Advice about helping a Y11 girl with ASD in exams

[nostaples]

Hello, I teach a girl with undiagnosed ASD (parents' choice) who is very able but has written less than a paragraph for each mock exam/timed question in the last year, except for on a particular text which clearly 'speaks' to her for various reasons. The quality of her couple of sentences is good so she can get a grade 2 or 3 on teh basis of a couple of sentences for each questions but there's no way she will pass. Parents and I agree that the most important thing here is the girl herself (she is struggling with life in all sorts of ways) but the bottom line is that if she doesn't pass her maths and English (she has the ability to get a 6 or 7) she will have to repeat them next year. Have tried to sit down with her to go through a paper to show her that she CAN do it but she hasn't turned up (she struggles with organisation) but I can try this again but I wonder if anyone knows of any strategies that will get her to write in the real exams? Any advice welcome, particularly from mums who have had this sort of experience with their own child.

My DD is very similar -good at talking through ideas but struggles to get things down on paper. I can talk things through with her and she seems to get it but struggles to remember (poor working memory - she does have an ASD plus ADHD diagnosis).

All I can suggest is repetition - going over things again and again and again in the hope information will eventually be retained. It's what I'll end up doing with DD nearer her GCSE's.

By the way you sound like a fantastic teacher I hope things work out.

oldbirdy - I'm not sure. DS2 is autistic and dyspraxic. He's allowed to use a computer to type his answers as his handwriting speed is in the bottom 4% but they wouldn't allow him extra time, even though he clearly has significant problems processing questions. It's a common problem with ASD and yet they don't seem to accept that extra time would be a fair adjustment. It means that for DS he typically gets 75-90% in his coursework but 35-55% in exams.

That’s odd @FeedTheTree. My DS has dyspraxia and autistic traits and gets an extra 25% time in addition to typing.

Feedthetree - is your ds's handwriting speed on the 4th percentile? That would equate to a standardised score of 74 which would qualify for 25% extra time.

I was diagnosed with “specific learning difficulties” whilst at school (done before GCSEs) mainly because I had slow handwriting and slow processing. At school I got 25% extra time, and at university I got 25% extra plus the use of a laptop. Then, last November, four months after graduation, I got diagnosed with ASD, which explains the difficulties I had (a spiky profile is common, where you’re above average in some areas but below average in others).
I did OK with English Language, but when I did it it was a lot of creative writing which I enjoy. I found Eng Lit hard, because I find writing essays difficult and also didn’t quite know what the question was asking. I could read all the books in the world about how to structure them, but it didn’t help with the actual writing of them. I still managed a B though.

Yes, DS has a very spiky profile.

sircoconut - it would if he had to handwrite. But he's allowed a school computer for everything except maths (and maths is where he scores only 35% in exams - duh, partly due to having to write by hand!) His typing brings him up within the normal speed range. But it obviously doesn't speed up his processing skills.
It's too late now, I think. We've asked for extra time for GCSEs since Yr9. They just said no. But he does get a quiet room without sensory distractions, and to use a computer.

DS gets both, the laptop and the extra time due to slow writing and processing speeds.