GCSE English

(If you spot any typos it's because of dslexia and my hyper focus cannot hold it together as well so late at night as I'm getting tired now. I swear I do know how to spell I just don't have the battery power to go back and correct every fault this late at night.)

Yes, as someone who actually got a better GCSE in English Language than Maths as a teenager I attribute it to the fact that I recognised that English language has rules, you can treat it like a game/strategy, emotional language is more difficult but if you can take basic emotions like happy, sad, angry, you can use a dictionary and thesaurus to find the words for those more complicated overlapping feelings. If a sentence sounds too rigid use a thesaurus to help learn alternative words to liven it up a bit, etc.

It sounds odd as stereotype would suggest that peopel with ASC usually tend towards maths, but it wasn't until I retook GCSE maths as a mature student that I learned to treat it like a puzzle that could be solved as long as I knew what method to use. And then it became fun, and now my most hated: algebra is my fave.
I think you can apply that to English too, it just looks more complcated, and maybe Eng Literature is, but English Language has rules you can learn to help you detangle it.

For context I originally took my GSCES in 2005 and I retook them in 2017, did a lvl 3 foundation in 2020, and I'm in University doing my BA hons now. Autism really doesn't have to be a barrier to higher education. Just make sure you have all teh support he can get including extra time in exams to allow for re-reading the questions if there is tricky phrasing.
When I retook English btw the course seemed to mix English literature with English language (maybe it's one GCSE now not 2 separate ones) but the liteature part I also found easier by turning my fixation onto it, no great magic trick just what you are interested in sinks in easier. If you can get him to get at all interested in the more "meh" parts of the subjects they will get easier.

What a lovely reply, thank you for taking your time to give me an insight into your experiences. Your comment about rules, strategies and having a game approach is most helpful.

I spoke to school today about extra time, so hope this will help him too. 

Thank you again, and best of luck with your studies.

What a lovely reply, thank you for taking your time to give me an insight into your experiences. Your comment about rules, strategies and having a game approach is most helpful.

I spoke to school today about extra time, so hope this will help him too. 

Thank you again, and best of luck with your studies.

Thanks, that's great you've had the chance to ask for extra time, best of luck to your son too. :)