SATs advice (SEN child)

[mangosmoothie123]

What’s the best way to help my son cope during SATs week? He struggles with school due to his SEN and especially when it comes to subjects he’s not confident in (maths especially). We have some revision books at home but he won’t go near them with a 10 foot barge pole, he just gets stressed and melts down.
Anyone with experience in this have any suggestions, what helped you or your children during exams and to prepare?

I just don’t want him to stress or become overwhelmed but his teacher has pretty much urged me to try to get him to revise🥺
I am also worried how he will cope with them at school when they begin shortly after the Easter holidays🤯

I wouldn’t be pressuring DS to revise. What will help during SATs week will depend on the DS’s needs. Does DS have any access arrangements? Would going in earlier help (some schools run a breakfast club for SATs)?

@StrivingForSleep thank you for your message. They are putting thing in place for him at school during the SATs such as letting him complete some of the tests on a tablet, getting him to sit in his own room with fewer distractions, things like that.
Going in earlier wouldn’t be helpful, as he doesn’t manage to get to sleep till late so finds it incredibly hard to get up in the mornings, I think it would cause more stress rather than good😢

I just don’t know how I can prepare him or give him more confidence

I would play them down and not focus on them. Preparing DS further could well build them up further and cause DS more anxiety.

@StrivingForSleep that’s a good point, thank you!

My DS is the same.
What frustrates me at our school is homework isn't given or if it is, it's not a big deal if it's done or not. So they've gone upto Y6 having clear school and home boundries when it comes to work and this break he's been sent home with workbooks and websites and God knows what else for SATs.
We've agreed he's to do 10mins a day and he can choose when but if it's not done by 4pm, everything goes off until he does. (Gaming driven!)

Can you get the teacher to tell you what will be happening for the rest of the day when tests are taken? IME, children get lots of outdoor playtime during SATs week and teachers plan nice activities for the afternoons. It might help your ds to know if there’s something he will look forward to each day and help him prepare for the different timetable.