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?

How? Up until now all i have done is sit with her and keep her on task in small chunks of time and regular breaks, dicussed ideas with what other ways she could do sketches, and written a few dates on post it notes. Chatted about other things along side so she doesnt over think what she is doing and argued over which taylor swift album is her best. How is that not supporting her? She needs someone sitting with her to keep her on task, she literally has that in her exams in the form of a promt, after she was assessed for what addictional support she requires in her exams. She has a reader, laptop (as she is also quite severely dyslexic), promt, and the standar extra time, in her own room. So me sitting with her and keeping her on task is exactly what she will have in all her upcoming exams.

My daughter has dyspraxia so I totally understand the desire to help. She did her GCSE's last year too, so I'm still fresh to it all. However, please don't cheat for her. That really isn't the right way to help her. If you do some of it, the difficult bit, YOU are telling her she isn't good enough. YOU are telling her "Here, I've done it, because you aren't capable". So you are actaully reinforcing her belief that she will fail. Because if you do it for her, she HAS failed. Your desire to help is actually reinforcing her assumption that she can't do it herself. It took me a while to realise that, I thought I was supporting her to succeed, I was actually doing the opposite.

Don't ask her to concentrate for two hours, do it for 20 minutes. With a timer. Just draw the outline of the eyes. Now have a break. Now the ears. Now lunch. Yes sweetheart, YOU absolutely CAN do this, yes, you really can. Come on, I'll sit with you. See, the eyes are fine, it doesn't have to be perfect. See, YOU'VE done that, I KNEW you could! Come on now, the ears now... Not patronising just kind, firm, no nonsense, "I believe in you, even you don't just now."

The amount of cheating of coursework that goes on in schools... I wouldn't worry about it.

Do the tracing thing.

I'd me more concerned that handing in your work would teach her that what she's done isn't good enough. I'd argue that a quick sketch done by her is much better than a more detailed one by you. If it's too large and too detailed try something like pen and ink. She could sketch the outline in biro in seconds then fill in shading with large brush strokes. Or, same with graphite.

Your daughter only needs maths and English GCSE to progress in life. A low grade in art won't matter in the scheme of things.

If she has ADHD a traditional academic route might well not suit her so maybe something practical would be better than sixth form and putting her in social situations to help her social skills for autism.

If tracing is acceptable by the school have you tried using the window (ie blue tacking the image and the watercolour paper to the window and tracing through that)? I would have thought that would give enough light to get an initial outline

it’s a bit strange to post AIBU and then try to justify what you’re doing every time someone explains why you are!

I get that your daughter has additional needs. But this level of over involvement in her work is not helping her. Maybe the right thing would have been to discuss with the school reducing the number of subjects earlier on. It’s not helpful to her to encourage her to lie (she will have to sign a document to state all work is her own) or for her to feel that if something is too difficult, someone else will do it for her.

it’s ok to not be good at everything. That’s an essential life lesson, learning that some things were good at and other things we find really tough and may never feel we’re able to grasp. Part of building resilience is trying our best at things but also recognising how to accept with good grace when we’ve reached our ceiling with a particular skill. I failed one of my subjects at her age. I didn’t like the fact id failed, particularly as I had the sort of profile where my grades in other subjects were high. But I think it was really really important that I learnt that it was ok, the world didn’t end and it was something I needed to accept. If my parents had cheated to enable me to pass that subject, the only thing it would have taught me is that cheating is ok, and it would probably have knocked my confidence in the longer term because despite outward appearances on my exam certificates, I would have known that it wasn’t my own achievement

I haven't read the whole thread, but I paint portraits and here are two methods to copy one without tracing paper:

1. Use a grid. Mark out a grid of small squares on the original portrait and then exactly the same size grid on your paper. Then copy what's in each little box. You'll get the same drawing, then paint over it.

1. Download a photo merge app. The one I have is free and called ultimate photo mixer. Draw a very rough version on the piece of paper, doesn't matter if it's rubbish. Then take a photo of the original and set it as the background, take a photo of your sketch and set us as the foreground picture. Change the transparency so that you can see both images. Now alter the lines of your sketch to match the original. Do this multiple times until it's correct, taking new photos of the sketch. Then paint over.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

Also, write a load of arty waffle about the artistic struggle and whether getting a true likeness is really important. Find some stuff in art books or get chat gpt to do it for you. I got full marks in my art a level (pre AI) and I did a LOT of this.

Blue tac the portrait to the window with the paper on top and get her to trace the outline then add the details once traces, that way she has a starting point and a bit more support so she can do it herself. Then see how she feels, I can understand your frustration but it may not be good for her self esteem knowing one of her pieces isn’t her own x

If she fails her art gcse she will learn that life doesn’t end when you fail your art gcse.

if you pull her through this she will learn that she can’t do things by herself, that her achievements on paper don’t actually reflect her ability.

