Another Y9 options question WWYD

[eatyourveg]

ds3 (ASD) normal IQ. Strengths are remembering facts weaknesses are extended pieces of writing where inference is required. In top sets but not a genius in anything in particular. Wants do go into something sports related, physio, sports therapy, coach etc but doesn't know quite what yet

Compulsory subjects english lit english lang maths triple science french and philosophy & ethics. Has to choose 3 more plus 1 reserve

He's narrowed it down to the following but I would like an opinion on how well these are regarded or are any seen as a waste of time and whether they might be particularly difficult for ASD dc.

Geography History PE Law Psychology Statistics Food Tech

Law and Psychology would be the weakest subjects out of that list as they aren't covered in great depth at GCSE. Is PE sports studies? That would be fine if he's interested. History is a lot of facts but also involves essays so would play on some strengths and some weaknesses. Likewise with Geography. Statistics would be fine but I would only take Food Tech if your DS is interested in it.

dd (yr 9) was told the 'English Baccalaureate' (E Bacc) might become significant - it would be Engx2, Maths, Science, a humanities (Hist or Geog) and a language

DS (Asperger's) enjoyed History, although it was a heavily written subject. It's factual so therefore writing essays was easier. He completely stuffed his English papers, especially literacy. He struggles with imagination so reading fiction is very difficult for him but his good result in History was accepted in place of the required B grade he needed in English to get onto his college course. Statics was another subject he was strong in. DD took PE and thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a required subject for her to study the sports subjects at 6th Form.

Regarded as 'Good': History, Geography
Regarded as 'weak': Law and Psychology (like upatdawn said).
I would strongly recommend PE/sports studies if he wants to follow something in that line of work. Geography is fairly factual and is one of the easier traditional subjects (easier than history for sure) so I would recommend that.

I teach a boy with Asperger's in year 9 (I teach English) and he struggles with some aspects of the literature, hellhasnofury. I do feel for him because he gets very worried about it.

I was going to say to avoid History because of the amount of writing, but that maybe Geography would be a better choice.

My DS has a processing disorder; he struggles to write but remember facts down to micro detail. He loves history but there is lot of writing and is doing the GCSE in two yrs he had the option of doing it in one. He's doing food tech I take the view that even if he fails it, apparently he wont, the skills he will acquire will stay with him for life we've just eaten some fab fish cakes. Geography my degree subject is a fantastic subject if properly taught and is very relevant to the 21st century.

Pythianlegumes and upatdawn I had thought Law might be suitable because I figured it would be just fact based ,learning the judicial system and some bits of legislation?

No upatdawn PE isn't sports studies. Its Edexcel Physical Education. Might be useful but is it any more useful than science for doing a sports science type course later?

My ASD son loves geography. Loads of facts. Hates extended writing,and indeed can murder a lengthy science assessment, but Geography is his one safe haven..

let him chose the subjects that he is going to be most motivated to complete & therefore get the best grades at.
At this stage specific subjects hav every little influence over final career choice as the compulsory subjects cover the basics

He's got some sound subjects already with the triple science and French so I would be inclined to go with his preference even if that is for one weaker subject. I agree Geography may suit him better than history if he doesn't relish inference. Statistics could be interesting?
Why has he got ffod tech in there? If it's because he LOVES it I would go for that. Dd1 is doing Textiles for the same reason.

I think if there are some subjects that he definitely won't enjoy then I would rule those out, but would only choose one out of food tech, PE, law and psychology. I'm not too sure what the difference is between PE and sports studies but I think there is more of a practical element in PE which would be more enjoyable if PE is one of his main interests.

He absolutely loves cooking but just can't seem to make anything edible! Somewhere along the line he seems to do something wrong every single time. Already ruled out everything he hates eg Drama, Art DT Business Music and Spanish. F/T was until recently his number 1 choice. The exam however appears to be 60% practical which he realises seems too much of a risk.

We have had a chat this evening and he has narrowed it down to

Choice 1 Geography
Choice 2 PE
Choice 3 Statistics, History or Law
Reserve choice Food Tech or Psychology

I don't think I mind which he chooses as long as he isn't going to struggle. The school is small and its very unusual to have to use your reserve so its down to choice 3 Statistics History or Law. We'll see what his teachers say at the presentation evening.

Thanks all for your input