GCSE's and ASD

[DrCoconut]

Not sure that anyone can do anything as such but DS1 starts his first round of GCSE's next week. He has been doing past papers at home and it's clear that he is interpreting the questions very literally and I don't always think the answers he gives are what was intended. He can't see why. For example a history question says "choose one of the following developments in surgery a) anaesthetics, (b) antiseptics. Describe the development you have chosen. I would expect the answer to be a rough timeline of how one of them developed with perhaps some key people mentioned. DS wrote basically "antiseptics kill germs". He said he had chosen a development and then described it, just as the question said. Has anyone else had this type of issue to deal with? I'm going to school tomorrow anyway so will probably mention it. It has been awful getting any help, I'm not even sure his access arrangements are in place hence going there.

[drigon]

My son has ASD and is doing Medical history as a topic for his GCSE ( he's in year 10 but they are doing that exam next week). Your son needs to look at the number of points for each question and put that many separate details down eg.

Antiseptics-

Before 1860s many people died from infections esp.during operations.

1863- Louis Pasteur's Germ theory.


Joseph Lister(I think!) started using carbolic acid to kill germs during operations.

This antiseptic was sprayed into wounds during ops.Much better hygiene in theatres too, instruments sterilised etc

After Black Period of surgery when 6 in 10 people died, numbers fell to 1 in 10 after introduction of antiseptics.

This would probably be enough for a short 5 point question, but would need expansion with extra details for a longer one. If your son has a revision guide from school this would help to break down the questions. If he can manage Gsces hopefully, he can remember more details. Pm me if you need more info. But school is your best bet.

Hope it goes OK.

[DrCoconut]

This is the exam he's doing. I just found out that he did do his controlled assessment ok (though obviously not what he actually got for it) and that he has access arrangements sorted. He has extra time and a seperate room. He has severe issues with focus so I just hope he can stay on task for long enough to do ok in both exams.

[littlesupersparks]

He needs a prompter. This should be fairly easy to put in place. It may help him to be front of room or separate room. There is also something called an 'oral language modifier' however not sure that can be put in place at this late stage.

Encourage him to look for the amount of marks and write enough sentences/points/lines to reach at least that number - perhaps a mechanical way of calculating it like that may help him?

Good luck xx

[drigon]

Glad you got some answers. That sounds like the arrangement my son has. Good luck to both of them!

[DrCoconut]

Yes, good luck.