Son is ill during GCSEs

[Caerulea]

He threw up yesterday morning but was able to go in & do his exam, then I picked him up after. Next is exam is tomorrow & this morning he got up & had diarrhea & stomach hurts. Mild headache but no other obvs signs but for stomach acid pain.

So I've kept him off today but what do I do tomorrow? I'm not wholly sure if this is illness or stress & he's not able to make those links himself to tell me. He displays ZERO stress about the exams (he's autistic, it's bloody obvious to anyone else but the school refused to test him cos he's so capable)

I can see there are ways for the boards to compensate etc but am concerned his grades won't be representative. He's on for 8's & 9's - if he's unable to make it in what are the chances he'll get truly representative grades? He's a total outlier in the school itself, it's a really badly performing school (though wellbeing & safety is high)

As far as he's concerned he's going in tomorrow.

Ooo I don't know how he'd cope with having someone like that in our home lol. The two worlds don't mesh well for him cos he essentially is a different person at school & 'him' at home.

I'm waiting to hear back from school about what they want to do.

Your poor daughter! Anaemia is awful enough as an adult, let alone as a teen! Hope they are getting to the bottom of that for her 🙏

There have been a lot of changes in the rules since 2022. Previously yes, they had to sit the exam under whatever conditions they could. But now there are far more provisions for what to do if the exam is missed and it is preferable the exam is missed in many situations.

@Caerulea Im sure they’ll do whatever works best for everyone! Good luck

Your school should have sent you a protocol for illness in all the exam info. We’ve been given a number to call for the exam office.

My son gets migraines so I did some research a while ago. Apparently firstly, if there’s still an hour left of the exam, he would be allowed to start it late in a separate room. If he misses the exam completely, the school can send some sort of “mitigating circumstances” form to the exam board. I have a letter from the GP stating that he gets migraines. I assume the school would verify this by referring to the times he’s had to come home with a migraine over the years. My understanding is that the exam board will look at the papers he’s already done, and the school information, and give a grade based on that.

OP your son needs calories or his brain won’t function. If he’ll eat toast that’s great, but the next best thing is sugar in some form - ice lollies are good, and also proper cordial (you might need a fancy one like Bottle Green, because the standard ones are mostly low calorie now). And stock up on drugs like Imodium.

There needs to be evidence from two settings. It doesn't matter how many markers he displays to the assessor, they can't give a diagnosis of autism unless the behaviours are exhibited in two main areas which are usually school and home. I believe when he turns 18 this will be different and he can self report.

I completely disagree with these guidelines but it really means there's no point paying for a private assessment.

@Caerulea - thank you and all the best to your DS. I second the ice lollies - my DS digs Cola Calippos.

Also, if medical advice and notes not forthcoming from local GP in a timely manner, there is always the Livi App. Expensive, but sometimes required. I am not sure what your school will say. But I had to use the Livi app last October when my youngest vomited profusely on the morning of an 11 plus exam. Never a dull moment in my household.

Re 48hrs: my dc's high school has never worried about this. It stopped being a "thing" after primary.

PS I hope your DS recovers @Caerulea. My DS is also in the middle of GCSEs.

If he has the runs, they'll put him and a single invigilator in a room on his own, with easy access to a loo.

This is the stupid thing, it's precisely the difference in his behaviour out of school at home & in school that's the biggest giveaway. By his own admission he adapts his behaviour to his environment - of course that means we have 'true' him at home which is at odds with EVERYONE else's experience lol.

There have been signs all his life but we had so much going on with eldest son we missed them. I'm not even convinced a diagnosis would help in a practical 'life' way, more that it would help him understand his own behaviour. Whereas Eldest did need others to know & adapt with him. Man, istg I've got ptsd from what we went through with him.

DD missed an exam a couple weeks ago. School have applied for special considerations- I paid for a GP letter but also had a consultant write one. Exam board should calculate a grade for her based on the other paper she sat so hopefully it'll be ok.
Your son might end up being at a bigger disadvantage sitting the exam than not sitting it.

This had crossed my mind, the sitting vs not sitting. I don't think I'll convince him not to go though even if I wanted to. Once he makes a decision absolutely nothing will change it. Nothing.

Can you not pursue a private diagnosis instead?

I assume it’s Eng Lang by all accounts the last exam wasn’t the greatest (across exam boards) so he probably wants to give it a go

he seems to be feeling ok just the issue with 48hrs if so it will be fine

also state he wasn’t great for the maths exam

@scotstars not atm, no, simply cannot afford to 🤷🏼. We'll look at it all again when he's at college

If he’s as able as you say the school will 💯 accommodate him as they will want his results in the mix 🙂

Fingers crossed. They've been really good so far, he is able to take the further maths exam despite never going to the lessons cos they clashed with another option.

As they should. I wouldn't be happy as a parent if my child picked up a d&v bug from another pupil who was sick in the exam hall and then 'failed' an exam because she was too ill to sit one herself.

Would he have the confidence to excuse himself of he suddenly needed the toilet? If so then I'd give school a heads up and send h im in I reckon

I disagree with this. If he's a high performing student and goes in and does badly because he feels ill he will likely end up with a worse mark than if he doesn't go in at all.

Presumably he is taking English Language tomorrow. If he has already sat the previous English Language paper and done well, the Exam Board will use that to give him his grade

The board might use just the previous one to give him his grade. They might. They might not. They might decide that a ‘dodgy stomach’ isn’t grounds.

I’ve know boards not give consideration for all sorts of things. The worst being: parent died in the exam period. Zero consideration.

The process is laid out clearly by JCQ. The consideration for the death of a parent during the exam period would be a maximum uplift of 5% if the exams were taken.

For illness on the day of an exam that prevents attendance it’s clear process of using the other papers marks & comparing it to the marks of those who gained the same score for the not taken paper.

This wasn't my experience. I tried unsuccessfully for my dd to be diagnosed age 5, then got her on the waiting list again around age 13 after a period of self harm. Assessed at 16 and confirmed ASD. But the school report hadn't evidenced any indicators, it was all based on my descriptions of her, past and present, and what she said herself to the assessor.

Be needs a doctor's note