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SEN

Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

Original poster

Dyspraxic/ASD teen, all gone wrong half way through his GCSE's and I don't know how to help.

53 replies

MrSlant · 20/08/2015 14:14

I haven't posted in here for a long time. I was in a group of lovely posters whilst we quietly wept with fear before our dc's started secondary school but after the first year he settled in and I felt a fraud hanging out here when he was doing so well. Really, really well actually and I think this is the problem! He has a gift for science, the headmaster described him as a 'high flyer' and he had plans to study some amazing topics at university supported by the school and made GCSE choices to give him the opportunity to follow this dream.

Cut to results day half way through his GCSE's, it isn't really a surprise as the end of year report had already explicitly pointed out how poorly he was doing. He has done OK in science but not brilliantly but he has failed everything else and it doesn't look like he stands a chance of passing maths when it comes to it and he needs it at A level to any of his subjects at uni. Until the end of this term there was no indication that he wasn't doing as well as always, his report sounded like one for a different child but it isn't. It looks like all the SEN staff have gone off long term sick and there is no one keeping an eye on him (he is school action plus). For his first set of GCSE's there wasn't even a laptop for him (and he wouldn't say anything, the exam paper was put in front of him and he just wrote, it would never cross his mind to challenge something like that).

So what to do? I have a very bright boy trapped behind the wall of dyspraxia, he can't get his clever thoughts out onto paper and he just hasn't got the organisational skills for the independence they are expecting of him at this level. Who do I go to, what do I say? Until a few weeks ago I was expecting him to be applying to Uni in a couple of years and at the moment it doesn't look like he will get into 6th form in 12 months. I feel like I'm at the bottom of a well with no ladder. I've failed my beautiful intelligent son and I have to work out how to support him to do as well as he can.

He has a lovely (nerdy, hard working) bunch of friends by the way, there is no bad behaviour, drinking/drugs going on. For someone with dyspraxia he is turning into quite an athlete, anything involving going fast in basically a straight like is his strong point! Don't ask him to catch anything or he will do himself damage.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrSlant · 30/08/2015 13:40

Iguana I promise I won't be like that. I am a complete wuss, I will be tail between my legs 'what can we do together to work this out' but in my head I will be all warrior princess Grin his father is a teacher so I can't be mean to them really! I have just felt really cross that until the report came at the end of term no one had told us there was a problem when patently there is one. It was like falling through a hole reading it, he's always had great reports before and it would have given us more time to sort things out for over the holidays. Getting backs up won't help him at all though it has to be a joint effort.

Looking at old papers would be a really good idea, he will have lost marks for handwriting (his hands get sore very quickly and he struggles holding the pen well) and for rushing and for not reading the question properly and not checking his decimals... his actual maths was very good until recently so I am inclined to think it is organisation not just the maths. I think he would benefit greatly from going down a set where they go a bit slower maybe?

maybe we can cling together for support and hints on how to stop their teeth going green? They sound so similar, particularly the 'This is perfect I need to do no more' attitude to the papers. He was convinced he'd done brilliantly and ended up with a D. School have now put him in for the lower tier paper, frustrating beyond belief and I imagine he was supposed to tell me this but didn't. Grrrr!

OP posts:
TeenAndTween · 30/08/2015 13:23

OP I agree with Iguana that explicitly blaming the school is likely to get their backs up.

I'd go with "I'm really concerned that DS is struggling ... I'm aware the SENCO support has not been around .... what can we all do to provide proper support" that kind of thing.

basildonbond · 30/08/2015 13:12

OP we have a remarkably similar situation with ds2 who's about to go into Y11

He has ASD and dyspraxia and despite my worries beforehand, the transition to secondary seemed to be flawless. He settled in very well, had a group of like-minded geeky friends and seemed to be happy. Y7-9 all went well - he was in the top maths and science sets, is always extremely well-behaved but it all started going downhill in Y10

He's still doing well in the sciences, although problems with the 6 mark questions mean he's looking at As rather than A*s, he's flying in computer science (no surprise there). However any subject requiring extended writing is a disaster zone. He has a laptop which helps to an extent but he suffers from a two-fold problem. The years of avoiding writing tasks whenever possible have left him with a legacy of essentially just being able to answer questions in bullet points, that together with his inflexibility means he's utterly convinced he's answered the question and that no further expansion is required. His English CAs have been awful not helped by him refusing to plan them beforehand.

