GCSE language with a speech impediment

[Mafaldaweasley]

Hi,
My ds in year 9 is choosing his options currently. He is on the more academic pathway at his school, so would choose 9 GCSEs which would include a language (basically the EBacc). He is reasonably academic, predicted good grades at this point, and is doing ok in languages as he has a good memory and works hard. However, he does have a significant speech disorder (more than just a lisp or issue with a single sound) - he had a lot of speech therapy when he was younger and his speech is still indistinct compared with his peers, several sounds are still a struggle for him. I feel this is likely to impact him and put him at a disadvantage in the speaking part of the GCSE - I mentioned this to his teacher last year, and she said at that point she didn't think it should be an issue as he would 'just sound like a French or Spanish person speaking who happens to have a speech impediment.' I'm not sure about this though. I have brought it up again with his current language teacher who seemed less sure and said there might need to be a 'piece of paper' sent to the exam board. From which I inferred maybe there would need to be some kind of reasonable adjustments agreed formally but she did not seem sure, I guess it's not a situation that arises very often.

He himself would prefer not to do a language - not really to do with his speech, but because there are several other subjects he would rather choose (and would probably do better in). I feel the speech makes this a bit of a more pressing issue though, and could potentially disadvantage him. I have spoken to the head of year, who acknowledged I wasn't the only parent to be unhappy about the required language (maybe unsurprisingly) but he was limited in what he could do about it other than ask dc to express their preference in the free text box in the options form. I have explained the speech issue, and ask that this be taken into account but I'm not sure how much leeway they have. I wondered if anyone, particularly any MFL teachers would have any advice about how this could
potentially affect his GCSE? TIA

Not a MFL teacher but my DC didn't want to do any MFL as the oral component was a huge barrier because of neurodiversity/selective mutism/unable to speak when stressed. The school fortunately has a thriving classics department and DC has been able to do a classical language instead which has no speaking component. Is there any capacity to consider that at all?

I think you should be speaking with the SENCO urgently. This is very different from those who just don't enjoy MFL and your school is not engaging properly about SEN.

From AQA instructions:
If a candidate is eligible for extra time because of a learning difficulty or speech impediment which will affect the speed of their spoken communication in the speaking test, then they may be eligible for extra time during the speaking test. A separate application must be made by contacting
[email protected]

We offer an exemption for candidates with speech impediments. A separate application must be made by contacting [email protected]

The speaking component is only worth 25% and as long as he is understandable the marks for pronunciation are quite a small part of that. It’s difficult to offer advice without knowing the exact details but if he has a recognised condition and you can back it up with letters from doctors etc then he should get special consideration from the exam board. What that is depends on his normal way of working. Eg I had a student with a stutter, and he was entitled to rest breaks in the speaking exam - he had a card he would hold up and we would pause the test for as long as he needed.

Having said all that, if he really doesn’t want to do a language I think you’d have a good case for that. I would speak to the SENDCO rather than his MFL teacher.

I am a TA in a college and I think he will be fine:

1. He will be marked on his ability to know how to conduct himself in a conversation - not on his ability to speak per se. So if he knows how to indicate politely that he wants to speak, can listen, can make relevant points which add to the conversation and pick up on others' ideas, he will do well, even if he is slower or has to repeat himself to actually be understood.

2. His speaking and listening grade will go separately on the certificate. Even if he got stage fright and refused to talk, it would just mean he had no speaking and listening grade, it wouldn't affect his overall English grade.

Sorry I get now you were talking MFL, not English. I think again though most, if not all the marks are around ability to understand and know the words. Could he make himself understood? I think they would mark mostly on knowing the words, and sentence structure (different verb order etc), not on pronunciation.

I taught and now tutor MFL and I would agree with those who say that if he does not want to take a language for GCSE, you and he should push for him not to do so. This SEN is a very good reason and I agree, discuss it with the SENDCO first, and from that PoV.

@lanthanum has found some good info tho if he does end up wanting to or having to take it.

As @Neveragain35 says, speaking is 25% of the total grade, and pronunciation is only marked for one section, where it is marked out of 5 (out of a total mark of 60 for the speaking exam). So that's not a big issue. However, all sections have a high number of marks for communication (35/60 in total) and depending on the speech issue, I might worry that he would lose marks here. Obvs you don't want to say what his speech issue is, but when my DS1 was young, he said 't' for both t and c/k and 'd' for d and g. This kind of issue I think might genuinely impede communication - if DS1 said Ich dehe dern ins Tino (instead of Ich gehe gern ins Kino) then I wonder if he would be understood – and if not, he would probably lose marks. Is it that kind of thing? I wonder if it could be flagged as a specific issue in advance of the exam? I am very sorry but I have no experience of this directly, only of students with processing issues being allowed extra prep time for example.

But yes all said, if he is not keen anyway then try to approach the SEN dept.

