To do my daughters GCSE course work?

Also, if this piece isn't in a style she's good at (or feels like she's good at), give her a massive pep talk about not needing to be good at everything. Even compare it negatively to other things she's good at if you think it might help.

Reassure her that getting a poor grade in this particular assignment doesn't relate to her self worth (I struggle with motivating myself to try at something I'm not good at because trying and doing poorly is reeeaaalllly painful. I would absolutely rather fail for not trying than try but still do poorly if that makes sense? If she's had rejection sensitive dysphoria she might be the same).

If her issue is more that she's just not interested or motivated by this particular assignment (and I totally get that, I still remember one A level teacher's absolute confusion when I got a U in an assignment when I'd had A's in everything else for that class... it's really hard to explain that nothing was going on at home, I just couldn't learn the content because I found it too boring and couldn't see how it would help with anything in my life). Try getting her to repeat why she needs to do it.

"You are going to complete this work because it's part of your GCSEs.

You need to complete your GCSEs to move on to your A levels(or whatever she plans to do next). Then you can do (whatever she hopes to do as a career)

Doing this piece of work will help you achieve your goals"

It sounds ridiculous but it can really help to repeat why you are doing something. Sadly I didn't figure this out until after university, but it's something I still do it now in my 30's. It helps motivate me to do things that don't interest me or have become old and aren't novel enough to hold my interest anymore.

If she is caught out, they could invalidate ALL her GCSE’s that include course work.
Cheating is not only not a good luck, it’d be teaching your daughter the wrong message.
If her art result doesn’t really matter, just submit what she can manage, even if it’s not great. Hopefully the rest of her work will get her through.

Meh. My mum did my GCSE French coursework for me. Also have ADHD, although it wasn’t diagnosed for another 20yrs after she did that piece of coursework. I was terrible at languages, I’d left it way over deadline and I was in a state. What are you going to do?

I know there’d be plenty of people here who would gladly report me to AQA to let them know that in 2001 someone else did my French coursework for me and who’d also think that I’m a thief who’s somehow stolen a B grade GCSE, but I needed help and she gave it. I never went near a language again after the (compulsory) GCSE that I had to sit and got three good grade A levels and two degrees all without anybody else’s help.

I have no regrets (and neither does my mum!) Help your daughter if you can @LolaLouise

So if she’s managed every other part of the project up to now and it’s one picture she’s struggling with, then tbh she’s probably done a lot better overall than some others. In the cohort there are likely to be kids (whether ND or NT) who hand in incomplete work, rushed work, don’t meet the brief accurately…
Some kids won’t have had any encouragement at home and may not be given the time and calm environment to get work done. Sad but true.

so once again, this is about keeping it in perspective. It’s one part of a project which she can’t do. She may still get a decent ish grade or she may not - but the important thing is that she will have done what she’s able to do, within the parameters of her capacity.

Doing things for her isn’t the answer. Support: absolutely. support by providing the time, space, peace and quiet for her to work at home, by encouraging her that her best effort is enough. Yes she’ll probably ignore that because kids tend to not listen to what their mum says. But just quietly and without being patronising, keep reassuring that it’s ok to find things hard. It’s really important that she learns at this stage that letting someone else actually do the work for her isn’t helpful.

Everyone has some level of anxiety, it doesn’t mean you can cheat.

I understand why you would want to do this but what are you really teaching her if you help her cheat?

Support her with the two hour windows and facilitating her doing her own work, with the reassurance that her best is good enough.

I haven't read the whole thread, so not sure if it was suggested, but baking paper is a good substitute for the tracing paper, you can use it over the laptop screen. Sometimes I trace the image holding it on the window glass, I don't have a proper tracing equipment.
People who don't have anxiety, or a family member with anxiety, might not be able to comprehend how debilitating it can be. If it helps your daughter to cope with the situation, do part of the project together. And good luck to her!

She needs to do the task herself
Spend a while looking at less conventional portraits with her online
Who knows - she might find attempting something in the style of Picasso more fun.

When did GCSE art projects get taken home? All mine had to be timed and left under class supervision, talk about dumbing down

Don't do this. I have ADHD and it has taken me years of practice to work out ways to meet deadlines and complete tasks when they cause overwhelm or ADHD paralysis. If someone had stepped in and done my work for me, this would always have felt like a viable option going forward.

If she's anything like me, she needs the fear of not completing in order to do it (honestly, if she's like me she'll probably get a burst of focus the night before and finish it in the early hours of the morning it's due... I did a full degree and master's that way).

