Year 13 boy just told us he has OCD and it’s impacting his focus/ grades hugely. What can he do to help him focus on his Alevel revision?

[Littl3lim3]

His grades are all over the place and was supposed to be looking at As, just had report and current grades Cs.Has been struggling to focus in class and at home. Came too us and asked for help. So we’re thinking making a timetable. Chunking it up, going for a run each evening, flash cards ….Subjects are physics and maths which he is naturally good at and chemistry which he is less so but can achieve well.He says when he can focus and do what he should he does well but has been struggling recently. Has had a shit couple of years with life events.

Does the school have a counsellor he can see? They usually have someone or a phone number for some support. It would be good if he could get some support.
Get his basics in place so decent sleep, good food, some regular exercise and down time for managing stress.
Some people think fish oil can help with concentration so you could look into that.

If he hasn't seen a doctor, this is all self diagnosed and he might be entirely wrong. Mental health conditions can be very complex. He needs professional advice, not to self diagnose and self treat using Google.

@Littl3lim3

Not really other than being incredibly disorganised and leaving things until the last minute. He’s not tapping light switches etc It’s thoughts. He’s quiet and private.

Sounds to me like he's got a looming sense of panic and has self diagnosed himself. The majority of teenagers are disorganised and leave things to the last minute

Dad has ADD and is in her first year at uni. The Pomodoro technique is helping her immensely.

Lots of information on google on what it is 🙂

Going to try to get him some therapy but need to get him through his exams. Has 1 ASC sibling currently being assessed for ADHD under cahms and another treated as if they are ASC for an ocd type anxiety so could be either.🤷‍♀️ This child has never had many issues other than organisation and focus etc. Because bright achieves very well to ok so he has flown under the radar a bit.Yesterday we cleared his desk and room. Looked at the weeks and chunked up what he has to do. Says it helps having smaller daily goals rather than the whole thing.Understanding isn’t an issue it’s remembering detail as he can’t focus long enough due to the thoughts to revise. Supposed to be getting As. With zero work he gets Cs. He can go from C to A in a week if he has managed to focus. He’s upset as wants to get on his Uni course but worried. Realises he should have come to us before. Have told him Cs will be amazing and we’ll sort whatever happens. Won’t be the end of the world.

Anything else we can do? Will try to get some therapy but don’t know how to get him assessed quickly and well privately. Always had Cahms for the other 2.

TheNinthLock

Funnily enough I stumbled across the pomodoro technique yesterday and showed it to him. He says he’d tried something similar before and it did work for a week. I’ll do some more research on it.

I have a DS doing similar A levels with similar abilities and siblings with similar difficulties. DS recently diagnosed with ADD and it was lockdown that lifted the lid. Always fine we’ll with little work but online learning then back into school half way through A levels did him no favours.

I organised tutors for each subject. He says the one to one forces him to focus. He uses the sessions as revision because he can’t put that time himself. Just trying to get him through the exams then will reassess what he wants to do.

@Littl3lim3 my DS was struggling with mental health linked to a longstanding health condition at this stage of his A levels a few years ago.

I arranged a meeting with the head of 6th form. We had decided together before the meeting he wasn't in a position to achieve his potential that year. We requested he was not submitted for his exams that year. He continued in his year 13 classes until they went on exam leave, then he moved to the current year 12 group for the last few weeks of term.

It was the best decision we ever made. He got A's the following year. It gave us time to get support for his mental health and some additional tuition.

He is at his 1st choice uni now. There are a number in his group the same age, going a year later has had no negative impact. He admits himself he wouldn't have been ready to go a year earlier.

Many people do not realise that young people have three years funding post 16 to complete A levels. My advice would be to seriously consider this.

That’s interesting. I did ask about retakes and they said( it’s a grammar) that they can’t retake the year but just use them as a base to retake the exam. So can they actually retake the year?

It helped dd (not dad, sodding autocorrect!). I hope your DS finds ways to help him.

Yes they can re-take the year. My DS didn't sit the exams with his year group. He waited until the following year so they were not re-sits and didn't need to be declared on uni applications.

Some of his peers sat the exams, didn't get the grades they needed, they re-sat the year and paid for the re-takes. If you do this you need to declare the results you got in the exams you sat.

