AIBU to think that DS should get extra time in exams

[yearofthehorse]

DS is 15, in Year 10 and has GCSE's next year. He is also ASD, diagnosed by an NHS doctor and has all the associated issues of lack of concentration and anxiety that go with the condition.

However he was diagnosed by a diagnostic service who do not engage under any circumstances in correspondence. The school insist that he cannot get extra time unless they are sent a letter by an NHS doctor to say that he will benefit from it but DS has now been discharged from CAMHS and the waiting list to get back on is over a year so that may be too late.

Has anyone else found themselves in this Catch 22 situation and found a way round it?

You can have a private consultant letter. It does need to be on headed paper and not from a GP. Most privates work in NHS anyway. The letter is only to confirm the diagnosis. The most important thing is evidence of need from the school. The senco should be asking his teachers if he doesn' finish. For anxiety, I would go down room on his own, ability to read aloud and rest breaks. Don't need anything for those.

Ahhh. Ok.

My son was allowed extra time in exams, including GCSE's and also use of a laptop on the basis of an assessment arranged by the SENCO. No medical letters of any sort were requested.

Its not just the school saying that to be difficult. Its what JCQ say and if they dont do it properly they will get in serious hot water over exams administration.

I work as a Invigilator and there are alternatives if he is not assessed for extra time. The school can assess him as needing prompting ( deals with the lack of concentration) or he could be assessed as being entitled to breaks. This is where he is able to take a break from the exam to gather his composure/ calm down etc ....he remains in the room, just indicates he needs a break, closes his paper and sits resting. Time is noted and when he wants to restart he indicated again to the Invigilator and restarts. The time resting is added on to his finish time so he doesn't lose out. Maybe that would help. By the way in all my years invigilating most pupils given extra time hardly ever use it.

I'm a secondary SENCo and I do the testing for access arrangements. Extra time is only awarded if your son scores a standardised score of below 85 in a processing test administered by the school's assessor. It also has to be his normal way of working and there has to be evidence of this. Any external reports or assessments are not taken into consideration (JCQ make these rules, not the school). In exams, the school will reflect whatever his normal way of working is in the classroom. So if he has regular rest breaks and/or a prompt in class, they have evidence to provide it in exams. Have a look at the JCQ Access Arrangements information online. I hope this helps.

@DuckbilledSplatterPuff Not all extra timers are put in a different room, so no need for extra invigilators. Unless they have other needs, ( eg.need to have an out loud Reader ) they just join the others in the main exam hall and just stay behind at the end.

Ds is 15 in year 11 and was diagnosed with autism last year. He uses a laptop for extended writing in exams as his handwriting is poor and he has lax finger joints. He also sits his exams in a smaller room.

As far as we know he is not entitled to extra time. He has never had any assessment or input from the educational psychologist as the school have told us that they have done some screening and that he has no cognitive issues. He didn't manage to finish some of his mocks but his grades seemed okay, although some where below expectations.

He struggles with planning and organisation and is finding revision pretty much impossible at the moment. His executive functioning skills are poor. He's sitting 26 exams this summer so it's going to be very hard. He's come home tonight terribly anxious and I think things are going to only get worse as time goes on. He masks so school say he is 'fine'.

As far as I know an autism diagnosis does not on it's own mean a child can have extra time. There would have to be other official tests. I guess because your Ds is in year 10 you still have time to sort out anything else that he may need. It's too late for us to do anything else for our Ds now.

The op's son needs exam arrangements due to a medical need, which is why she has been asked to provide medical evidence. The SENCO does not need to assess op's son or complete form 8. Op needs to provide medical evidence which confirms her ds's disability.

The SENCO's role is to write a file note which confirms that the adjustment of extra time is Op's ds's usual way of working and which demonstrates evidence from teaching staff that op's ds has persistent and significant difficulties as a result of his disability, and how these difficulties impact on his learning in the classroom.

Whoever applies online will apply for extra time due to a medical need and will not be asked to input any scores. They will however be asked whether school have medical evidence to confirm ds's disability/medical condition.

