GCSE's with possible adhd

[Everlyn18]

Hey, I'm looking for some advise from others who have been through GCSE's with their children who have or may have adhd. My 15yr old DS has been referred for an adhd assessment, he's not medicated as he's undiagnosed and we're still waiting to hear back if he's even been accepted for an assessment but he's really struggling at school, he can't focus or concentrate on his work, he's very easily distracted in lessons so he tends to get in trouble quite a bit, he either doesn't do any work or he rushes through which makes his handwriting difficult to read and he misses important parts out. He's been told he's failed part of his course work for one of his gcse subjects. It's not a major subject and it's not something he's particularly interested in which makes it even harder for him to complete the work. Is there anything we can do at home to help him, he's really starting to worry about his grades for his main subjects? We've offered to help him come up with a revision plan and he says he wants to do well in his exams but getting him to do the work and revision is like pulling teeth. Is there anything that we can ask the school to put in place for him? He says he won't accept any obvious support at school as he's really worried about others finding out about his referral and he's not even told his closest friends 😔 I saw an article for magnesium or something that can sometimes help people with adhd but i cant find it now, does anyone recommend anything like that? Would it actually help?

Hiya, don’t know if I can be lots of help as we are similar with DD, but she has just been diagnosed and we are considering medication although I think it can be a bit hit and miss, the meds certainly don’t work for everyone.

can you go private to speed up the process? At least then you will know either way and it will be easier to discuss meds.

everyone with adhd is different, for my girl it is only the inattentive type but she can drift off a lot more easily if sat near disruptive/chatty kids so it helps if she is near the front/working with motivated students. She is hyper-focused (is also ASD) on the subjects she is interested in so although she might struggle with some subjects she will do really well in others and I think that helps her self-esteem.

your boy might benefit from taking the exams separately from most other pupils or could have extra time but the school needs to look into access arrangements and he would need to be open about his friends knowing about this. He certainly won’t be the only child in his year with these issues.

best of luck, I hope someone more knowledgeable will come along