Needs extra time, assessment, what to expect?

[Pinkpinkplonk]

My son is in year 13. Currently really not enjoying school ( but that’s a whole other thread). Came home from school on Friday saying they’re going to assess him for extra time in his A levels on Monday morning.He says the discussions were all a bit rushed and really doesn’t know what to expect!
Has anyone had a child have one of these assessments so I can put his mind at ease.

They'll give him some writing to do in a specific time and use that to work out his eligibility.

They may do a DASH test which evaluates how quickly and clearly he can write.

Thank you, goes off to google DASH test!

I used to do these assessments. We’d do a few different tests. DASH is for writing speed and legibility. There are others for reading speed and comprehension, sometimes tests for “processing” which sort of means thinking and responding to questions, sometimes tests for maths.

The school or college has to buy the tests and they’re expensive, so they usually pick a few to cover the range of what they think they will need to test for.

Each individual test tends to be quite quick and the length of the assessment will depend on how many the assessor decides to do.

They can be a bit anxiety-inducing but the assessor will have been trained in the importance of putting the candidate at ease.

The important thing for your son to know is that they are not like exams or classroom tests to give him a grade. They are a way of making things fair for him so that if he is good at science, for example, but his reading is a bit slow, or his hand-writing is illegible, he’s not being prevented from proving how good he is at science, by those other things.

Thank you. I think it’s been picked up as he’s not managing to finish any of the exams he’s being set in class ( he’s probably getting through 2/3 of the papers) . He got all 8s and 9s in his GCSEs apart from Englishs which were 5s. His A levels are sciences but all I see on his exam papers are the words “ Grammar and Spelling” scribbled everywhere!

So, he’s been assessed and has been found to be a very slow writer. Not enough to be awarded extra time in the exams, fair enough. But enough to be allowed the use of a computer. However, as he’s doing A levels in maths and sciences he can’t have one!!!
Please help. If he was doing written subjects he’d be given the use of a computer for his exams, but he isn’t so he won’t.
Is there anything I can do?

Ask about the possibility of having a scribe but that might disrupt his
flow.

It depends what his issues are. You can use a computer for science and maths - my DD does. However, she is quite proficient in the use of equation editor etc so it works for her, as it is still quicker than writing. Perhaps ask them to try some different options. The other option is a scribe, but that also needs practice - particularly for equations etc.

Direct the school to Equatio by Text Help. It's designed to be used by laptop users in schools for maths and science.

Did they assess his processing skills?

@candlelog his processing skills are fine apparently

I work in Exams and we have many students who use a WP in sciences. Often they type some answers and write in the paper for others depending on the question. Which is absolutely fine. However none of our WP students use it for maths - but that said they could if they wanted to - they just choose not to. I would have a chat with the Senco - doesn't sound fair to me

I don't see why he wouldn't use the laptop for science subjects.

My ds has used a laptop for all essay work since Y11, as his handwriting is illegible and his writing speed snail-like. He used the laptop for his science GCSEs, and currently uses it for his Computer Science A-level, though not for his Maths A-level. His handwriting has improved to the extent that his Maths notebooks are unrecognisable as his work! He still can't write legible blocks of text.

I teach science, including at A-level, and I wouldn't normally comment on a student's grammar or spelling unless it was obscuring the meaning of what they're trying to say. I know you might not understand the science content of his A-levels, but have you read them to see if it's coherent? In general, examiners should accept misspellings unless it would cause confusion with another key word or they're genuinely unclear on what the candidate is trying to say.

If English is more of a weakness, does he understand the questions and what they are asking him? And is he able to answer the longer answer questions appropriately?

If he's struggling to finish papers, ideally this would have been picked up earlier on in Y12, as it's quite late in the game (although not too late) to be applying for access arrangements.

I have students who use a computer for science exams at A-level, there's no reason he can't. It is tricky for maths. I would ask for him to trial a mock science paper using a computer and to see if it makes a difference!

Thanks all, I’ve been in contact with school, and basically they’ve said they don’t have the necessary programs etc to allow him the help in the exams, and now it’s too late in the day.
Their attitude is that he’s very bright, he’ll be fine.
I feel like I need to fight for him but he doesn’t want me to cause any trouble for him, so I guess it’s game over!
@Postapocalypticcowgirl i have read through some papers he’s done, and yes, there are definitely spelling errors, lack of punctuation and use of capital letters. It’s definitely not a lack of understanding but a problem with his ability to put it down on paper. If we do the questions verbally, his answers are awesome, when written they’re poor

If his answers verbally are great - maybe ask them for a scribe?
My son broke his writing hand before his GCSE exams and he used a computer for science.

My 16y old (in S5 so the main exam year in Scotland) has extra time as he's dyslexic. He had to do mock papers in the usual time, then change pen colour and the answers / corrections he made in the extra time were checked to see if it made a difference. I'm not sure what evidence the school actually has to submit to the exam board but we had to sign forms about it in at the start of this term. He also uses computer for the writing heavy papers (English and PE in his case) but doesn't use any special programs etc.