Op will need to push, really hard, almost demand of Senco that assessments of her ds are done. Now.

You Will also have to (I have no idea how) either by writing to them, get a copy of his diagnosis - you should have had one already. really this is ridiculous.

Speak to your Gp. Tell her too that this is ridiculous.

Put it all in writing, in emails, (especially to school, senco) so there's a paper trail. Anything good/advantageous verbally said, follow up with an email : "just to clarify that you said a/b/c".

You are going to have to fight. Hard. OP. Set you mind to that now.

Sorry. Re-read that You have the diagnosis letter.

You need a Paed letter to say he needs time? And the camhs waiting list is long. I'd still ask Gp for a re-referral. And ring them.

And attack it from the Paed side too.

I used to ring / email everyone, regularly! You have to ring gp, camhs, Paed secretary, Senco etc every few days, in a 6 pronged attack, to get anything done/actioned.

My dd should have had extra time but because she's bright we didn't realise her difficulties. When she did get it for her A levels she was one of the few that used it all. She had to be retested at a specific place for uni, unfortunately not in time for her first set of exams. Schools and colleges will want to help their pupIls do as well as they can, but it has to be within guidelines. Most kids will be anxious about their gcses and have some sleepless nights.

I'm not meaning to assume that everyone can afford a private report - I know they can't. But can you OP? Ours cost £750. It was sorted in about 4 weeks.

The medical 'diagnosis' is largely irrelevant as others have said. You need an educational psychologist who can test your son and see whether he qualifies under the equality act as disabled and whether, if he does, the adjustments would make a difference.

The legal test is whether he has a condition which has a significant impact on his ability to conduct normal day to day activities (and in particular here the normal day to day activity in question ie writing/reading/visual recall etc). They then look at whether the proposed adjustments would overcome that significant impact/detriment and whether the adjustments are reasonable.

We were told the cut off for an issue being a disability is being on the 16th centile. DS2 is on the 5th for visual processing (and the 98th for maths and reasoning!)

So a child can have a very severe medical condition but if the adjustment would not help them to overcome the disadvantage caused by their disability they don't get the adjustment.

DS2 has been told that due to his very slow writing speed (issues with his fine motor skills is one of his disabilities, he also has the visual processing disorder where he has limited ability to recall things he reads and needs to hear them) he could potentially have a laptop for GCSEs. However currently he is no faster on the laptop than he is at writing and so it wouldn't yet be allowed. If he can get his typing speed up so that use of the laptop will overcome the disadvantage caused by his disability then he will be able to use a laptop.

He has had extra time though in every test since diagnosis and this has been demonstrated both to help to overcome the negative impact of the disability and to be his normal way of working.

My DS gets extra time in exams. He doesn't have a formal diagnosis of anything, but has been through assessment processes for dyspraxia in the past. He types his exams and gets an extra 15% time compared with others. This was arranged through the school, not the exam board.

Hi. I'm an access arrangement assessor. The school seems to be acting under some confusion. If a student is diagnosed with certain conditions such as ASD and ADHD there is no need for additional testing and form 8 must not be used. ASD and it's assorted difficulties is long lasting so there is nothing to be gained by additional testing. There is also no need for the diagnosis to include specific educational access recommendations. Many don't.

You need:
A consultant diagnosis or EHCP
A normal way of working form where, for example, your child's maths tutor says she routinely takes longer to finish work, to answer verbal questions, to read passages of text etc.
The senco in your school then writes a file note. You can contact Patoss for an example of what needs to be included, but this is absolutely the sencos job and she should know exactly what is needed.

Just to address one other point: ET is not to allow students to do better in an exam. We'd all do better with extra time. It's just about removing barriers and going some way towards levelling the playing field. Reasonable adjustments are a legal requirement in the work place too.

My daughter who is in year 10, has had her adjustments sorted for her gcse's.

She has dyspraxia. Her adjustments are use of a laptop, a scribe and extra time in exams. All the adjustments are recommended by her ed psych report, and implemented by the senco. So sorry it's difficult for your son.x

What advantage would extra time actually give him though? I understand he is anxious-but what would extra time gain for that? If anything, I’d expect extra time to be more stressful as he’d be staying behind when others left etc.

