To feel these parent are not understanding ( WhatsApp and Sats )

Yes, possibly. Very very sad. Shouldn't be that way. Hopefully though with good GCSE grades, FE or an apprenticeship will be possible.

Or a clutch of grade 8 and nines and a good degree and on scrap heap (well Macdonald's) as no job vacancies

But there’s a difference between being able to work quickly when doing something which fits with your skill set and which you have chosen to do for a living for that very reason (e.g. engineering) and being able to work quickly when you are specifically being asked to spend 30 minutes doing the very thing you are unable to do (e.g. spelling). It isn’t sensible to call this a test of intelligence. I’ve always found humanities easy and maths more challenging (and so am a lawyer). DH is the opposite (and so works in finance). How do we decide who is “the most intelligent”? Actually, my exam results were better than his. He literally earns ten times as much as me. Which one is the deciding factor?

Also, at this age, the things they are being tested on sometimes have no relevance to the skills they will need in the real world. I have never been asked in any workplace to make lists of correctly-spelled unfamiliar words for half an hour. What kind of employer would prefer you to spell more quickly and risk making mistakes in a client email rather than just… using spellcheck?

This is not entirely true - arguably exams test for both and always have done.
It's reflective of the work environment where "ability to adapt to a fast paced environment " is frequently listed on job specs.

A large percentage of kids that have extra time at GCSE don't use it, well that's consistently the case at DS's school anyway. I believe extra time has become harder to get and a push to replace it with rest breaks where possible. I think it can be misused by schools (private particularly) and I've seen a couple of cases where I've wondered if a student might have gamed the system by working slowly when being tested.
Most students though aren't hugely helped by the extra time, often they've finished the exam well in advance because they struggle in a number of ways IME.

Secondary school CATS are often used to set the kids but I think DS's school also used the SATs.

Exactly this.

I'm an exam invigilator for gcse/a'level exams.. some of these would be appalled by the 30% of kids who have some sort if access arrangement. None of them however would want their kids to have the issues/disabilities that are the reason for their adjustments.

Not great at your job then. Slow processing is no indicator of intelligence. I speak personally as a higher rate tax payer who falls into this category and who has been head hunted by international organisations.

But go ahead and discriminate all you like. You can have weaker candidates who are able think on their feet or candidates who fall into the top 1% percentile for ability and intelligence with slow processing. I've worked with some of the former. They're frequently not the best employees, but possibly this is matched by the lower level recruiting agent sourcing them.

Id be tempted just to post this

Your restrained op. I wouldn't have been able to resist a sarkey comment

No, SATs don't. But GCSEs of below 4 will. So scrap heap at 16 then.

Nope. Knowledge and understanding of the subject being tested are not the same thing as speed of thinking. Exams don’t test for speed of thinking, they are there to assess how well you know your subjects. So someone can have the knowledge and understanding but because of a problem with processing skills will just take longer to express it. Hence the adjustment.

My ds has some adjustments. I always respond with 'the school assessed him as needing these adjustments. Let the school know if you think your child has a learning disability and they'll take it seriously.'

It's disablism from people who don't have a clue what some children have to cope with.

I'd like to say I'm shocked. But a few of the mums, and it was mums, at our primary school were some of the most awful people I've ever encountered. At least you know who to avoid going forward. How shameful.

Ignorant twats. I bet for all the apparent jealousy they wouldn’t swap a NT child with a ND child or child with SEN. What an embarrassing bunch.

Just to throw my 2 pence in. DDs secondary school didn't even look at Sats results. They did their own baseline testing when they started year 7 and went from there.

Actually since it's impossible to create a level playing field and determine which natural restrictions (dyslexia) warrant extra time v which don't (lower IQ for example), the only way would be to have open ended exams where everyone takes the time they need. Those who finish in 30 min can leave and if you want to spend 8 hours you do.

Saying you can have extra time if your brain struggles to process info because of x cause but not because of y cause is really not fair and bound to cause resentment.

Or be honest about measuring achievement within a time frame and stick to a fixed limit.

Perhaps she just needs extra time.....

You are just demonstrating that you don't understand the point of extra time!

They are being ridiculous just ignore them. Or if you want to reply just tell them that the assessment reasonable adjustments are just there to create a level playing field. They don't provide any advantage.
Then don't get into any discussions about it.
I hate all the SATs nonsense anyway

Well you are living up to your name there!

The whole point of extra time is to create a more equal starting point for those deemed to need it. My son needed someone else to do his writing for him due to his CP, that physically takes a lot longer than someone who can simply transfer their thoughts from brain to paper themselves. It is no advantage to DS to get that time in terms of the tasks themselves, it is simply to allow the physical process of putting it down on paper to happen.

Same with Dyslexia (for example). A person with that condition cannot read or write at the same speed as someone without it. So they need extra time in order to fully comprehend the words in front of them. Nothing to do with allowing the less intelligent more time to work it out.

My cousin has a DPhil in a very specialised subject, is the best regarded specialist in their area of expertise and has written many set texts. they are dyslexic. Took a lot of time and work to complete the doctorate and the same with writing the books. No one would ever suggest that they lack intelligence.

The answer would be to give everyone extra time.

People also do have to remember that those with slower processing time have to deal with this throughout their learning. They have to concentrate harder in lessons, homework takes longer, revision takes longer. Giving them extra time in the exam itself isn't full compensation for that.

I can actually see the end in sight now so I feel a bit better. He’s a hardworking boy and should get 4s across the board but it just feels like it could go either way (particularly in English). Anyway he knows that I’m proud of him whatever and it won’t be the end of the world if he has to do something different at college.

You are looking at it from the POV of my child would perform better if they had extra time. How about the child that needs the 25% extra processing time because without it they wouldn't be able to start the exam? This isn't about them doing better it's about them being able to access the exam and show what they are able to.