Post 16 provisions can get funding for three years post year 11. My guess is that because it's a grammar school they don't want to do this and is not usual practice for them. It is in colleges and other 6th forms.

The school should have a mental health lead, it might be worth contacting them for support

Speaking as an academic (STEM) who has had several personal tutees disclose OCD, I agree that a tutor is a great idea because they will support focus and productivity.

Is your DS planning for uni next year? Unless he sorts his MH, the problem is likely to rear its head again, worse, at his first set of exams. For this reason I think there is much to be said for stopping the clock and sorting his health now, then taking his A Levels next year.

The single biggest and most frequent mistake we see undergraduates make is to limp on and let their problems spiral instead of taking a bit of time to sort them properly. Nowadays when really only 2.1 degree or better is an employment asset, the sad truth is that this is self sabotage. OTOH everyone understands that this is a tough phase of life. Need a year out to sort yourself? Really not a problem

You need to talk to the school, as this may have been impacting his performance at school for a long time, especially after so much studying from home.

It is good that he is worried as that may give him the motivation to get himself into a routine. How many hours a day is he studying aside from school hours? 2 hours per each hour spent in class is about right. He is still on time to bring those grades to Bs if he gets the study guides for the subjects and set to work on it.

DS has a very short attention span, taking breaks every 30-40 minutes does help.

I agree with other posters, DS needs to see the GP rather than you relying on him self diagnosing.

Normally funding for resits and retakes is only available in exceptional circumstances. You can see the government’s 16-19 funding guidance here.

I think that if you want them to retake the year you need to focus on two things, whether your son actually wants that AND convincing the school there are enough mitigating circumstances to qualify for a retake.

A lot of people do re sit the exams but it is a bit of a lottery, he can do better if he is good at adhering to a study routine or worse, if he doesn’t study enough/forgets what he learned this year before the re sit.

Personally, before you get into all the drama of not being able to get As, sit with him and define whether he does need them. Unless he wants to do a science degree, CCC may get him a place in a lot of universities and not necessarily in bad ones, where has he applied to? You may consider withdrawing applications to the most competitive universities for which he has not got an offer as yet to apply to other OR apply to a different one during UCAS Extra/Clearing.

He needs to see the GP because if he’s struggling now, he’ll struggle at uni without support. A lot of that support is accessed through DSA, which requires a diagnosis.

The pomodoro technique for revision might help. examstudyexpert.com/pomodoro-study-method/

I don't think you get funding for a resit year if you passed first time though.
ie If he gets 3Cs he wouldn't get funding to try to improve them, whereas if he didn't sit them at all then he might iyswim?

The extra year of funding is to help people gain level 3 (ie A level equivalent) qualifications. If he gets there in 2 years, I don't think he gets a 3rd year.

So he's not actually been diagnosed with anything? Could it just be pre exam panic?

I think you might be focusing on the wrong thing. Your son’s mental health trumps exams. If you can find a way to help his MH, the better results will happen. Timetables and flash cards are more likely to pile on the pressure. And then it’ll be university and the exams there. How long will you wait?
If you won’t seek external help then at least encourage him to learn mindfulness. There are plenty of apps. Encourage him to have good sleep habits too.

Whattochoosenow Don’t think you’ve read all my posts. Absolutely seeking help. Mindfulness doesn’t work for everybody though, our other child’s psych told us that, he has good sleep patterns. Going to encourage him to do a run each day.

He wants to do engineering. His offers are AAA/AABSheffield( fav and highest), Edinburgh, Cardiff, Herriot Watt safety Lancaster he actually really likes ABB.

Contact OCD-UK, they're so knowledgeable and supportive. Their parents support officer, Zoe, is lovely.

Knowing how to revise can help. Focusing on strategies that are grounded in science can also be reassuring.

Recalling from memory, when you’ve nearly forgotten something, makes it stick. Far more effective than re-reading. So he can make himself quizzes (online or on paper) then leave it a few days/a week then do them. The effort in recall makes it a powerful technique to make the knowledge last in long term memory.

You could plan together a series of these quizzes. He can reread materials and make the quizzes, which helps him to learn the material- then testing himself at planned intervals spaced over time til the exam.