His school have not been at all proactive and I ended up having to be very firm at his annual review. He's now dropped Spanish and will be using those lesson slots for literacy support (although considering the person providing the support spells 'definitely' as 'defiantly' I'm not holding out much hope ...) and he's having 1-1 maths support after school (despite being level 8 at the end of Y7 he's apparently made no progress at all and refuses to show his workings out)

Tbh I'm not looking forward to the next year. Although he doesn't actively misbehave he's very good at passive resistance and getting him to cooperate when he doesn't want to is tricky (I share your pain with the teeth-brushing and general hygiene issues ...)

Obs2015 · 30/08/2015 12:46

Please consider sending an email ASAP, with your numbered points and asking fur a meeting ASAP to address them.

Then they can think about it, gather info, arrange. It will be much more fruitful for you.

And it leaves a paper tail. No one can dispute what you 'said', if it's in writing.

IguanaTail · 30/08/2015 12:17

Attacked.

IguanaTail · 30/08/2015 12:16

I am TOTALY going in on the 'this is your failing, you have not supported someone on school action plus as you should have, if he doesn't get the required grades to do what he should in life I will be on you like a tonne of bricks. Now how do we work together to achieve this?'.

I really wouldn't go in with that blame mentality. Threatening to be on teachers like a "tonne of bricks". If he has been doing superbly from September of Year 7 until March of Year 10 that is really unhelpful.

A meeting to say how you are worried and would like to do everything you can to support will be more effective. Remember "school action" and "school action plus" get no money and the support is down to each teacher. You need them on-side. People do not respond well to being attached and threatened.

noblegiraffe · 30/08/2015 12:06

Yes, sorry, should have mentioned I'm a maths teacher!

TeenAndTween · 30/08/2015 11:51

(OP, Noble is a secondary maths teacher)

It might help you a lot if you see his internal exam papers, then you will understand where he lost marks. There may be some general exam technique coming in to play, e.g. time management.

DD was useless at revising on her own, could spend hours but wasn't productive, but did so much better 1-1. I tried to set her revision with tangible output like past papers, or I tested her so she could see what she actually properly knew.

With English CAs, DD used to talk things through with me, and I would question her understanding, or challenge her to provide quotes to back things up. This forced her to think things through better so she was better prepared. For creative writing she used to draft the whole thing at home, so when she got into timed conditions, all her thinking had already been done. For Eng Lit she practiced drafting essays, eg main bullet points of what she would talk about.

If he's good a science, I don't really understand why he's struggling with the maths, apart from being in an inappropriate set. Looking at his last internal test will help you see what he can / can't do.

You still have time, hopefully.

noblegiraffe · 30/08/2015 11:07

Ah, Wales do things differently so that explains the January exams and resits.

Is he hoping to do engineering at uni? What level did he get in maths at the end of Y9? Has he sat and failed maths modules, or just internal exams?

Original poster
MrSlant · 30/08/2015 10:51

We are in Wales if that makes a difference noble? They did external exams Jan and May and went in for results the same day as the 'full' GCSE results. I cannot help you with his slip of paper with grades as it is all in Welsh and whilst DS1 understands what it says he doesn't have the skill to translate into english. Both languages are equally understood in his brain/interchangeable but he can't translate one to the other!

He got an end of term exam grade and a predicted grade. Neither of which were much good! I think his school have forgotten him really. From parents evening I didn't get a good feel for either his maths or engilsh teachers. One was harsh and the other had cast herself as a whacky/inspirational stand on tables type and I don't think it's working for him.

I will phone school on tues and see about going in to do course work, that's a great idea. I am TOTALY going in on the 'this is your failing, you have not supported someone on school action plus as you should have, if he doesn't get the required grades to do what he should in life I will be on you like a tonne of bricks. Now how do we work together to achieve this?'.

Thank you for your input, it is great to speak to someone who sounds so knowlegable.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 30/08/2015 10:40

Is he sitting IGCSE? They have January sittings. I'm a bit confused about why he is sitting GCSE exams in Y10 as GCSE is now linear so they should be taking them all at the end of Y11.

