Help! ADHD, GCSEs and adjustments

[FrostHardy]

I am currently engaged in a battle with DS's school about his GCSEs and I'm not sure why they are pushing back, I'm hoping someone can help me understand it here.

Background: DS is in year 11, he will sit his GCSEs this school year. We moved to the UK from overseas last year. He was moved from the start of year 8 into the end of year 9, so he's had about 15 months less time in school than the other kids in his class. He was diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive), dyspraxia (fine motor, can't tie shoelaces, extremely slow and laboured handwriting etc.), generalised anxiety and major depressive disorder by a developmental paed overseas. He can't tolerate stimulants but takes intuniv. His inattention is severe and he's extremely distractible. He needs lots of help to do things like get ready to leave the house, we have frequent incidents of things left on (taps, oven, hob), losing everything, going out without keys, bus pass, phone etc etc. School work is a battle and his confidence is low. I have two neurotypical DCs who have none of these issues.

When he arrived into the UK in year 9 he was assessed by the school senco once, she said he doesn't need extra time but has applied for rest breaks and a reader. He sat mocks last school year and bombed out (most scores 2-3, some scores under 1), he kept losing focus and ran out of time.

I asked the deputy head if he could reduce the number of GCSEs he's sitting to focus on getting the grades he needs (at least a grade 4) in 5 subjects to allow him to access a place at college. The school he is in now has no sixth form.

The deputy head emailed back and said no, and basically said he needs to work harder. The email was astonishingly rude actually, so I'd obviously asked the wrong question.

I pushed back and was then offered a meeting! What do I need to ask in the meeting? I've been reading around I think I need to ask to see the results of the Senco's assessment from year 9? Should they do another assessment? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

It's generally up to the school how many GCSEs a students sits.

At the school I used to work at, some students would do fewer GCSEs, but they would normally have dropped a language and would spend that time doing extra or booster maths. Many schools run that kind of system - it may be worth asking if the school do and whether your child could join it.

(He may already be in that system if there is one).

The main problem with dropping GCSEs is that it creates a supervision problem, if your son is not attending Art/whatever lessons where is he going to go? In year 11 he needs to be supervised by an adult.

Some schools have the capacity to offer independent study supervised by an adult (sometimes in the SEN hub, sometimes it's own space) but depending how likely he is to sit quietly and do his own work they will be more or less prepared to offer that.

Part of the reason will be that the school are judged via Progress 8 so usually 8 are a minimum number. Saying that I'm pretty sure it would have been allowed at ds's school as they had a work skills programme run by the SEN department alongside the normal GCSE curriculum.

Thanks @Octavia64 the senco did say last year that some students did fewer GCSEs so I will ask again about how their free periods were managed. He's not disruptive and would sit quietly, he'd be more likely to work with fewer distractions, so I can offer that.

thanks @Comefromaway I'll have a read about progress 8

I work in a CAMHS neurodevelopmental team. I assume he was diagnosed with ADHD abroad. Do you have his diagnosis report, the recommendations in there should say something about having extra breaks and extra time in exams. You can then provide it to school.

As a last resort, you could see a private psychiatrist for an ADHD review, obtain a report with the recommendations and provide the report to school. Going down the NHS route will take too long due to waiting list.

Has his handwriting ben recently assessed via a DASH test. Although rest breaks are preferable for many he may also need extra time for the handwriting issues (or a scribe/use of a laptop)

Would a laptop use help? If he can use it regularly so it becomes his 'normal way of working' then school can give him this concession in his exams for longer answers. We have an external person come in to do the assessments for extra time so I would dig a bit on this SENCO assessment.

Incidentally, he doesn't need any specific grades to be able to continue in education,

Most big colleges (not sixth forms) will offer a range of qualifications at different levels including for students who do not grade at GCSE for example see

www.camre.ac.uk/apply-enrol/qualification-levels-entry-requirements/

(He might well want a specific course that requires grade 4 however)

@Capricornqueen86 yes he was diagnosed overseas. We have a few reports because he was seen by a psychiatric team in a public hospital, as well as the initial diagnostic report from the private paediatrician. We did have a few private appointments with a neurodevelopmental paediatrician in the UK last year because he wanted to try stimulants again. Unfortunately he still couldn't tolerate them. The UK paediatrician did write a report that stated he needed extra time (among other things), but the school said that a private specialist cannot make that recommendation and that the senco's assessment is final. Would they accept that recommendation from a psychiatrist?

I'm not sure how the senco assessed his writing @Comefromaway i will ask.

Thanks @Bobbybobbins I was wondering if the assessment needed to be done by an external assessor.

Thanks @Octavia64 he was hoping to do an engineering BTEC at the college where most of his classmates will go (to do A levels) but we should probably widen our search to bigger colleges like you say!

This is not surprising, some schools have a thing about private reports and prefer reports from NHS professionals.