Hi all, thanks for the helpful comments.
@PokerFriedDips no option for classical languages - it's French or Spanish! Of the two, Spanish would probably be least challenging.

Re the SEN dept, he was flagged to them on entering in year 7 but has never had or needed any input, so they probably have very little/ no knowledge of him at this point. This has all been good from my point of view, as he is doing brilliantly academically, has a group of close friends and has never been bullied (my main worry). I've been more focused up until now on him being able to do everything as normal, it's only now really I'm thinking that it could actually disadvantage him in his academic attainment so I want to think strategically about it.

To clarify @clary, he has a speech sound disorder - he had to be painstakingly taught to say the majority of sounds correctly, so as a young child he could not say plosive sounds and would make the substitutions you mention eg 't' instead of 'p' or 'd' instead of 'b'. He can now say all of these sounds fine. He still struggles with 'ch' and 'j' and was taught to say these by saying 't-ye' and 'd-ye' really quickly - which it still sounds a bit like! His vowel sounds are often just slightly off, which can make him hard to understand, and overall his speech is a bit 'slushy'.

It's reassuring that the marks for pronounciation are relatively few - he would probably be ok in terms of his vocabulary and understanding grammar, he is currently in one of the higher ability language classes but my impression is they do very little speaking, and certainly no actual speaking tests until year 10!

If he was really keen to do a language, I would definitely want him to have the opportunity and would support him to do so despite all this, as I don't really want him to think he can't do something. He himself is not hugely self conscious about his speech and has not given this as a reason - his reason is he doesn't want to do a language and would prefer to be able to choose subjects X, Y, Z....! However, given he doesn't want to and there would probably be some additional challenges which would require adjustments and for him potentially draw attention to the issue then I am very happy to put the speech issue across to school as an argument.

I have not directly approached the SEN department, my approach so far has been to head of year and options team. I don't know if worth contacting SEN to support my request that he not be required to do the language, as I suspect this will probably not be their decision and will be affected by timetabling - obviously if he ends up doing one I would have to in order to ensure that he has any reasonable adjustments he needs. If he were on the other (less academic) pathway then a language would be optional but he would only do 8 GCSEs and would have extra maths and English - he absolutely does not need this, and I wouldn't want him being disadvantaged on this pathway as he is more than capable of doing well in 9 subjects. Historically (ie in last few years) the school have also had a little bit more leeway on this so I feel if they have no flexibility in his year group this is somewhat unfair.

It is likely to boil down to timetabling - if the academic pathway have a timetable block when they are all doing languages, then there's nowhere to put him, unless by some miracle the languages block coincides with an option block for the non-academic pathway, in which case they could slot him in there.
Actually, if they really wanted to, they could probably set out to make that happen - you could try suggesting it.

@Mafaldaweasley I think you need to raise this as a formal complaint with the school governing body as a discrimination issue. He has additional needs that make speaking difficult, and the school is giving him a rigid choice to either be forced into a GCSE subject that is unsuitable for his additional needs or to be on a less-academic pathway with fewer GCSEs and lower aspirations. Neither of these options is suitable and the only reason they are enforcing it is for their ebacc statistics which is for the school's benefit to the detriment of the individual pupil.

@lanthanum yes I think it's a timetabling issue at this point - the head of year was sympathetic to my arguments (in fact sympathetic to my argument that I don't think anyone should be required to take a language, not just my ds, if they don't want to). I am kind of hoping that as quite a few people have raised it they will sort something out. In my older child's year a couple of years ago they started out with the same pathways and then started offering able kids who had not chosen separate science the chance to take this and drop a language. Quite a few did, so it's clearly possible. My ds would fall into this category but he is already keen to take separate science!

@PokerFriedDips these are really good points - I'm not sure how militant to go on this, though guess I could really push it in this way if I wanted. He has to complete the option form this week and so far all they have said is to select the language and put his special
requests in the free text box. I have asked head of year that they take emails I have already sent about speech into account, but once he has submitted I'll probably email again reiterating my concerns as you have suggested, and this time I will also copy in the SEN department.

You can be firm and advocate for your son without being rude or "that parent".

I'm sorry to break this to you, but as the mum of an AuDHD year 7 in a mainstream state school, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. You are your son's best advocate.

He doesn't want to do a language.

You have a cast-iron reason why he shouldn't be made to.

Make use of it!

I'm sure you are right @Phineyj - I am very aware that nothing happens unless you kick up a fuss, having another child with dyslexia so have already been 'that' parent.

Thanks for all the advice, will probably send (yet another) email making some of the further points suggested.

I would suggest finding out what the timetabling constraints are and then picking your battle accordingly. Ideally push for a different subject, but at our old school there were language blocks when the entire year group did either a language or extra maths & English, so there was genuinely not another alternative subject available. In this case you might want to accept French but push for the exam concession of not sitting the speaking. He wouldn't be the first to do a subject he didn't particularly like - it's not the end of the world with the adjusted exam. However if the school can accommodate a different subject then push for that.