If he got 6s and 7s in Y9, then he is certainly capable of good passes in English and Maths. Given the importance of these subjects to the league tables, I'm surprised the school aren't all over his failure. Are they predicting him a fail, or did he just get a fail now in GCSE papers but is expected to pass next year?

You've only got 9 months to sort this, so you need to go in full-steam from the first day of term. Can he go into school on INSET days to catch up with his BTEC coursework? Stay late after school?

If the school start to wring their hands about the time it will take, lack of resources etc, then you need to be clear that it is their failing as a school to support a student with diagnosed SEN which has caused these issues. Put it back on them.

Original poster
MrSlant · 30/08/2015 10:26

He failed most of his end of year in school exams but they didn't know they were sitting them until two weeks before and the whole year had a protest sit in about having them on top of two weeks of formal external exams!

OP posts:
Original poster
MrSlant · 30/08/2015 10:25

They are the half way point exams? I don't really understand how it works, there were some after Christmas, then he re-sat those and took some more. One was a 'full' result but he failed that completely but I'm not bothered about RE!

Y9 levels were 6/7s, mostly 7s. He isn't predicted a proper pass in English or Maths at the moment from his report. How this isn't waving huge flags to the school I don't know. I can say hand on heart it isn't a behaviour issue, he is a very polite, well behaved boy, never even comes home 5 minutes late and his friends are all into being outdoors hiking and other stuff.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrSlant · 30/08/2015 10:21

His CA's are likely to be bad too, his organisation is a HUGE issue. I'm just on a back foot right now because I knew none of this until his end of term report. Even his engineering (which at parents evening we were told was going to be 'distinction' in the Btech) is hard pressed for a pass because of course work I knew nothing about. I feel like they have failed him terribly all the SENCO's are off on long term sick, his consultant retired and hasn't been replaced, there is no one in his corner and he's gone from brilliant prospects to failing in a term. I am boggled and sad.

He has A's for science (in a resit) and D/E/F for everything else. So I guess logical thinking is all there, I think everything else in that list! The problem is he thinks he's worked really hard, got everything done and is doing well, at least until his report came through. So it's a bit of a shock for him too, he felt his english exam went really well so the D's have been unexpected.

Princess that is a very good idea, he needs quite a few people on his case. SENCO/maths/english and his form tutor maybe head of year?

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 30/08/2015 10:12

How many actual GCSEs has he sat, and how many were just end of year exams?

It is very odd to have a student go from one planning university to one failing GCSEs in such a short space of time. What were his end of Y9 levels?

PrincessHairyMclary · 30/08/2015 10:10

Could you email them and arrange an appointment letting them know exactly what you want to discuss so that they can be prepared / talk to other staff that are involved so that they can give you all the info there and then. Otherwise you'll probably be back up the school a week later

TeenAndTween · 30/08/2015 10:05

Maybe day 3? Grin

What does he find difficult?

  • structuring essays
  • organising revision
  • focussing during revision
  • remembering maths techniques
  • logical thinking
  • writing essays
  • making revision notes

You kind of need to address each problem separately. Some you can help with, some you can't. So logical thinking was hard/impossible, but I organised revision in consultation with DD so that was easy to resolve.

Remember the English is mixed with CAs, so a D on the paper can result in a pass if the CAs are good enough (which is how DD passed in the end).

Original poster
MrSlant · 30/08/2015 09:43

He has a laptop, although he didn't for his first exam and got a D in English, had it for the resit and got a D in English. So we need to look into that! He doesn't get extra time because he was one mark over the cut off point in the assessment for it in school. Gutted. I'm going to ask if he can do it again also about the standing and stretching, I'm sure we had that in a letter from the consultant.

Do I give them until next week before I phone or go in all guns blazing on the first day? Grin

OP posts:
TeenAndTween · 30/08/2015 09:26

I forgot to mention:

DD got concessions

  • use of laptop for writing heavy exams and CAs
  • 25% extra time
  • some exams printed on blue paper
  • permission to stand and stretch for longer exams (with the extra time, English Lang came in at something like 2hrs 45mins which is massive).

