Access arrangements for GCSEs

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DD is in year 9 and has ADHD.
She has been assessed and awarded 25% extra time as a result ( slow processing, poor working memory).
She is due to take GCSE ICT next month, with the mock this week and so we have initiated contact with the SENCo, regarding access arrangements.
Although the JEQ guidelines give ADHD as an example for the use of a prompter, and presumably separate invigilation as a consequence, the SENCo is arguing that this may put our DD at an unfair advantage.

Surely ADHD, as a recognised disability and by its very nature, means that a student has a long term, significant impairment (attention deficit) and separate invigilation and a prompter would be a reasonable adjustment, so that they are not disadvantaged?

Has anyone else has experience of access arrangements/ refusal of?

A prompter doesnt need separate accommodation, but I don’t see how this would be a disadvantage to the student.

The separate room was suggested because ADHD students are usually easily distracted, so may find it difficult to concentrate in a hall full of other students. Aside from that, DD needs rest breaks which require her to leave the exam room, and the prompter would tell her how much time she had left, so potentially distracting for other candidates.

I'm trying to understand how either would unfairly disadvantage her when she has a disability that requires them?

I work as an exam invigilator who has been on a training course re access arrangements and think you have misunderstood the role of pronpter. (The SECO may not be understanding this either).
As previously stated the prompter merely taps on the desk to make sure the candidate doesn't freeze. They cannot direct to specific tasks within the exam or give the candidate an indication of how much time is left verbally.
Our standard practice is to let students who have been allocated extra time (or need time added on for rest breaks) and intend to use it know in writing how much time they have left approx 10 minutes before the main exam ends.

By the way rest breaks are not given automatically at a given time your dd needs to put her hand up and let the invigilator know that she needs a break and then stay with the invigilator during the break. The time they left the room and re=enter it will be written down so they know how much time has been missed.

I just checked several examples boards as my DD is a year 9 with a visual processing disorder and I have been advised that the process for access arrangements in year 11 starts now. The deadlines for applying for access arrangements for May/June examinations were in Jan and Feb.

Soursprout, you understood correctly - the SENCo is suggesting a prompter may give her an UN fair advantage over other students.
He's spoken to DD today and again said that he has to be fair to everyone. I'm having a real problem with the feeling that giving access arrangements to a student with a recognised learning disability is somehow unfair. She struggles to read the time even, and has no sense of the passing of time or time management.

The senco is being ridiculous. All a prompter does is tap their desk if they look like they have drifted off or in a daze. We also seat the child needing one in the front row ao we can do this without disturbing others and also they can cause less disruption when they take rest breaks.

I am also a trained invigilator and can confirm that at my centre a prompter and extra time would not need a separate room but a candidate with those and rest breaks would not be in the main hall.

A candidate with rest breaks would be accompanied by a TA or possiblely the roving invigilator.

All timings should be clear to all candidates, in my centre your DD would have her own individual timing sheet

Have you spoken to the exams officer as well as the SenCo?

The objective of access arrangements is to enable your DD to do her absolute best (get what’s in her head onto paper). It has nothing to do with other students.

If your DD will do better in a room on her own, that is what the school should facilitate.

Thank you for all your comments.
It's reassuring to know that we're right to think the SENCo is being unreasonable. I've read the access arrangements guidelines and if I understand correctly, the school has to comply with the Equality Act in not discriminating against someone with a disability, so his argument about making sure everyone is treated fairly, by not giving DD an unfair advantage seems ridiculous.
Surely a separate room doesn't put her ahead of her peers, does it?

He has told her that the prompter will verbally tell her how long she has left, at half hour intervals, and that her rest breaks will be 30 seconds/ a minute but hasn't said whether the clock will stop for these.

The clock should stop and breaks be as long as required (within reason, bearing in mind they can only realistically focus for a couple of hours overall). I would suggest you read the JCQ regulations info online before meeting senco.

Thanks for this thread OP. I didn't candidates with ADHD could get extra time or a prompter. How did you apply for the extra time? was it through the school SENCO? also someone said the deadline for Access arrangement for yr11 closes soon?

There was a deadline in February for most circumstances, although I believe there is still time. It is not enough to request it though, it also has to be the candidate's usual way of working (ie, extra time, laptop) and the need substantiated by teaching staff. Do you have any professional reports detailing the need?

