Probably gifted, yr 10-11 missing lots of school self study GCSE help please?

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We’re looking for practical ideas and resources to support a highly able student who is missing significant school time but still aiming for strong GCSE outcomes (she is ambitious) without excessive cost.

Our daughter has been academically advanced from early on she grasps concepts very quickly, is strong across subjects, and is confident and articulate. However, full-time school attendance is extremely depleting for reasons we are still trying to fully understand. When she self-studies, she finds much better balance, though she still needs careful pacing due to physiological fatigue issues and possibly some cognitive load factors.

A recent psychology report pretty much discounted ND (although some traits are there, just not enough) and suggested very fast cognitive processing alongside perfectionism, consistent with a gifted profile and recommendation for EHCNA. Anxiety and mental exhaustion appear linked to this and require ongoing management.

We are currently awaiting Educational Psychologist involvement and an EHC needs assessment, but delays mean we need to build workable strategies now as we are in the thick of year ten already.

She currently attends around 50% of the time yet remains in top sets, so the academic ability is clearly there. The challenge is maintaining progress while avoiding burnout.

She has an excellent memory and works well independently. We already use exam-board revision guides and printed materials, but school online provision is limited. She has some physical health stuff feeding into this so sometimes we need to watch or listen to material whilst resting.

We would really value suggestions for:
-effective self-study structures for high-ability students with limited attendance
-low-cost online resources or platforms that work well for GCSE level
-ways to prioritise content efficiently when lessons are missed

-techniques that support deep learning without perfectionism leading to exhaustion

Any ideas, systems, or resources that have worked in similar situations would be hugely appreciated.

This is my experience with lots of girls. They internalise their ADHD symptoms and experience burnout. I hope your DD gets her diagnosis.

Me too. A friend told me her teen dd was like a different person within a week once she started medication !

What is she going to with these GCSE’s when she gets them, then what will she do with and A levels if she gets them, and then a degree if she gets one, if she’s got all these issues? To what end?

Oh I see she might have something not yet diagnosed where medication might be prescribed.

Even if there isn’t medication to help, learning is still worthwhile. It doesn’t only have to focus on getting to the next step of education/career and be a means to an end. DC with SEN are still entitled to an education.

Aye, and it costs a f**king shed load of money.

Doesnt really sound adhd (inattention, hyperactivity)
Maybe just gifted and so causing some asd type issues
Or actually aspergers. Sensory issues can also be hair brushing or teeth or creams etc
Does she have any social issues with friends or seem shy, rigid interests or rigid behsviour? Avoids teamwork?

There are plenty of other threads where you can and have posted your ignorant views that DC with SEN shouldn’t receive an appropriate education because they cost too much. This thread isn’t about that.

I've managed a great and fulfilling career despite my health struggles meaning I often need time off. I am hugely valued at work and climbed the career ladder because what I could bring was far more important to my employer than my need for time off for illness

Ops daughter is very bright. She'll find a way. I work mainly at home now which is perfect for me

Fucks sake.

Insidious revolting post.

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but thought I would add it in case.

Your DD sounds exactly like me. I am now 45. I did not attend school for the last 18 months leading up to GCSE because school was just too much. Even now I can't describe the too muchness but it was. I was dedicated to self study (still am in fact). It was the early 90s so they didn't really know what to do with me, so I sat my GCSEs in a PRU (just the exams, never attended). I got straight As, over 95% for all GCSEs. Bear in mind I was a council estate kid at a shitty inner London comp too.

I tried FE college for A levels, crashed out of that too. Not the subject matter but the environment. Eventually became a mental health nurse because that environment suited me somehow. Went on to study self study several degrees through the OU with huge success. Self study just works for me.

Anyway, in my early forties I was diagnosed with ADHD, autism and giftedness. It always sounds wanky when I wrote giftedness, I know that, but it explains a lot. It's a terrible word for what it actually means. I use each of those things to mask the others and get through. My mental health hasn't been great at times, but I have had a two great, but totally different, careers. Working at home has been a revelation for me, I can set my own pace, like self study, and get shitloads done. Then like today, I got fuck all done.

I just wanted to tell my story to let you know it can still be ok.

Well I just told my story, and I make 90k a year now, so maybe that.

Have you ruled out a physical cause OP

Bit of a strong reaction….

Good to know. Good tax contribution.

