Advice needed. My DS16 has been on a 504 plan since grade 4 for slow processing speed. His private high school has honored the accommodation plan, which allows for extended time, and DS16 has always taken advantage of it. The college board is requesting updated testing to even consider the accommodation of extended time. This process will take a good amount of time, and I predict testing will show that he is above the 95% on all tests. However, it may or may not show the 2 stanine discrepancy that was observed the last time. Any advice for me? Is it worth it? DS16 wants the testing done BTW. P.S. SAT's are in December.

Nice to hear from you again!

There are a couple of different questions here:
1. Should he be retested?
That depends on if there is a reason for it, of course, but that reason doesn't have to be for test accommodations. If he wants retesting to understand himself better (and this is something family resources allow for), then that's a conversation one can have. If the testing is primarily for test accommodations, that runs into question 2:

2. Will testing help to obtain accommodations?
With the SATs currently on deck, then probably not--mainly because, unless you already have one lined up, it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to find an evaluator (either in your local public school district or privately) with availability to test and generate a formal report in time for your school guidance counselor to submit it to College Board for approval prior to the December test date. From what I understand of your region, lead times on private psychs run most optimistically at about 3 months (if they get a cancellation), but more typically about 6-9 months. And turn-around time on the written report is often upwards of a month--or even more. Not to mention response time from College Board (that's actually the quickest part of the process).

And, of course, as you note, the processing speed weakness may not show up this time around. In any case, the previous round was marginal for acceptance by CB for extended time.

It seems to me the decision to update his cognitive testing should rest mainly on other values to retesting (such as his understanding of himself as a learner). And if it so happens that this results in documentation suitable for attempting an accommodation request, -and- that his December test scores don't appear to reflect his actual skills, then maybe an accommodation request becomes a factor. That way, the likely very long lead time on testing results in findings that are meaningful regardless of SAT/ACT/AP needs.

I appreciate your thorough response. All that you mentioned confirms what I already surmised. Maybe it is worth me contacting the college board myself. I know they have a form that teachers can fill out that asks whether the student is using or even needs the accommodation. I think they will say yes. At this point, I just want to say to him, "Just figure out how to go faster". Thanks for your input.

Another reason that might support testing would be if the universities he might apply to require this type of documentation in order to maintain his existing 504 accommodations in college. Some will want testing within 5 (or 3) years, some will want adult testing--both situations that require re-testing. However, the same caveats apply: universities are allowed to make their own determinations of which accommodations apply based on the evaluation data, so no guarantees no matter what the scores are.