So DS has to do this test next week. He had to do a practice one last week and his 1:1 felt the person scoring him was marking him incorrect because he cannot pronounce certain sounds (due to autism / speech delay / lack of clarity in speech / immature speech sounds). I have just sat and watched the assessment training video and read the guidance and it seems to me it says if a child mispronounces a sound due to speech difficulty but it is the way they usually say that sound then it should be marked correct. So for eg ff would be accepted for th as its a common mistake for 6 year olds (DS has lots of pronounciation issues so his speech is more like a 3 year old). I got the 1:1 to ask the teacher today and teacher said they can mark it (eg ff for th) correct for the real words but not the fake words. Now having watched the video this seems wrong??? On discrimination grounds I cannot see how it can possibly be right as for eg a child with a lisp would have no chance. The video also says allowance is made for regional accents so 'bath' and 'barth' both ok.
Also if he does not have a teacher who knows his usual speech well enough (teacher has never spent much time 1:1 with him and he is very quiet in school so she will not have heard him say much) can his 1:1 who does know him and knows whats normal speech for him advise the teacher so for eg say thats how DS says L or th?
He does know the sounds perfectly and is blending now (finally) but just cant pronounce them clearly and accurately
I am not hung up on the test but if I can leave phonics behind this year and not have him be forced to re-do it next year that would be fab and I would be gutted if he was marked down because of his speech