I have two dcs about to start exams. Dd (ASD, dyslexia, mobility problems) is doing GCSEs. She should do well but is stressing herself by wanting to get A* in everything. That isn't impossible (apart from Italian) but I would rather she cut herself some slack and didn't get wound up about it.
Ds (ASD, OCD, dyslexia) is doing A levels. He doesn't actually have any exams until the middle of June so plenty of time to revise but that is not his strong point at all. He finally finished his Computer Science course work at midnight last night - talk of taking it to the wire! He needs at least 3 Bs for university course he wants to do and that is doable so long as he can get some work done and doesn't freak out on the day.
I am expecting a truly stressful 6 weeks.
Anyone else?
Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.
SN children
Anyone's dcs doing GCSEs, AS, A levels and fancy a hand-holding thread?
NoHaudinMaWheest · 09/05/2016 15:14
Yes,stressful here too. DS doing GCSEs and is highly anxious. It has not been helped by school messing up so he hasn't been entered in enough subjects to give him any leeway to get where he wants iykwim. He has to get good passes in all of them which obviously creates a lot of pressure. Also in one subject the wrong years work has been taught 
so exam board are having to put special marking procedures in place. To cap it all we still have no placement for September sorted out as it will depend on results at the end of August so that just adds even more stress into the mix 
I also just found out that school will be giving him 'study days' at home but he won't revise at home, only school. Give me strength.....
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Hairy how annoying that they didn't check first. Dd has transport and it just continues as normal unless I say otherwise.
Ds goes to a standard 6th form. The whole 6th form is quite big but his classes are fairly small. The support there has been good. Ds is quite good at shut himself up in his own bubble though. Dd can't do that so well and has more sensory issues than ds. That is why we are going for the highly selective free school as it is small overall and never more than 16 in a class.
I hope you manage to find something suitable. Ds's placement at that stage was the best I could find and a bit of a fingers crossed situation but it has turned out well.
Polter you'll be here before you know it 
Yes, sensory issues are the big problem as he can't cope with noise,crowds etc. Just have to keep fingers crossed that something will turn up or it will be a whole summer of stress
Good luck for your dd on Monday NoHaudin.
That's interesting TheSecond. Last year's senco said some access arrangement assessments need to start in Y9, but we've heard nothing this year. Mind you, that's nothing new, we've heard nothing from the new senco all year really.
Hello 
. Just popping in for a nosey and see what you're chatting about.
Ds is in sixth form college and is starting exams next week. He's only taking one subject this year (Maths) (long and complicated reasons) and he's confident, been getting good marks all year, so I'm not too worried at this stage.
What does concern me is his lack of interest in his future and next steps. He claims he wants to go to uni and study Maths/Sciences but no idea what, and no motivation to look into it. I realise that lots of students don't know what they want to do but he will have to have some aim to work towards otherwise he'll end up doing nothing, even if it's not his intended career iykwim.
He's another who struggles to work at home but college have been good and he's got plenty of time and space to do assignments on campus. But he has other commitments like writing up DofE, and his work experience portfolio, which he just cannot or will not engage with. It wears me out trying to keep him right with these things, and more so thinking about how tight his timetable will be from September. All he wants to do when he's at home is play Xbox or tv (literally), and it's very frustrating.
I don't know where to start, tbh, and that's largely because ds doesn't know and any attempts to discuss it fall on deaf ears. I have very little knowledge of uni applications and my cognitive capacity has been rubbish in the last few months so it's a struggle to understand it. I had a brief chat with UCAS chap at college a few weeks ago, and ds and I looked at Unifrog (very briefly), but he has no interest.
We're not in an immediate hurry though as he's doing his A levels over 3 years rather than two, and he's just coming to the end of the first year. We need another conversation with UCAS chap before we do anything else, I think, but I need to be less dim to make the discussion worthwhile.
As for the portfolio, ds has had very little guidance from the school he's working at, and consequently has barely started with writing it up. The deadline is end of July and I'm not sure if he'll (we'll) get it done in time, especially as there's so little help from the school. I'm not sure if his timetable will allow him to continue with it from September so this might be his last chance, and if he doesn't get it done it means he'll have nothing to show for two and a half years of work .
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That's frustrating . Well done to dd for going back and finishing it though. If it had been my ds there would have been major ructions . He has been very agitated and rude after his exam today although he felt it went ok. Same again tomorrow...... have a 
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