I've just reading the KS2 Access arrangements document. DS will be sitting GCSEs in 2020 so thankfully not too late to apply.

Access arrangements should be usual way of working.

But I am puzzled. Your DC has such severe needs that she already has in place 25% extra time, yet is taking a gcse in year 9? The exams officer is the person who has the experience to deal with this, taking on board Senco advice.

I've always shut down the conversation because I believe as much as possible DS should learn to work to normal timelines and that will help him more in the long run than depending on SEN props. He has had significant problems completing exams on time and always complained about getting tired during exams and needing to get up but I hoped he'd just adapt. He has lost lots of marks in papers due to not being able to complete them and his teachers know. But he's just started at senior school so they're not all familiar with how he works yet.

A friend was talking recently about her ds with ADHD and how extra time helped and was shocked when I said i've never pursued it.

I'm now wondering wether i've made a mistake. I didn't even know there was government provision for this and that it was recognised in dc with SEN. He's in yr 9.

Adhd , or any spld, is not in itself enough. Extra time is usually based on assessment or reduced processing speeds, rhe assessment having been made by a suitably qualified teacher or Ed Psych. Access arrangement requests based on Medical needs or disabilities, such as visual impairment, are assessed differently.

Access arrangements are done on a child by child basis.

Just because something is suggested on JEQ doesn't mean that it is right for each child based on their assessments.

Students/parents don't apply for extra time (I dislike this misconception as it's alsi why we get calls in May of y11 asking for half a dozen separate rooms because their DC 'has anxiety' and soandso had another room in their y10 mocks) School go through an assessment procedure with qualified professionals and reccomendations are given by the qualifies person making the assessment. Usually this process also involves input from teaching staff, samples of work, assessmebt with the child etc.

Based on the advice given, the school needs to demonstrate that this is the candidate's normal way of working. Only at that point can exam access arrangements be submitted to the board.

Without knowing the full story and details on the assessments it is impossible for any of us to comment on whether the school is right or wrong.

I think our first port of call will be the school SENCO and we'll take it from there. Thanks.

To clarify, DD was assessed by the school and her processing and working memory scores were below the boundary so she qualifies for extra time. She is under a comsultant paediatrician and had an OT and ed. pych assessment done in primary school that outlined her difficulties.
In school she has to be sat close to the teacher, away from distractions and " checked in" with regularly to keep her on track.
I have read the JCQ guidelines and a prompter and separate invigilation do not have to be applied for, nor evidence provided, but the student has to have a long term impairment, recognised as a disability under the Equality Act ( or come under special circumstances provision). The JCQ actually use ADHD as an example of a situation where a prompter would be appropriate.p

The SENCo has said that the students sit the GCSE in year 9 to give them experience. He has also suggested that it would be appropriate to test access arrangements on a trial and error basis, but that doesn't appear to fit with the guidelines which say they should represent the normal way of working, and I'm not sure who decides how effective they are.

Under the EqualityAct2010, an employee withADHDmay be considered to have adisabilityif their condition has a “substantial” and “long-term” negative effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Unless ADHD has a substantial and and long-term impact on someone's ability to fo through normal life then it doesn't come under the disability act.

Maybe I'm wrong OP but think you've made a decision about what you think/ want the outcome to be and aren't interested in anyone explainong to you that things aren't always black and white.

The best way forward is a sensible and reasonable discussions of the various assessments conducted by qualified specialists and take it from there.

Yes, Maisypops, you're absolutely right. My expectation is that the SENCo should afford my DD the access arrangements the Equality Act and JEQ say she's entitled to.

In response to your quote from the Equality Act, page 4 of the current NEW guidelines states:

"Factors that might reasonably be expected to have a substantial adverse effect include:

Persistent distractibility or difficulty concentrating."

It seems pretty clear that a student with ADD comes under that remit, for the sake of reasonable adjustments.

These are the guidelines set out for SENCos, presumably to make their decisions easier and clarify some of the grey areas. In the case of my daughter, she has a diagnosis of ADH D - no grey area there - ergo she has persistent difficulty concentrating, ergo it's reasonable to expect that this will have a substantial adverse effect, according to the Equality Act and therefore the JEQ guidelines.