GCSE choices for dyslexic DD - art and dt?

[LadyPenelope]

DD is in y9 and starting to think about options.

Compulsory GCSEs are Eng Lit and Lang, maths, 3 sciences and a language. She gets 3 options.

DD is hard working, organised, good at art, a visual and kinaesthetic learner. V sporty. Reading speed and accuracy are her challenges and she has to work hard on all the academic subjects.

Spoke to her leaning support teacher yesterday who recommended not to take subjects that have big reading requirement. So not history and RS and not a further language. (DD doesn't want to in any case!)

DD is thinking of Geography (she has to take 1 humanity). She likes geography and doing ok. Her best subjects are art and design and tech.

In future she might do something in these fields or possibly something associated with sports and the sports world, but really too early to say. As she has sciences I think she's ok if she ended up pursuing more scientific careers asciated with sport (eg physio)

Is it possible to cope with DT and Art given all the course work? We'll be speaking to teachers over coming weeks so just looking for some experience from those whose children have done both.

Of course we also have to contend with upcoming changes to GCSEs and will be caking school about that too.

TIA

There is plenty or writing in both those subjects.

What subjects does your DD want to do? What does she enjoy?
Art and DT both involve creating large portfolios of work on specific themes, these involve a lot of thought and analysis of both her work and the work of others (Picasso etc. for example).
Is she good at keeping up with her work? Doing a little every night? Keeping to deadlines? Not procrastinating?

Dyslexia is not necessarily a reason not to do more literate subjects. I know people with Dyslexia with degrees in English Lit and so on.

RS in my experience doesn't involve much reading, but then my DCs school does it as a compulsory subject for everyone in very little timetabled time. It probably depends on the syllabus, but if it is the one I know which is mainly about issues, then as long as she can learn the basic ideas of two world religions there isn't that much to learn. Eg. "Explain the response of a religious person to poverty"

I agree with mummytime. There is a lot of work in creating the art portfolio, which is fine if she enjoys it and keeps on top of it.

DD's friend is dyslexic and is planning to do History and Eng Lit at A'level - she loves them!

RE was fairly straightforward when DD did it - lots of discussing the issues and a minimum of learning information.

I can't help you over choices as my DD is in year 9 and options are just out. However, I do know her school are starting GCSE coursework next month for Maths, English and Science, as they want to ensure the change are covered. Your DD's school might be the same.

My dd (not dyslexic) is taking a DT subject for GCSE and is in Y10. As well as coursework there will be a fairly long written exam to cover the theory.
There is a portfolio for Art and an exam where they create pieces of work under timed conditions. It's time consuming but not much writing is involved.

I would also consider RE as more straightforward as a humanity subject than Geography. At the moment there are 2 tiers of paper for Geography but this may not be the case for the new GCSEs which may make it harder for your child.

Have you considered GCSE PE as an alternative option for your sporty dd, if she's considering a sports based career that may be a useful subject to study.

Thanks for responses so far.

Agree re dyslexia not necessarily ruling out humanities, English etc. My DN is also dyslexic and planning to do history at uni. In DD's case though, she does find English, history etc v hard - it's reading and essay writing that's her biggest problem. Not interested in history either!

Up to now she's done ok in RS so will get her to give some more thought to that and we can discuss with teachers. The learning support teachers said that in their experience there was quite a bit of reading to do - will definitely check it out.

DD is very organised and not a procrastinator. (Unlike me!!) Does homework on the day whenever she can and within couple of days or a week if she's got longer pieces. Always on time and completed to best standard she can do. When she's had say 3 weeks for a piece of art she's managed it no problem.

Her favourite subjects would be art and DT. She says she particularly enjoys the design part of DT. Her finished pieces are of good quality. She also does a textiles club at school and enjoys that.

Given all that information, I think she should take art and DT - sounds like she loves them, is well-suited to them and well organised, so will get stuff done in time.

I don't think DD did any reading for RE - it was all covered in class. It isn't particularly high-level, and there are probably videos, etc on the internet which will give easy access information.

My daughter is also dyslexic and did both art and DT as one year GCSEs in year 10. Art has a heavy workload. There is some writing and research but not a great deal, normally just a few short paragraphs about a particular artist etc. She did DT Product Design, I would say that 90% of it was writing and research and it was quite tedious. There was a large amount of written coursework and an exam at the end of it, the actual hands on creative part was a comparatively small part of it.

My daughter did RS GCSE as a one year course in year 9. She found it quite tedious but there is not a great deal of writing to do. She is doing history in year 11 and really enjoys it. I think it might help if your daughter was able to look at the actual work and talk to students on the current GCSEs (though of course they are changing soon). So much is variable; in my daughter's case, particular teachers have determined how much she enjoys/hates the course.

My DDs' school recommended they did just one Art / DT/ Drama/ Music subject unless they actually did want to take the arts further. The reason was that though an arts subject provides a chance to have a different focus / some variation / chance to pursue interests, they do tend to come with a heavy coursework load. I know a girl with SpLDs who dropped an additional arts subject for that very reason.

My DD (who is Dyslexic and Dyspraxic) loves Art, and still actively pursues her interest but is not especially talented so she decided to go with DT because some of the students pursuing Art were very talented indeed and her SpLDS are already a source of lost confidence. On the plus side she enjoyed it, got an A and can change a plug, put shelves up and we are have an interesting light fitting that we have to display in the hallway..........

Religion and Ethics was a source of a lot of writing at GCSE but she found it very straightforward and less demanding of subject specific skills than English Lit and History. She ended up enjoying it so much and finding it so interesting she pursued it at A2 (and got A*) She is another who has ended up pursuing essay subjects, History, English, Philosophy and Psychology at AS and now reading English at uni. We had all that advice trotted out about avoiding languages and essay subjects. True her GCSE languages were her weakest marks but actually she needed a language at GCSE for her course, (and is studying a new one now), and she has found the essay subjects easier, and she has done better, as she has moved to more advanced work with more emphasis on generating good ideas and argument which she enjoys coming up with, rather than regurgitated information (which is very hard for her). Though I am not going to understate the effort and hard work it has taken, extra time goes someway to addressing the disability.

DS did DT and Art. The DT was very straightforward, coursework done in plenty of time, a whole year to complete project. Art was a bloody nightmare. More work went into that one GCSE than any three put together out of all the other ones. And the entire cohort was downgraded at moderation so his A went to a B. Never again.

Thanks everyone - it's v useful to hear what you and your DC have experienced. I don't think she's going to be one of the ones who suddenly changes her mind about essay writing type subjects! - not so much the essay it's self, but also because she seems to much prefer "fact" based subjects. But things can change, so it's good to keep options open for as long as poss.

History seems to hold no fascination for her at all ... Whereas my DS has always been fascinated by it - loves visiting old places, reading books, watching TV programmes etc. all leaves DD cold so I know we are making right call on that!

She loves sport, and does a lot in and out of school but doesn't think she wants to do GCSE - she'd rather just play!

Will get her to chat to some older pupils too and get their thoughts. At this point, think it would be art and geography and following your feedback will get her to consider RS before she settles on DT.

Teaandlemon - what a mare! What does downgraded at moderation mean ? I've never heard of that!

School website says homework all done at school for art .... Hmmm, will need to ask how that works ...

Would highly recommend Geography an Art. I have a strongly dyslexic friend who copes well with both. DT involves a lot of writing and analysing, more than actual practical work! Would recommend Geog and Art though