Asbergers and exams!!!!

[Echelonvicky3]

Help! I have a wonderful son, Harry, who has asbergers, he is 14 nearly 15 and is a clever lad except for when it comes to any form of exam, assessment. I am pulling my hair out with the school, who don't know how to help him, I have tried going down the path of contacting all the teachers for strategies and was told today maybe I could think of something to help him! I go through exam papers so he is familiar with the concept which he is ok with but I'm not at school which is where he struggles. When he gets a low pass rate or thinks he is going to he gives up and refuses to try. He has been awarded extra exam time but is there anything else we can apply for, can he have a reader or someone who can scribe for him, can he do exams alone, what help is out there. Also how can I go about applying or asking for a teaching assistant . he has a good senco but i need to go in to see them armed with well something. thanks for this guys xxxx

This is possibly way too late but thought I'd send anyway.

The school has to apply for a reader or scribe using standardised test scores (i.e. proof that your son has poor working memory, weak reading skills, illegible handwriting etc) so this maybe tricky. They can use "proof of normal working practise" though so d for example he always uses a laptop in lessons they can apply for him to use one in exams.
As a SENCo I use promoters for my pupils with asc/ADHD/etc who find the actually sitting of exams tricky. This means they sit their exam in a separate room with someone "promoting". The promoter can only say specific things like "you have been working on that Q for 10mins" or you have 20mins left. With medical evidence (such as a diagnosis of asc) the school can also apply for supervised rest breaks where your son could leave the room with the prompter and walk around/have a snack etc/then return to the paper.
My advice would be meet with the SENCo as early as possible as these things take time to apply for.

Hope that helps!