At the age he is, he would need to see a CAMHS professional rather than a Paediatrician in relation to ADHD. Its difficult what to recommend because even if you get your GP to refer your son to CAMHS for an ADHD review he won't be seen in the time you need. It's unlikely school can refute an NHS report and it would most certainly override a senco assessment as ADHD is a clinical diagnosis.

I don't have knowledge on SENCO assessments but yes it would be a good idea to get a copy.

If school have access to an Educational Psychologist, this also might be helpful but again waiting lists are usually the bane of most parents of neurotypical children!

Just to say if he's going in to Year 11 you need to push right from the start. schools are not allowed to introduce new things such as laptop/scribe/extra time at the last minute. They have to be able to prove to exam boards that each candidate is following their "normal way of working". They will need to get the right support in place for mocks or they cannot do it for the real exams in May.

A meeting is a good idea. Will the SENCO be present?

Progress 8 won’t be relevant in this case because DS won’t have KS2 data. However, many schools are reluctant to allow DC to drop subjects even without considering that because of supervision this will especially apply if DS struggles to work independently.

You can see JCQ’s rules about exam access arrangements here. I would ask if the school are assessing DS for extra time under the learning difficulties criteria (i.e. using a Form 8) because with an ADHD and dyspraxia diagnosis that isn’t required. A laptop, speech to text software or scribe and prompter may be helpful. Whatever access arrangements DS has need to be his normal way of working.

This is the link to the JCQ information on evidence requirements - as pp says, ADHD comes under medical and requires a confirmed diagnosis from appropriate consultant rather than learning difficulties which require exam access assessments. The SENDCO assessment is therefore not needed. A lot of schools apply under form 8 (assessment) most of the time instead of applying using form 9 (diagnosis)...

Yes, see the SENCO again.
if he’s run out of time in many of the exams and previous psych reports showed that he needed extra time, then this would constitute evidence to show the exam board.

If you have the money though, I would find a private school which supports SEN and start year 10 again. I’ve found state schools to be useless.

Has he got an EHCP? Ask the Sendco if school will apply if not make a parental referral.
They are supposed to take 20 weeks but can take much longer so get the ball rolling ASAP and then the exam adjustments can be written into it.

Thanks everyone, I think coming from overseas with a diagnosis already in place has left us in a bit of a grey area. When we arrived the GP was happy to take over prescribing because he was waiting for a CAMHS review. We waited a year for the review and the outcome was his needs are not severe enough for them to be involved, his diagnoses were in place and he was stable on medication so they didn't see any value they could add. He was discharged after the first review, so it's going to be tricky to get an NHS report.

He doesn't have an EHCP, I did apply for one when we arrived but they said his needs weren't severe enough to warrant one. His full list of diagnoses is ADD, dyspraxia, generalised anxiety (complicated by aural and visual hallucinations - this is where the psychiatric involvement came in), major depressive disorder and Tourette's syndrome. He's doing well at the moment thanks to lots of CBT and the introduction of an SSRI before we moved.

I will ask if the senco can attend the meeting, and ask about which form has been used to make the application, thank you for the advice.

I hadn't considered a sen supportive private school, we might need to consider this, it will be more manageable financially if it's just for a couple of years!

You could appeal the EHCP refusal.

www.ipsea.org.uk/appeals-against-a-refusal-to-issue-an-ehc-plan

Did you appeal the EHCP refusal? The vast majority of appeals are upheld. You are probably out of time to appeal the previous request now, so I would re-request an EHCNA then appeal if refused. A diagnosis from abroad isn’t necessarily a barrier to access arrangements. If you look at independent schools make sure you ask lots of questions, not all are supportive of pupils with SEN.

Welcome to the UK. I think you need to learn that if you have a child with special needs, you need to fight for everything and take councils and schools to court. The vast majority of EHCPs are refused. It is in fact policy of mist local authorities to refuse every single EHCP in the hope parents give up. If you can somehow afford it, I woukd ecommend either moving back to your homecountry or going private and repeating year 10 at a private school with good SEND support.

Perhaps the school have decided that extra time isn't a suitable adjustment because it can occasionally be detrimental to some pupils with attention difficulties, as the length of the exam then gets overwhelming, and they get nothing done, or for others, they end up writing endlessly but not concisely, or they second guess themselves and then change previously correct answers during the extra time etc. So it could be worth asking the school for a trial of extra time to see if it does help him or make it worse (or see if they've done this already). Rest breaks might actually work better. You could also ask about a prompter to help when he loses focus - I'm not sure exactly what they're allowed to say/do, but worth asking the Senco, and also look up any other adjustments that might help for ADHD

You can also find all the details of the curriculum and exam lengths/rubrics etc online, and you could go over them with him and work out the timings and make sure that he knows exactly what needs to be done for each question, develop a habit of looking at the clock (e.g. at the end of each page in maths), to move on if he's stuck, etc, and essentially do lots of timed practice with questions (either from real papers or made up ones) to give him a sense of timing and how fast vs carefully he needs to work.

