My son has just started at 6th form college doing a level 3 Btec in Creative Media Production . he loves it and has coped well so far.... or so I thought.
I had a call from my son's Head of Dept this week saying he has been disruptive in class and they think he may have ADD and that she's concerned he may not be able to complete the 2 year course. The email was one of concern not disdain and they've asked me to have him assessed by the college. Where do I start .....
In the past 12 years we've had a gazillion assessments at various stages of his schooling. Most have been inconclusive although all agree that something is 'not quite right' but no labels as such have been applied other than vague references to suggestions such as dyslexia to dyspraxia via ADD and ASD and back again !
He's spent the last 4 years at a special school which took good care of his idiosyncrasies and managed to coax him through his GCSEs with varying degrees of success. He couldn't wait to get out of school and although wouldn't do A levels was happy to tackle 6th form college.
His tutor called today to discuss and asked whether there were any strategies I could suggest to help him focus in class . She reckons he can't concentrate for longer than 5 mins at a time and is easily distracted. This is probably true but never have seen him 'in action' so to speak, in class, I've never been able to witness what he's like. I'm at a loss to know what to suggest. I applaud the fact that they've noticed he needs support but where do I start ?
I heard from another tutor at the same college , who's a personal friend, that by mid October they have to 'weed out' those who they don't think will make it . I don't think that's what they're doing. I'd like to believe they genuinely want to support him but if I haven't found the Holy Grail in all these years I'm unlikely to now . feeling very despondent about it all . When he was at school I used to get a lot of " Could we have a word " type emails from teachers who despaired of his lack of concentration . as I write this I realise it must sound pretty obvious that ADD is at the root of it all but I'm at a loss to know what to do and I suppose I'm just a little cynical after all these years that anything can help .
At wits end and so want him to enjoy this experience. He's really been enjoying his new found freedom from the shackles of school but I feel like it's all going to go haywire ... yet again :(
Any thoughts or suggestions would be gratefully received.