Hi, parent of 16 year-old T1D son, who is going to be taking ACT, SAT, CLEP, and other timed, proctored assessments (computer based and paper) in the near future.
I’m curious if anyone has advice on strategies for T1D coping during these tests. I know you can ask for disability accommodations, but curious if anyone has dove in to the standard testing population with their own precautions and plan so special circumstances are not required. OR, if I am naive and should just ask for accommodations, what do I ask for?
My son wears both a Dexcom G7 CGM and a Tandem Mobi pump to monitor and regulate. He uses his iPhone to monitor and bolus and he is very good, has a great A1C and I’m very proud of how well he manages his BG levels.
My first question is why not try turning off the iPhone during the 2.5 hours for the ACT test (the test duration was recently shortened), and keep a snack in your bag for the break halfway through if you feel the low? And put a testing meter in your bag during the break (they don’t want phones in the testing center) He normally is sensitive to lows. He is worried about his Mobi making noises during the test and getting in trouble for creating a distraction. I don’t know what level of noise it makes, so this may be the flaw in that plan.
Or, if we need to ask for accommodations, what do/have others asked for? I can’t imagine them letting him have a phone nearby, so what would be a realistic ask here?
@kking18474Hi Kasey and Welcome to Breakthrough T1D Community Forum!
Based on what you wrote in your third paragraph, my assessment is that your son shouldn’t have difficulty completing the 2 1/2 hour exam session. Yes, he should have with him some fast-acting glucose [something like Tablets] in the event he might sense a fast drop in his body glucose level. And yes, before the exam request a “reasonable accommodation” under P.L. 101-336 - The ADA - which should be granted; I proctored exams 30+ years before the ADA permitted packaged snacks that didn’t have nots written on them.
A key to taking exams is to maintain relatively good BGL, not only on exam dy, so that his diabetes runs in the background and does not occupy constant drag-on-life - the stress of exams may cause some BG spikes.
Thanks Dennis, but what is a reasonable request? For a CGM/pump user, can you request that your control device (iphone) is in the room? I can’t imagine they would approve that. What have others requested and been granted that would help?
Hi Kasey. Because the pump is an electronic device it isn’t allowed for College Board and ACT Education Corp. tests without an accommodation.
For what is reasonable lets go to the proctor manuals
Permission to Test Blood Sugar
Students approved to test blood sugar may do so at any time during the test. Approval to test blood sugar doesn’t include permission to use a mobile phone.
In some cases, a student may have College Board approval to have a mobile phone in the testing room for use with a glucose monitor or for other medical reasons. Only students who are specifically approved to have a mobile phone in the testing room may do so. In these circumstances, the proctor must keep the tester’s phone on their desk at all times and must directly supervise the tester when accessing the phone app to monitor blood sugar. College Board SAT Suite, page 15
Let me know if you need more info, i’m pretty sure friends of my friends have proctored a test with students who wore a pump and can tell us more about what was allowed. Or we can reach out to other forum members who are parents and by definition don;'t have time to check in often. We can also help check with other resources like your local Breakthrough T1D chapter if you want.
You are welcome Kasey, I was hoping that some younger people with recent experience would chime in for you. I took the SAT in 1957, a ha;f century before iPhone appeared and almost three decades before the digital; BG Meter; we relied on the simple blood sugar test that took 3 days from blood-draw to result reading.
But, thanks to Chris @spdif for the excellent presentation.
Yes, thanks to both @Dennis and @spdif! This has provided me enough material from the links to try submitting an accommodations request and see what happens.