But, if she learns that someone else will swoop in, I don't think she'll be able to rely on that fear/motivation/adrenaline to kick in in the future when she needs it.

What you have been doing so far is perfect. Act as her body double by being physically with her, and support her with the work she's doing.

If it's as you say, it's 1 picture out of hundreds... I'm not that fussed. I mean, it's GCSE Art, not solving world hunger.
Will the teachers notice though? If it's completely not DD's style, then they might raise an eyebrow, but I'd think it was unlikely they'd query it. After all, they'd have no proof.

But shops are open today if you need to go out and get some other paper. Then she can trace the rough outline, and then make it more her own.

I have sympathy though. My dad basically wrote quite a lot of my sisters university dissertation. She has (at that point undiagnosed) Autism and just struggled to cope with the workload etc. She got a fail grade, but with some mitigating circumstances, the university agreed to let her resubmit her dissertation. But by that point, she was basically too rattled to engage, so dad did the vast majority of it. My sisters then-boyfriend, who was a few years older and worked in the same area as her dissertation, also contributed fair bits. It was enough to get her a third.

Please don't do this.
Any improvemement in grade will be dwarfed by the message it gives to your daughter. And it's not fair on the candidates who didn't cheat.
Reminds me of Prince Harry!

Better she fail something now that won't affect her life in the overall scheme of things then think this is acceptable and do it again down the line when it will....

Yes but you sat at the computer and searched for the information for her.

You went too far when you did this, all you should be doing to 'support' her is being in the room to say 'stick at it DD, don't get distracted, keep going'.

You are not just supporting her you are scaffolding her work to an extent that is quite obviously cheating.

I think you know that deep down inside but you have told yourself that it's unfair that she has SEN and you are somehow levelling the playing field doing this.

The problem is that life is not a level playing field and the higher you raise her up doing stuff like this then the further she has to fall when she reaches a point she has to be independent.

Unless she is wanting to do art and design in which case it is super important she does this herself, art is non subject. DS got an E in it, and a first class degree at uni (not in art).

Just let her submit her own efforts, however disappointed she is with it, it is highly unlikely to have any long term impact on her life if she gets a low grade. Her resilience is far more important.

This.
it’s Art GCSE, not life or death! So actually it’s an excellent real life situation for helping to learn certain things: resilience, accepting that we can’t all be good at everything, learning that one’s best effort is enough, learning that being up front and honest is better than cheating.

No doubt there’ll be future situations where the stakes are much higher - maybe at A Level, or university, or in the workplace - where the daughter is struggling, anxious that she’s not good enough… it’ll be a far harder lesson to learn at that point.

just keep giving plenty of encouragement, maybe set out a time limit for this particular picture (if she responds better with that, but of course that’s an individual thing) It’s very hard when they have a perfectionist thing and lots of attempts end up in the bin, whether it’s art, maths, essays…. But honestly, keeping it in perspective is really important. Learning how to not be great at a particular skill is actually a really really important part of life.

Honestly op what do you think this achieves?

You are better focussing on helping her understand she has other positive traits & that her abilities in art really don't matter.

It devalues the achievement of all the other kids who've managed it by themselves if you help her scrape through. If everyone could pass it easily it wouldn't be a qualification worth doing.

Can you show her some different style portraits like picasso/cubist etc and remind her art doesn't have to be perfectly representative

i could wax lyrical as a fellow parenting of a daughter with AuDHD and the current way exams are run... but i won't.

All i will say is i wish they'd move away from exams and offer more class based continuous assessment for SEN students.

I agree with @ocelot3

I’m sorry OP to read many of the critical responses here. Having had two able DC I might have taken such views until I experienced this myself with my third. I know only too well how totally exhausting it is trying to support a SEND student at this time in the context of the current GCSE schedule which is utterly punishing for those who are not of ‘Gove’s shape’. I despair at what I have seen at a national level with regard to coursework and the variation is extreme - from schools who clearly had no idea what the spec required, perhaps with non specialist teachers plugging gaps in staffing, to those who are over helping. What you are doing to support your DC and manage her wellbeing pales into insignificance compared to what some parents are persuading tutors to do etc. We also know that many of those with ADHD manage to improve skills and focus as they get older and their brains develop… plus being able to choose styles of course that suit them better and reflect their interests. Managing to get through enough basic GCSE passes to enable next steps is key to them being able to have choices ofc and some need individualised support in a way that most schools have little time to manage. At this age at GCSE there isn’t much choice with the current exam regime and what schools have capacity to run. Good luck with today. Your daughter is lucky to have you.