Butterflies need to make their own way out of the cocoon in order to emerge fully formed. Your dd will thrive and become independent if you allow her the space to do so. Be supportive and kind, but have your boundaries in the right place, as to what you should help with and what she needs to do for herself.

the coursework project still has the same rules as the externally set task. If they find out you have done her research or drawing she will be disqualified. She also has to sign a declaration (if she’s AQA) stating anyone else that helped her.

Doing a line drawing with shading using something large and blockly like graphite would not take 2 hours. It would take her a few minutes. There's no sense in doing a detailed drawing if she'll struggle with that and another style could be easier for her. Include various versions to show progress. I'll try and find an example of what I mean.

@Christmasmorale perhaps but nephew said the college doesn't seem to be doing much to deal with it?
So the next classroom along could be full of cheats and staff not bothered when op and her daughter are next-door sweating over one piece of art??

@LolaLouisejust do whatever you need to do to help your DD pass this GCSE. Absolutely no judgement here. Trying to help a child with additional needs through the GCSE process is a stressful task. Many don’t and can’t take in what they need to do. It’s not cheating to give extra help. It’s making it a more level playing field. You’re not teaching her not to try, you’re showing her that there’s support around her. Exam times are tough for all pupils but those with SEN have it really tough. Schools aren’t geared up to give them the support they need. This is one drawing for one part of one exam. She’ll never need to do any of this again. She just needs a pass so she can get on with the next stage in her education - a stage where she’ll be doing subjects she’s chosen and is good at. This one final drawing sounds horrendously stressful for her. Just keep calm and carry on.

She hasn’t done all of the work, you’ve also done the research that she has copied. As a result she will get a better grade than students that have done it without cheating and done it all themselves. The project is also submitted to go towards the grade not just the exam, if it wasn’t then her teacher wouldn’t be pushing for it so much.

I think this is great advice. Also, it may help your DD with timings for getting it done - for eg, she could try and do x amount of squares before lunch or something similar.

I do sympathise, my DD13 is similar and it’s never easy with homework!

Dates. I wrote out some dates onto post it notes, she has pages and pages of written research, i just wrote out dates of artists working and artwork she has used as exmaples.

Like others have said, I'm surprised the coursework deadline is after the two-day practical. How did she do in that, does she think? It's 40% of the final mark.

I would and have helped with organisation. My child's teacher also helped out with sticking in and ordering coursework before the submission deadline (two weeks before the exam which was last week.

I wouldn't go as far as producing a piece of coursework for them.

They are way, way better than me anyway but I'd imagine it's obvious it isn't their work and you're risking a U on that basis.

Can see why you are desperate to help and support though.

One of my sons friends has SEN and found the exam conditions unbearable.

Poor girl just couldn't complete it.

Art GCSE is really tough.

I hope she is okay. This too shall pass, as they say.

Lots of hand wringing by other posters but this ^ sounds eminently sensible.

I paint portraits and getting a likeness is HARD. It's not something you'll learn to do as a one off. I think it would be helpful for your daughter to really get her head around this - no one is expecting a masterpiece, even the professionals struggle to get a likeness. I can see why she might be panicking.

A PP gave some good practical advice about grids. That's also still quite tricky if you're doing it for the first time. Another option I've done in pure desperation is get some baking paper and trace the shapes of the head, eyes, nose, ears etc. Then cut around those lines with scissors, lay the pieces on paper and draw around them. That way you can get the proportions right which is the hardest bit. Then she can just shade it in.

I found this example online using just biro and black paint. This kind of thing takes no time and could be a fun process.

Sorry OP, I’ve re-read your first post and realised that the urgency is because this is distracting from her other revision. So I misunderstood the deadline.

In that case, I agree with other posters that the drawings she’s already done and scrumpled up should go in the portfolio so she can move on. If she’s happy with that approach.

I agree your body doubling support sounds like it’s been really helpful. The research l, suggestions and other input while well meaning can be very distracting and overwhelming.

Wishing you and your daughter the best of luck today! Must be stressful with the exams looming too.

Does it have to be a realistic portrait, would she be allowed to draw a more abstract portrait if that suits her style better, plenty of abstract art can look stunning.
Or put the portrait on an iPad/tablet and using baking paper/ greasproof paper just trace or mark essential features and transfer to paper, as long as eyes, nose, mouth, forehead and chin, are in the right place it will look like a person.
I hope she manages and does well OP, I think artwork is one of the most frustrating to feel happy about.

Having read the whole post I think YANBU just give her the portrait.

I think YABU to post it here though, it’s easy for strangers to get on their high horse and give you a kicking but this is your daughters life and the two of you have to live through this.