Special needs choosing GCSE with out statement

[dixonclan]

My 13 year old son goes to main stream school and has no statement (failed twice to get one). He suffers from ADHD, Tourettes, ODD and educational delayed. He has IEPs and he is excluded from some subjects that he struggles in mainly languages. The new GCSE system now allows children to do 3 years of revising so now is the time to choose for my son. I am scared for my son has he has his main core subject ie.maths english but he has to choose 3 subjects from 3 boxes to add to the core subjects one box contains languages the second box well dont even get me started....where do i start.? My problem is with no statement what help will he get? I read through the information the school gave me a maths test is too sit for and hour and 45 mins in a hall....how can they expect a child with my son needs to sit still and now shout out? After speaking to the SENCO at school she said she can get him RAT Tested ? If he fails there is nothing they can do......This is where i am stuck i am started to feel like they have set my son up to fail already, i feel sad for him what does the future hold for him ?????

Hi there DixonClan
I feel for you, my son has mild cerebral palsy and ADHD and also has no statement and his school are so rubbish I am actually taking them to court in a few weeks for discriminating against but because I am very on the ball about what they should be doing for him I think I have some information that may help you as your SENCO sounds worse than mine if she has not already informed you of these things (and thats saying something).

1. Is your son on School Action Plus (he should be if he has outside agency help such as Child Mental Health Services etc)
2. Your SENCO should have put your son in for something called 'Special Measures' which means that allowances will be made for him in exam settings. i.e more time allowed, will be allowed to take them in a room on his own if he struggles with concentration etc. They should have set things in motion for this ages ago.
3. Has anyone mentioned undertaking a cognitive assessment on your son. This is like a childs IQ test and is invaluable in knowing what your child is and isnt capable of intellectually and helps school to know how they can help him.
4. Re choices my son has just taken his and we were advised by the school to drop the language class as he was just not progressing in this. You do not have to take a language now.
5. As one of this choices he is taking something called a 'foundation' class which means he will not do an exam in this and it taches them a little bit of everything that he may miss out on and more 'life' skills etc does your school offer anything like this?

Just because he does not have a statement in no way means he is not entitled to these things. You need to ask your SENCO about these urgently. I am very surprised she has not already mentioned these to you.

If you need any more advice just reply of here or message me. Good luck.

He should at least have exam access arrangements in the form of rest breaks to accommodate his ADHD. This will allow him to get up and move around under supervision while the invigilator times how long he stops for. This time is then added on to the end of the exam.