Access Arrangements for 17 year old Dyslexic

[StirredButNotShaken]

Hello everyone! Can anyone help? My 17 year old has a dyslexia diagnosis and at high school was given 25% extra time and the use of a laptop and used both for GCSEs.

On transferring to sixth form college my D was retested and told only one or the other arrangement was now possible. We protested but were told there was nothing they could do and the results of her tests dictated the access they could offer.

In November we took my D to have an independent Ed Psych assessment which confirmed Dyslexia, specifically with difficulty in the processing of information in working memory and particularly naming ability. The recommendations included both access arrangements. The college refused to take this into account, citing JCQ regulations although I had asked the Ed Psych to contact the college and ask for my D's skeleton Form 8. The college never replied to the Ed Psych's email.

By February my D was starting to get very stressed at always running out of time in tests and getting low marks/failing. The college said there was nothing they could do. I asked them to do more in depth testing. They refused.

They offered instead half an hour of 121 support per week but that did not result in any improvement in my D's performance. My D failed 2 of her 3 A level mocks. The college still refuse any more access but they did offer rest breaks in exams because my D is stressed. My D has turned these down as this would not help at all and probably make my D's processing issues worse. My D is now severely stressed and losing hope of going to university. Has anyone got any advice?

Request a meeting with the Head citing Equality act 2010 and discrimination. There is absolutely nothing in JCQ guidelines about not being able to use extra time and a laptop. The failure in mocks is your strongest argument- according to the law school has to provide reasonable adjustments to create a level playing field in exams. If they are not doing that they are breaking the law and you should complain to Ofsted and LEA.

Thank you NotNearlyThereYet. You know something I don't because I was under the impression that the JCQ guidelines 2017 are tighter than in previous years but they do explain cases where both access arrangements are possible. However, reading the guidelines, it is my understanding that both are not necessarily given because it can give an unfair advantage. But maybe you know different based on more up to date information? Please tell me if this is the case as this information would be crucial to my argument.

If your D is failing her exams it is her school’s duty to create a level playing field. Can they say with confidence that her mocks reflected her ability in compsrison to other students’ results? Have they tried a laptop and extra time and decided it gives her an unfair advantage? Argue her normal way of working is laptop with extra time and taking that away constitutes discrimination because it makes her fail.

Hi,

It seems to me from the info below that you can have extra time and use a laptop.

My son uses his laptop every day, so it is his 'usual way of working' - our Ed Psych said this was key to access arrangements. He also has impaired working memory and processing speed. So, his 'usual way of working' is slower and he needs more time. Therefore it is a reasonable adjustment to allow use of a laptop and give extra time.

I would gather your evidence and apply to link below and then see the Head of the Key Stage/Head - at the end of the day, your school should want your D to get the best results for their own sake!

Best of luck

www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/acce

Examples of reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates • A candidate with Dyslexia needs to use a coloured overlay and a word processor, and requires 25% extra time. The use of a yellow coloured overlay is a reasonable adjustment for the candidate since it helps him to improve his reading accuracy. The use of a word processor is a reasonable adjustment since it is his normal means of producing written work within the centre and is appropriate to his needs. The candidate has been assessed by an assessor using up to date nationally standardised tests. The assessment shows that the candidate has a substantial and long term impairment as his working memory score is in the below average range. The candidate has a standardised score of 79. The SENCo can supplement the assessor’s report (Section C of Form 8) with a detailed picture of need (see page 25) showing 25% extra time as his normal way of working within the centre. The application of 25% extra time is a reasonable adjustment and the SENCo processes an application on-line using Access arrangements online.

Hi Calmed, thank you for this. This is interesting. I downloaded the guidelines last October but my page 25 is different. If you have a moment and it's not too time consuming, would you mind checking?

Thank you so much.

The link I added was taken directly from their current website. You could email them if you want to clarify if it is up-to-date and accurate?

Thanks for this - I was ok with the link. What I wondered was where you found the words you quoted. Did you find those in the guidelines or are your writing from your own knowledge? I was specifically interested to find these words in the JCQ guidelines:

'The SENCo can supplement the assessor’s report (Section C of Form 8) with a detailed picture of need (see page 25) showing 25% extra time as his normal way of working within the centre.'

The people I am dealing with at my daughter's college are running rings rounds me but if this phrase comes from the JCQ guidelines that will be one to focus on for me. The fact that the assessor says one thing and the SENCO can supplement with a detailed picture of need is important to my case.

It's on page 7, which is the 13th sheet of paper in the document i.e. 13/110

Best of luck

Thank you:)

The starting point has to be what the subject teachers say, and what the student's normal way of working is. These are the current JCQ regulations.

Schools and Colleges should not apply for access arrangements in GCSE or GCE exams based on a privately commissioned dyslexia assessment. Assessments should be carried out, at the request of the school or college, by someone on the school/college staff, or by someone with whom the school/college already has an established relationship.

So even if your Ed Psych had contacted the college, the college would not have responded with a skeleton Form 8.

Is your daughter using a laptop in class this year? She will need to be doing this even to stand a chance of word processing her exams. Do you know if the college has a policy on laptop use in class?

Thank you for your comments. Yes my daughter can use her laptop in class. For note taking she will write to make her notes distinctive and for longer work she types.

OK, so she should be permitted by the college to word process in exams.

The question of extra time is an additional arrangement which has to be approved by the Awarding Bodies, based on teachers’ evidence that she needs extra time to complete work in college, plus an assessment carried out by someone as indicated above.

Thank you Blue Bonnet for commenting.

Hello all and here is an update on our situation. In short, we have won:o). After going through the college complaints procedure which was via the Governors we appealed and had a face to face with the Governors. Still our complaint was rejected because the governors were briefed by the Learning Support people we have been battling against and the Governors were not fully informed. Looking now in retrospect the Governors did 'smell a rat' and they suggested in their written report to the head of the college that he might meet with us to discuss the whole affair and how the college could learn from it! We agreed to attend that meeting and in the meantime we gathered all our daughter's test results and her actual test papers, her Form 8 from school and the current Form 8 and paid an independent assessor to go through it, to give us her objective opinion. She agreed with us that the college were behaving in a very odd way. We asked this assessor to help us produce a 'paper' on why the college was wrong and give a reasoned response to all the college's objections to us eg what we were asking for would give our daughter an unfair advantage and for each point we asserted why the college was wrong. Our bottom line was that the course of action the college was pursing was leading them to discriminate against our daughter under the Equality Act 2010. We met with the head of the college and handed him our paper and asked him to read it through with us (I really enjoyed this part!) and we explained that we were now ready to take legal action. The head initially said he could not discuss this matter further since we were taking legal action. We pointed out that we would file our case on the Monday and today was Friday so this meeting was about avoiding this. He then suggested that the college pay for our daughter to be assessed by an external assessor who they would suggest to us and if we were happy with this person, they would then assess our daughter. The college would pay. This took place and our daughter was found to be 'significantly impaired' and to be eligible for 50% extra time in her A levels. The external assessor also pointed out that if our daughter gave up 25% of that time, under JCQ regulations she would be entitled to having a laptop for use in all tests and crucially her A levels.

Our lessons learned are:
keep records of all emails and phone conversations
get to the legal action stage faster - although it makes you look more reasonable and credible possibly if you have gone through the college's internal procedure, this took three months and was very stressful and for example the SEND Tribunal would have allowed us to present our case without going through the college's internal procedure
get a qualified advisor, in our case the assessor we took all our papers to, to give an objective opinion
say you are now prepared to take legal action