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ASD and GCSE English

Athena

Hi,

My oldest son is 15 and has had an ASD diagnosis since he was 9. He now copes pretty well in after years of developing strategies, however, he has come up against a brick wall with his GCSE English. He can discuss the work in class but goes blank when it comes to putting it down on paper. I have discussed this with him and he says it is like he has the thought but the moment he picks up a pen it disappears. We had a meeting with school as they put this down to him not wanting to do the work and they weren't rentirely wrong as if he thinks he can't do it then he doesn't want to do it but it all stems from his ASD reactions. We thought that this was just with the Eng Lit exam so didn't put alot of pressure on him (they take it at the end of year 10 and then do Eng Lang in Year 11). We spoke to him about support options but he wasn't interested in using a laptop or speaking and getting someone to scribe instead. He took his exam but doesn't think that he did very well - all the little noises in an exam room were off putting for him too. Now my son has started doing his English Language and this seems to be worse. He has to find the metaphors etc in the work and he just can't do this, in his words "the curtains are blue because they are blue", it has nothing to do with indicating depression etc. Again school are saying that they have tried everything to help him and he is just refusing their help, he will now have to take his English lessons in inclusion. I don't know how to help him. I have tried to talk to him about it but he says he just can't do it and there is nothing we can do.

I have read in many places that English is a classic area for ASD to have issues with but I have found nothing to suggest how to deal with it.

Does anyone have any suggestions? My main concern is that my son will struggle with any further education etc without any form of English GCSE.

Many thanks

Parents

  • English Literature certainly gave me trouble, especially when attempted at undergraduate level (but not after Year 1). Unfortunately I was expected to be good at it because I read a lot and across a diverse range.

    The problem is that it would seem that all authors, poets and playwrights expect us to see double meanings. I just couldn't see these, and got laughed at for my naivity and for taking things at their face value. It wasn't that I couldn't analyse - early on I developed good synthesis skills.

    But I didn't see the subtle sexually repressive meanings in Gerald Manley Hopkins poems - I liked the language used but it was interesting for sound and effect - I'm afraid I didn't see the sexual connotations. Some of the American poets were also supposed to be full of double entendre that had me perplexed.

    I'm not unable to see double entendre in humour, and I'm not incapable of seeing a lewd connotation. I just didn't see it in most of the stuff I had to study.

    I don't know whether it is an attempt to get a class of students interested and attentive, or to play on the reactions of students, but english literature was spoiled for me because I couldn't see what I was evidently meant to see.

    On the other hand there were in my day books on the interpretation of plays and poems, and nowadays there are websites that provide model outlines of how to analyse and discuss. I don't think the double meanings were essential to passing exams then, and I don't suppose they are now.

    But I've no doubt there are still teachers trying to play for popularity stakes by encouraging classrooms of students to see some strange meaning, and there are still pupils/students who don't want their vision soiled.

Reply

  • English Literature certainly gave me trouble, especially when attempted at undergraduate level (but not after Year 1). Unfortunately I was expected to be good at it because I read a lot and across a diverse range.

    The problem is that it would seem that all authors, poets and playwrights expect us to see double meanings. I just couldn't see these, and got laughed at for my naivity and for taking things at their face value. It wasn't that I couldn't analyse - early on I developed good synthesis skills.

    But I didn't see the subtle sexually repressive meanings in Gerald Manley Hopkins poems - I liked the language used but it was interesting for sound and effect - I'm afraid I didn't see the sexual connotations. Some of the American poets were also supposed to be full of double entendre that had me perplexed.

    I'm not unable to see double entendre in humour, and I'm not incapable of seeing a lewd connotation. I just didn't see it in most of the stuff I had to study.

    I don't know whether it is an attempt to get a class of students interested and attentive, or to play on the reactions of students, but english literature was spoiled for me because I couldn't see what I was evidently meant to see.

    On the other hand there were in my day books on the interpretation of plays and poems, and nowadays there are websites that provide model outlines of how to analyse and discuss. I don't think the double meanings were essential to passing exams then, and I don't suppose they are now.

    But I've no doubt there are still teachers trying to play for popularity stakes by encouraging classrooms of students to see some strange meaning, and there are still pupils/students who don't want their vision soiled.

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