Yes because tax contributions are the sole measure of a human beings intrinsic worth doncha know

A strong reaction was deserved.

https://www.savemyexams.com/gcse/
This isn't too expensive per month.

For perfectionism, try doing some challenge papers where she can do her best without the belief that a 100% is reasonably achievable. E.g. UKMT IMC, BPhO IPC

I’m just catching up.

Well, some of the replies have made me tear up (for the right kind of reasons) and given me hope. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the suggestions about the cause and we have gone over this many times over the last ten years and we (school, clinicians, family) keep drawing a blank.

In any case we need to get through this period whilst we see if the LA will support her a bit more at home. So far we haven’t used 1p of LA support. She texts her friends to find out what’s happened in class and goes to the books that we have bought.

I wouldn’t say she hyper focuses (just focuses!), she doesn’t pick nor does she have any habits with cream or anything. No OCD, she is not quiet. She is incredibly sociable and articulate. And no friend problems. It’s as if school is some sort of poison. She cannot cite anything about school that she doesn’t like (I mean there’s plenty of faults, but not a barrier as such).

She is ambitious and capable, she just gets wiped out by school and we don’t know why.

She does have physical symptoms to manage that will be ongoing treatment and investigation is also ongoing but it can’t be the whole picture.

I am hoping some of this is developmental and the right strategies regarding health will help. I don’t really want to say more because what I have said so far is more than I want to.

I will make a list about the resources.

I was hoping this board might have families with bright kids who burnout fast and so have some hacks to share to pace and still keep learning sufficiently accelerated - without spending too much energy. Energy is an issue.

My dd was in a similar situation.

she was eventually diagnosed with an auto immune disorder and got meds.

She now has a physics degree from Newcastle uni and will be starting work in university outreach going into schools.

friends of hers who are also disabled are respectively doing a PhD in quantum computing, writing control software for the uk’s research fusion reactor (that friend works for the uk atomic energy authority) and doing various masters/phds in various areas of physics.

Hacks for pacing:

focus really hard on what is actually important. I’m disabled and I used to teach maths, my dd is disabled and has recently finished her physics degree from Newcastle.

schools need to keep teens occupied so they do a lot more GCSEs than are strictly necessary.

your dd needs English and maths to carry on with education, and should also focus on those GCSEs that will feed into the a levels she wants to do.

we were able to access support from the nhs CFS/me service and they were quite useful and worked through some material on boom and bust cycles and not doing too much at any one time.

my dd also uses visible which is a disability version of the health functions on an Apple Watch - it counts steps, looks at quality of sleep etc and warns you if you are doing too much. She loves it.

Have you approached your local authority about Section 19 medical provision?

Please could you say more about how the diagnosis worked? I have a burnt out autistic DD2 whose sister DD1 has ADHD, and I wonder if DD2 also has ADHD, mostly because she talks about her brain never being quiet (and because of the genetic connection/link to autism).

But when I look at the screening tests, we literally ticked every box for DD1 (she can't sit still etc) and none for DD2. And thinking back to the assessment for DD1, I can't think what would apply to DD2. I'd be able to say her brain never stops and she picks her fingers - but that obviously wouldn't lead to a diagnosis! How did it work for your DD (if you don't mind saying)?

Hi OP, this sounds tough.
My practical advice (A Level teacher/private GCSE Tutor) for strong GCSE outcomes would be to concentrate on the Assessment Objectives of the Awarding Bodies.
As DD is only able to attend 50%, this means she is missing 50% of content, likely to come up in the exam. As the delivery she is unable to attend will be a sequential (and established) scheme of work, I would suggest asking her teachers to provide comprehensive detail of exactly what she is missing, to be covered at home.
In addition, reading Mark Schemes and Examiners Reports to really get to grips with what is required to achieve those higher grades, will be really useful to her and negate time spent on superfluous study (given DD is prone to burn out).
I hope this helps/makes sense 😊

This happened to my daughter in y7, and she was diagnosed with ASD. I think there’s a very high percentage of kids with EBSA who are neurodivergent- like 80% plus. It also happened to my sister in her A level years. I just wanted to put a word in for not trying to stick to the exam timetable everyone else is on. Maybe your daughter would benefit from six months out, and going back to it next year, or the year after. In the end that’s what worked for my sister (who went back and did her A levels aged 20, went on to get a degree and has a very decent job too for the poster who’s counting tax contributions).