To do my daughters GCSE course work?

[LolaLouise]

My daughter is adhd diagnosed, probable autism which she is still on a waiting list for years after the referral was submitted, she gets frustrated and gives up quickly, she tries, she really does, but sometimes gets overwhelmed and cant continue a task.

Her art GCSE course work is due in this week, she was very behind. I have spent all last weekend and this weekend helping her get it done. Up until now its been sitting and encouraging her, ive done some of the research whilst shes been doing the sketches needed, and then shes re-written it out, suggestions of sketches she could do, and cutting it all out so she can place everything into her book, helping her with layouts and ordering, but mostly just keeping her on track and focussed in 2 hour windows. There was one piece of art required for it to be done, she tried, for hours, yesterday to do it, but she got so frustrated and couldnt do it, its a portrait of a person. She ended up getting quite upset with the drawing and the looming deadline. This isnt the first time she has attempted it, shes been trying to draw it for weeks, but i put it to one side as she was hyperfixated on it, and in order to get everything else done, i took it off the table and said we would do that last. The sketch is needed as her final piece was based around this portrait, though her final piece was just shapes no details. The teacher has told her she absolutly must include this portrait in her project. Her final exam has already been sat so she cant just change the direction of the project now.

So ive drawn it, its not great, i can draw a bit but not even close to being skilled, but its better than what she was able to produce. She doesnt know ive drawn it last night. Ive started the shading to block out the main shadows, but it needs finishing, which she can do in the same way she has shaded all her other work, it looks vaguely like the person its supposed to be if you squint a little bit. We are going to try again today, ive even suggested to her tracing the facial structure today if we can figure a way to do it as we have no thin paper left to trace with, just really thick watercolour paper and card left. But it needs finishing today to hand in tomorrow. Then we can focus on her other much needed revision.

Her college plans do not include something even close to art related, its one drawing in amongst probably 100 others over the 2 years of project work, in the grand scheme of things i dont think it will make a difference to her grade, but her teacher has said it has to be included, so she is building it up to be the most important thing ever. I just want to help her, and ease some of her stress. Would you give her the drawing and help her finish it? Or is it too much help? Ive convinced myself if she does the shading then its no different to having traced the initial drawing, which is perfectly acceptable in her work, we just dont have the access to do that easily today. Do we try the tracing first and it that goes wrong then i just give her this one to shade over? theres a chance she has tried tracing in school on the lightboxes and they have been discarded already, as i know she traced other images.

How much help is too much, considering her SEN, but also that this is GCSE work?

Too late now, but she was ill advised to take this GCSE. It’s well known that the course work is a lot. A student that isn’t up to that (for whatever reason) isn’t suited for that GCSE. Either her SEN allows for adjustments, but if it doesn’t then a parent helping isn’t the solution. Will she feel proud of her “accomplishment” if she passes? What message are you giving your DD?

I quite clearly have said its one drawing in amongst a prject, the other help i have given has been support and writing a couple of bits out for her on post its so she can add them where they need to go. Its entirely her work, its this one drawing she is adament she has to include. So so far, no i havent done any of it, i was considering giving her a basic sketched line drawing i have done, for her to shade, to get her past this last bit. Ive also quite clearly said that i wont do it, given the responses, but i think the advice of a grid may be easier for her to do from mine, rather than a screen.

And this is why I always hated coursework.

Do not do it for her! That is all kinds of wrong and sends a terrible message.
Get her to download the De Vinci Art app, watch a video on YouTube about how to use it, then she can sketch it herself using that.

Didn’t someone at Eton “help” Harry with his artwork for an exam. And look how he’s ended up!

However you Liz Truss it up OP, you're going to cheat to help your DD. It's against the spirit of helping her be independent, it's against the exam rules and this will probably be revealed when the teacher asks DD about the different style of picture and DD tells them. This would actually disqualify her from her GCSE which apparently she has already done the work for. Just don't do it.

Its different anyway as no other part of the project is in this style! Now it is going to be all her work, not a pencil line on it shall be done by me.

I think this is the only approach you can take, if art is not going to be a subject she pursues in later life. Maybe ask her to try one last time today (maybe using the upside-down technique suggested above, see if that works for her?) and hand in the best of the bunch.
Good luck to you both.

Instead of helping her with her art in this way, given that it has no bearing on her A-level choices, you should try and help her have some perspective on the situation. She needs to see it through, do her best and realise that her best is fine in this situation.

The whole system is rigged against children with additional needs. In fact the whole education system is not fit for purpose for all but the most traditionally academic IMO.
These exams won't seem so important a few years down the road. Especially if this subject is not part of her ongoing plans.
I understand the pressure and stress you must feel after years of dealing with our inflexible education system. So no judgement from me. But I do hope she might feel able to submit her own work.

The grade you get in a GCSE art exam has little bearing on your creative talent. I got the lowest grade possible. Yet I design and make things that sell.

GCSEs aren’t an even playing field so sometimes I think you have to be “creative “ to make it so

You can't submit your drawing.

What you CAN do is give her your drawing for her to attempt to copy and complete.

And the people saying about the exam/coursework, my DD is doing Art as well, and did their exam pieces 2 weeks ago, but they're still tidying up/completing their coursework books in lesson.. they're just not allowed to bring the actual books home.

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.

I agree with @ocelot3

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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....

So for context, she has done this already. The final piece was an album cover done in the style of another artist. She has done sketches and research in the styles of artists from that movement focussing on one artist for her exam piece. Her teacher has told her she needs to include small sketches - which she has done, and one full sized drawing of the album cover in the style it is, which is a photograph of the artist. So doing it in another style isnt possible. They have specifically told her she needs to recreate the photograph how is. No amount of encouragement from me that these little quick drawings are enough, no amount of me saying this gcse isn’t important, no amount of me praising the drawings she has done so far matters. All that matters at this moment is a full a4 page of the person that looks like their photo on an album cover.

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!

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.

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.

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