Extra time can be for rest breaks
To get a drink stretch legs
Refocus

Please stop assuming they just sit there longer.

And it’s not ‘done in school’ the exam boards have to accept school evidence and agree to the extra time

We have been told can get extra time for DS, it is due to processing speed as mentioned above. Due to them taking extra time with writing. he is bright also, maybe depends on the need. He is not on SEN register

There would have been ed psych involvement in the ASD diagnosis. There really is no need for further testing. It's up to the teachers and senco now. If she does require extra time in class she is entitled to it inexams as well. It's her normal way of working

Extra time is not a rest break. For that you need to request supervised rest breaks

Not sure if this is relevant or helpful but I recently came across it and it was for me
www.gov.uk/government/collections/resources-to-help-with-test-anxiety

@yearofthehorse, part of my role is as exams officer and I work in a SEN provision so I deal with this all the time at work.
The rules for ET changed recently and it's now not enough to simply have a diagnosis of ASD and/ or ADHD - you also need to demonstrate via an access arrangements assessor, ed psych report or full dyslexia diagnosis that the candidate has slow processing (or needs a scribe or reader - ET can be awarded to compensate for the extra time these take). The only time when you wouldn't need a diagnostic letter would be if the child has an EHCP which states that processing speed is slow or gives other indicators that extra time is needed to complete tasks. A GP isn't able to provide evidence for this that JCQ woukd accept - nor are CAMHS unfortunately, as JCQ will only accept assessments from people with a specific set of qualifications. You can get an external assessment but the assessor needs to have a relationship with the centre prior to assessment, in part because the centre need to have the person's credentials on file. This might be your easiest option tbh but it won't be cheap.
Of our student cohort 90% have a diagnosis of ASD and other comorbid conditions. Only 15% of those qualify for ET.
We use rest breaks. A lot. There's no set limit to the number or length of breaks, that's something that the SENCo would decide based on your son's needs and NWOW. It's also a centre delegated arrangement so no deadline applies as nothing has to be applied for.
Another centre delegated arrangement useful for kids who struggle with executive function is use of a laptop. Helps with organisation and mitigates against poor motor skills (assuming he can type - otherwise it is a hindrance).
You can also get the SENCo to agree to sensory toys in the exam room (stress ball etc) if he normally has one in class. You could bring in one at the start of the exam season and leave it with school. Again, this is centre delegated.
Prompters are useful for children who drift but there'd need to be a solid body of evidence from class teachers that that is necessary for him. A prompt or scribe has to be applied for (iirc).
Otherwise, to be honest, what helps is lots and lots and lots of desensitisation to the exams process, combined with solid tutoring on exam technique.
What is really important though, is not to put in place a load of new stuff for exams. Kids will get more stressed by this as it isn't their norm. But whatever is needed in class to complete the work should be replicated as far as is possible in the exam room.
If you go on the JCQ website, by the way, you'll be able to find all the documentation that schools have to abide by regarding access arrangements.
First thing I would do is to tell the SENCo you want an assessment by an access arrangements assessor and see what they suggest. Also get in touch with your local NAS branch as they may have people in a similar situation.

Autistic Ds is entitled to extra time (processing speed is just above the minimum but combined with other factors such as handwriting (he uses a laptop) he is entitled to it.

However he chooses not to use it but instead finds rests breaks much more useful to help with his anxiety and innate need to move/fidget.

This sounds very bureaucratic behaviour from the school I do exam invigilation and a lot of children get extra time for the reasons you set out. His intelligencer is ireelevnat. The extra time is so that he can perform as well as he is able to.
Could you make a formal complaint also ask your local authority for advice or ask them to preform an assessment for an EHCP. They have to consider your request.

You have been amazing. I was a little but worried about posting this but had completely run out of ideas as to where to go next. You have given so many options to work with and now feel re-inspired and will hopefully be able to make his passage through exams a little easier.