Daughter is being refused extra time even though she has ADHD

[YourAzureJoker]

I understand having adhd does not automatically guarantee extra time!

My daughter finished her A levels and is currently resitting at her old school. She’s expressed a need for extra time since she joined the sixth form. She was tested and it took ten months to tell her that she did not qualify for extra time. At that time, she was being assessed for ADHD and hadn’t been diagnosed yet, so she couldn’t refute it.

However, now we have done research and discovered that she could get extra time through the Form 9 as she has all the necessary evidence, as she trialed rest breaks during her exams, she had mocks with extra time, and her teacher was the person who even suggested she should be tested in the first place. We told the school about this, but they have refused, stating that her scores show that she can’t get extra time according to the JCQ guideline, but in the JCQ guideline for a Form 9, it states that those scores should not be taken into account for ADHD.

We’ve sent countless emails, which have been ignored. Am I right to believe she should be able to get extra time? She’s always finished tests last in school, and she would even come back at break time to finish them. I don’t get how her teachers were not advocating for this for her?
She ended up running out of time in her A level exams, which is one of the reasons why she’s retaking. I would appreciate some advice. Am I being reasonable? Is it truly impossible for her to get that extra time, and should we drop it as she’s not in the school anymore and is just sitting her exams there?

I’m going to call the access arrangement officer next week as I find it concerning that they’ve stated that my daughter can only get rest breaks again, but they’ve not asked why she did not find the rest breaks helpful and how they could accommodate her needs, as she complained that the invigilators kept asking her questions about the exams and were discussing topics that were not relevant to her during her rest break, which she found very distracting as she couldn’t refocus when she went back to the exam hall. She also expressed that she would want to be in a smaller room as she finds it distracting having to walk out of the exam hall just to be sat outside watching everyone write away and maybe ear muffs to create a quieter zone for focus.

Are these reasonable requests even if she doesn’t get extra time? Sorry for the rant

The problem with the tightening up of rules, is that it needs do be done with the same cohort, so that it’s fair.
At the moment and for the next and previous few years, we have a system where some kids are getting it, but other kids who possibly need it more, are not.

In effect, rest breaks are very similar to extra time. When the student becomes over anxious they are able to ask for a short supervised break, which will pause the clock, and then return to the test and restart the clock.

Thanks to all who answered my query! @stichguru it sounds like this could work for my daughter: the difference her waking just an hour later is like night and day at the moment. So if she could start it even at 10am rather than 9:30 that would give her more of a level playing field.

Hi, I just wanted to add to not get your hopes up too much, starting an exam later is at the desecration of the exams officer on the day if you are late not an access arrangement. Where I invigilate it’s only been given in extreme circumstances like bus broke down and the exam was still taking place etc This is because the exam centre has to be able to say the student has not be in Contact with any other student anyway who have sat the exam already, seen the paper on line etc

The guidelines for ADHD (and some other disabilities) are now to trial rest breaks rather than automatically grant extra time as these 'may be more appropriate'. Maybe see if the school have done this and if they've been 'more appropriate'. If not then request the reasonable adjustment be extra time. Schools can get into trouble if they don't trial rest breaks first now.