slow. It might be appropriate to *temporarily*
>>> grant an individual student extended time while they are still in the
>>> process of building Braille fluency, but granting it to everybody who
>>> reads Braille is something that bothers me. I also question the
>>> implication that blind students just do things slower and that nothing
>>> can or should be done about it so just let them take extra time. I
>>> don't need to tell you that extended time is not granted in the job
>>> world and this is becoming more real for me as I approach graduation
>>> and employment myself.
>>> I'm not trying to belittle anybody who uses extended time. I am just
>>> proposing that we reflect a little on what the extra time is
>>> specifically meant to accomplish, why we use it and whether or not it
>>> is actually helpful. I would propose that we make mindful decisions
>>> about when to accept extended time and that we aim to use it only when
>>> it is truly necessary and beneficial. In order to grow as students
>>> progressing toward employment, I think we should also be aware of why
>>> we are finding ourselves needing extra time and see if there are skill
>>> issues we might be able to address so that we need it less in the
>>> future. In my own case my weakness with tactile diagrams probably
>>> won't impact me much on the job, but a weakness in Braille reading
>>> speed or Web navigation is something that can be addressed with
>>> training and practice and addressing it can make a person much more
>>> competitive on the job, and able to get the job done as efficiently as
>>> sightedd colleagues.
>>> Best,
>>> Arielle
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Julie McG
>> National Association of Guide dog Users board member,  National
>> Federation of the Blind performing arts division secretary,
>> Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President,
>> and Guiding Eyes for the Blind graduate 2008
>> "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
>> everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
>> life."
>> John 3:16
>>
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>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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