Access arrangements for A levels, ADHD

[Gigia]

Hi all

My ds (17) is in Yr 12 and has just been diagnosed by a private Ed Pysch as having ADHD. He is at a very large college and I am struggling to get any answers as to how I can organise access arrangements for his A level exams which he will take in June 2020. The Ed Pysch believed he would benefit from extra time, rest breaks and a separate room. I have spoken to the college who referred me to his tutor and she didn't seem to have a clue how to go about doing this?! Any advice as to whom I should be speaking to or any paperwork I need to complete?

TIA

Hi,

Normally the teaching staff would request an assessment for exam access arrangement, they would need to demonstrate that need for the arrangements and provide evidence of support they have given in class ( such as extra time to process information, allowing internal exams to be in a separate room, and any extra time if necessary) and that this support raises results to a level expected of the student, this is called the normal way of working.

If a need and the normal way of working can be established DS could be assessed for EAA. The separate room and rest breaks are centre awarded, they do not need to be approved by JCQ or exam boards, however there must be sufficient evidence that the support is required for the school to award this. The extra time would need an assessment by the school to award. Although I am carful around awarding extra time as well as rest breaks to students one or the other is the norm. In the case of ADHD it must be considered if extra time is the right award, asking students who struggle with concentration / keeping silent and still etc to manage this for a further 25% could have a negative impact on the student.

Did DS have any support for GCSE exams?

Your College's Learning Support should be able to support you further regarding EAA.

Just ask if you need me to clarify any of the above, its quite a complex area!

Hi

Thanks for the help. I think that you are right and that supervised rest breaks would suffice as he loses focus very easily. The only access arrangements he had for GCSE were to use a laptop as he had a slow writing pace but he wasn't diagnosed then. I have made contact wit learning support and they have suggested that he should have these arrangements for this years exams (mocks) which is a positive step forward.

DD has ADD - the university gave her 25% extra time, rest breaks and her own room. She needs extra time to read the questions, due to failing to comprehend the questions what with switching off while reading; and more time for planning her answers (due to organisation problems) and then reading through them. She can, for instance fail to notice she has only done Part One of the question, because she needed to turn over to the last page of the paper for Parts 2 and 3.