If private school is an option, would it be worth considering starting Year 10 again, now that he's settled in the UK? It would give you longer to get a new assessment if needed, and private schools might be more able to offer the extra adjustments and/or let him do fewer GCSEs.

@BaconWaffles mentioned not knowing what a prompter did. At our (state) school last year we had a couple with prompters due to adhd. In their case they were asked how they preferred it to work. They asked for time prompts. So if we saw them having lost focus for a time (and has to be a time as some can look into distance as though distracted, while actually thinking) then they would get a time prompt … as in “you have now had 20 minutes” or “there are 30 minutes to go.”
To have a prompter, this was assessed by an in-school specialist, observed and tested under mock conditions and their TAs/learning support questioned/involved in understanding how it would be best to work. It also meant they sat in the alternative arrangements room, not the main hall.

I thought I’d add how assessments for extra time are done at our school too (appreciate other schools may be different but I only have experience here). Students are referred to be tested for it by teachers and LS (not just for those with EHCP etc). They are assessed by a specialist in school who tests them. Then in mocks or in class assessments from year 10 the students determined by the assessor are then are asked to sit their mocks/tests with everyone else and at the end of normal time change to an alternate colour pen. If shown that they do need the extra time, then it becomes usual practice and they get it in main exams with this as evidence. A surprising number refuse it.

Thanks, that's useful to know exactly what they are allowed to say - I thought at one point that there was a rule about them not being allowed to give time prompts, which seemed bonkers to me! I know of a pupil who had one who was able to just remind them to keep focus if they were daydreaming, just catching their attention and checking if they were thinking or daydreaming! But time prompts is probably the most useful thing.

I think also being able to be in the separate room is as useful as anything, even if some of the other adaptations are always used. I tutored a pupil who found that there was just more space in the extra room, not trying to fit eveyrthing on a little exam desk, knocking papers to the floor, mixing up the order of pages, finding space for a water bottle or watch, etc, and not being as distracted by other people around flipping pages or just being in a big space; the small room had fewer windows and no view outside, and she could see the clock better. So even when she didn't really need the extra time, she still went into the small room.

Another I think was given a separate space so that she could talk out loud, which helped her focus. If he is being given a reader, then he might already have that.

Ask them….
if he was
struggling to get into the exam room as a ramp wasn’t available and he was a wheelchair user would they make reasonable adjustments?

quote equality act 2010,
if you need to.

hidden disabilities are so bloddy tough.

Extra time .( if processing speed falls within a certain bracket) Quiet room. Breaks and reduced time table are all reasonable adjustments

unfortunately inattentive ADD often winds people up!

As they appear unarsed, lazy ,Produce scruffy work and loose or forget everything.

im sure cleaning a wheel chair user muddy wheel trails is frustrating for carers , but no one’s going to say ‘ look at all this mess, for goodness sake ! Sort it out , I can’t believe you’ve done this again!’ Becuase they obviously can’t help it !

But this happens all the time for inattentive ADD who often leave a trail of destruction behind them.

ADD’s also hear endless feedback about how crap they are and it’s soul destroying.

unfortunately your promoted to advocate for your child ….I have spent this week arguing for equal access for my child ….
she has got what she’s entitled to …
being clued up and not afraid to compare a hidden disability to an obvious one is quite powerful in my experience, but it does make people uncomfortable for some reason. Despite them both being equally challenging, to those who have educated themselves to understand.

I suggest you ask mn to move this to the SN section where you will get very good advice.

You are being seriously let down here. You are going to have to fight, and fight hard. Polite but firm. Don't be pushed around.

I'm not sure what the best bet is here, but you don't have a lot of time, so you are going to have to act quickly.

I also suggest putting everything in writing, in an email so there is a paper trail. Email back accepting the meeting. Ask that Senco is there. And ask for an individual meeting with her. Take somebody with you to the meeting - as a witness because they seriously won't like that!

Before you go to the meeting write, asking for everything you want, so they've already got an email stating it, before you arrive at the meeting.

asked for clarification and ask evidence on the tests, how senco made the decision that he didn't need extra time in exams. Dispute that. Now. In the email pre meeting
and point out that all the evidence already suggests that this is wrong, he does need extra time.

ask for the educational psychologist to review urgently. You probably won't get this in time, but if you put it in writing that you want it, they will not like this.

make an appointment with his GP. So there's evidence on his nhs notes.

pay privately to see the camhs or Paed consultant who desks with ASD. find one which does both NHS and private and make an appointment to see him privately asap. and get a letter written to the school and the Senco.

I urge you to fight very hard and push back in every area else, your son is going to be seriously Let down here. he is entitled to drop subjects. He is entitled to rest breaks. He is entitled to extra time. and you need to fight now to make sure these things are actioned.