The first was obtained end y9 due to writing speed v thinking speed or something, all the others were obtained after dyspraxia diagnosis & January mocks, so very late in the day.

Original poster
MrSlant · 30/08/2015 09:00

Wow, we went away camping and there are loads more people here, brilliant. Thank you for all your comments, I'm going to start writing a big list and getting organised. I was fed up because I don't have many work hours at the moment but it looks like I have a full time job for the next 12 months anyway.

I totally second the opinion that whilst we have to teach them to be independent they also need GCSE's, it's so much harder for our children but I am thankful more and more are being diagnosed as it gives them a better chance.

OP posts:
Obs2015 · 30/08/2015 05:27

Taking notes for what I need to ask.

PrincessHairyMclary · 30/08/2015 04:29

Also as mentioned above Id get rid of any non essential GCSEs if you can.

Most Colleges (again talk to your local one to ensure this applies) award points depending on what grade you achieved and then divide it by the number of qualifications you have taken, this gives you a score which they then use to determine which programmes you can take at A level. Therefore instead of taking 11 where you might achieve lower grades because you are trying to revise too many subjects which lowers your average score and limits the A levels you can take. Cut back to the most important ones (English, Maths, Science) and a few that interest you most, revise really hard and gain good grades will put you in a much better position.

PrincessHairyMclary · 30/08/2015 04:22

If you haven't already get in touch with the 6th Form. The one. I work at has a large range of Level 2 programs for student sto take if they haven't achieved their maths and English and they then progress on to the level 3 programme the following year. Because your child has a SEN he shouldn't have any problem getting funding for 3+ years at College. Obviously it depends on the College but we offer ALOT of support to SEN students many only getting dyslexia etc diagnosis once they reach us. Whilst having to do an extra year may be frustrating it is useful to get students used to a more independent way of learning before they go off to. Uni.

KeepBadgering · 27/08/2015 13:30

Echo entirely what TeenandTween said.

It's hard work and time consuming but it was the only way. At least he went into the exams confident that he was a prepared as he could be. Okay, he only scrapped though his GCSE's, but without all this 1 to 1 he would have failed them completely (that's if we could of got him into the exam room)

TeenAndTween · 26/08/2015 17:03

My DD was finally assessed with dyspraxia December of year 11.
I had suspected it for some time, but school had never seemed to take my concerns on board. However I suspect she is maybe not nearly as 'bad' as your son.

In general I probably made myself a complete pain to most of her teachers throughout year 10 & 11. We had a good system to contact teachers via email that I made extensive use of.

  • finding out when controlled assessments were
  • if DD couldn't tell me exact requirements, then cutting out DD and finding out info direct from teacher
  • asking for info on where she was losing marks in things
  • I organised her work at home. So I made her tell me what work was set, and I got her to estimate how long it would take, and we agreed together when stuff would be done.
  • In conjunction with DD I devised revision timetables for her, and a lot of the revision I did with her. I helped her write revision cards etc. I set maths questions, I marked science papers, I nudged her to review vocab lists etc.

Luckily I have the time and skills to do all that.

So far so good.

y11 Mocks just after formal diagnosis she did fine in some subjects, and bombed out in English and History. Speaking with the school, we got History dropped, and some extra help for English. She went to every English session going with any teacher and came back and reported to me. I wrote her step by step instructions on how to go about the questions. We found every past paper ever and practiced and reviewed.

She ended up passing everything, and just got her English Language, helped by her good CAs.

So my advice for what it's worth.

If there is a no-hope subject that can be binned then do so.

Ask to move down a set in maths.

Make sure he or the school tell you every single deadline/date for CAs. Get him to plan his essays or whatever upfront, or even practice writing them. Marks in the CAs can counterbalance rubbish exams.

Organise him yourself. Yes he needs to learn to do it, but he needs to pass the GCSEs too.

Practice the 6-mark science questions, as until you get into them it can be unclear what is required.
Practice rearranging equations as these are easy marks for physics and maths.

Make sure you have revision guides for maths/science/... so you can see everything that is needed to be learned. DD's notes were completely pointless, we did more or less everything from the guides.

Sorry if this seems totally useless for your situation. Good luck.