Extreme phobia/squeamishness causing problems with biology at school

[Balletgirlmum]

My year 8 DS is having huge problems with biology.

We have just had tears, Verging on a panic attack, extreme nausea because he had to answer questions on the digestive system& there was a picture of villi in the small intestine on the page.

He has always been incredibly squeamish, hates anything to do with blood or the workings of the human body.

He has an asd. I really don't know what to do. Should I contact camhs, the school, a phobia counsellor. He's got at least 4 more years of biology to get through

[moosemama]

I'd second speaking to the SENCO. There must be some reasonable adjustments possible here. If it's more the photos/pictures than the 'facts' as it were, it shouldn't be a problem for them to give him the questions without the illustrations.

My ds has huge anxiety about potential contamination, which has been a problem from day 1 of secondary school, as he cannot focus at all in the science lab in case he accidentally comes into contact with any chemicals.

In his case, simple reasonable adjustment was for his TA to wipe down the place where he sits with a cleaner he was happy with at the start of the lesson and then a piece of card put down on the workbench where he sits to write. He also watches, rather than actively participating in, certain experiments.

I can see how your ds being squeamish to the extreme would be a problem. Only you know what he can and can't handle though, so perhaps a meeting with both the SENCO and his science teacher to talk through possible adjustments/accommodations would be a good idea.

I'm not sure if he would absolutely have to take science at secondary school. My ds has dropped languages for various reasons and is not taking a foreign language GCSE. It might be worth investigating the situation before he's old enough to start secondary, as if you know he won't have to to do biology when he's older, there may be no need to put him through the subject at primary school. For example, ds1 had 1:1 support with other areas of need in place of French up until he started his GCSE options this year.