A levels and concentration

Hotel california said:

Have you considered flexi schooling for her?  We have been doing this for a number of years.  My son finds it easier and less stressful to work some of the time from home with email contact with tutors and then only going in when he feels he needs to.  The tutors are very supportive as they know that he is getting the work done.  He also has a statement and receives extra time in exams and can take breaks if he starts to feel overwhelmed.  He is also allowed to take exams in a quiet area away from distractions. 

hi hotel california,

can i just askhow did you go about getting flexy teaching? My daughter is doing A levels and an Aspie but is having a hell of a time with sensory issues and the slow pace of learning.

i am trying to get my daughter to do flexy but the 6th form head is having none of it, even threatened to kick her out if the next term drops below 86%.

they have agreed to all manor while in years 1-5 but come 6th form its like she has gone to a new school who know nothing of her. They seem hell bent on attendance, she has had 2 months off after surgery on both wrists and come back and done an assesment straight away and come out top of the class. She wants to do further maths but they wont even tho on her own she has completed the workload that the class are teaching.

if you could give me any pointers as to how i could play my case and to who, it would be really be helpful.

thanks in advance.

andy

Hi nmr1991,

This is a tricky one because disability provision in most universities is driven by the social model of disability - that is with certain support you aren't disabled. The support entailed is mostly idiotic, like just one colour of paper handouts or 15 minutes extra time irrespective of exam.

This doesn't work well at all for people with autism or asperger syndrome.

The really silly bit is they are actually more worried they might be seen to give disabled students an unfair advantage over able students. There is a lot of concern that teaching staff are overly generous in making allowances for disabled students, like assignment extensions. Notwithstanding how someone disabled is going to get any unfair advantage???!!!

It means you would have to have demonstrated (with medical evidence) in advance of the exams, usually by a deadline that's not that well publicised, that you had a particular special exam need.  Nevertheless teaching staff often try to be more flexible than these rules (despite getting into trouble for it), so you must talk this through with your personal or course tutors, who may be able to argue for some compensatory measure.

However if pre-arranged they may be able to allow you to sit the exam a little later in a private room under supervision before and during.

That means however that you are expected to help yourself - notwithstanding universities ought by now to understand the difficulties that presents for students with autism. You may find that they do not allow retrospective adjustment without a reason that could not have been anticipated. Usually decisions like this tend to go before a review panel, and may only mean a resit being designated a first sit.

Hall of residence noise is unlikely to be allowed as an excuse as it is the same for all. Having been a wing tutor in halls as a postgrad I know how difficult it is to manage nocturnal noise issues, and that was in the days we had authority. Nowadays it is hands-off - halls are literally left to their own devices at night, with maybe someone on for security. But living in rented rooms or a share in studenty parts of town are just as bad.

This is one of those situations where you need to get whatever help you need before you next have exams to ensure you are there for them and able to complete them satisfactorily - might seem harsh, but I think that's what you'll be told.

I've tried to get special measures provision for students with autism but not managed to prove there is sufficient special need, it is that hard.

nmr1991: I would definitely speak to both your tutor and the disabilities advice team.  They need to know and they may be able to come up with a solution, such as support a move to more suitable accommodation or allow you to sit exams at separate times to the others or something.

Short bursts would be better than longer stints.  The brain apparently recalls better learning that way too.

Unless the medication is strong, I wouldn't have thought it would be due to that.  Medication can cause drowsiness though so you could check with the GP (and also check the contraindications leaflet in the box and do some Googling).

Anxiety can make you unfocused and if her medication is only low dose it could be that the anxiety is causing the effect.

At university I have missed a few exams because of my sleep issues and because my halls of residence is really noisy at night which also contributes to the inability to sleep. There are rules in place to ensure residents are not disturbed before exam days, but the students have so many friends over, they don't care because they aren't students or they don't live here, but so many people are breaching the contract they signed when they moved in, but I feel that there is nothing I can do to improve this situation.

I haven't spoke with my tutor or disability advice team about this yet, at the moment i'm just trying to prevent them from knowing that I might fail another year because I keep missing lectures and exams due to the issue that I have pretty much every night.

I revised good for my maths test however it was a waste when I missed the exam.

Hi Catwoman,

I went through my A levels 2 years ago, I have Aspergers Syndrome and ADHD, I know how your daughter is feeling. 

There is a huge amount of information that has to be learnt in a relatively short space of time, and it does put a lot of pressure on individuals, too much in my opinion. I struggle with my concentration as well, so I'll share some of the methods I used to help improve it.

With regards to whether short bursts or long stints are the better option, I found the short bursts allowed me to digest the things I was learning, and the break helped to allow things to sink in, so to speak. 

One thing I would very much encourage you to do is to make sure she is willing to come forward, whether it is to you, or her teachers, if she is having any problems with particular subjects. In class, I was very afraid to put my hand up and ask questions, but I found it much easier if I waited until after the class had finished and then asked the teacher privately, and the teachers were usually very accommodating and willing to help. 

Out of interest, what A Level subjects is she studying?

Have you considered flexi schooling for her?  We have been doing this for a number of years.  My son finds it easier and less stressful to work some of the time from home with email contact with tutors and then only going in when he feels he needs to.  The tutors are very supportive as they know that he is getting the work done.  He also has a statement and receives extra time in exams and can take breaks if he starts to feel overwhelmed.  He is also allowed to take exams in a quiet area away from distractions. 

Thank you for these interesting responses. 

I had heard of executive dysfunction with regard to poor organisation, but  not concentration.  I wonder if there is an optimum way to work, such as in short bursts rather than trying to keep concentration going for long periods, or whether the opposite is true and long sessions would allow concentration to build up.

She is very anxious, and is on medication for this.  I also wondered whether there could be side effects to her medication that would cause these problems.

And I hear your sympathy with  anyone doing A levels these days!

Her anxiety may be higher, and lack of self confidence can be a factor.

Also how good is she at organising and structuring revision? Is she worried because she is not benefitting from her peer group in this (though it is better not to be in on the rumour mill she might feel she is missing out. Peer rivalry generates misinformation and the misunderstandings multiply, leading to some children believing their friends over their teachers' advice).

These days A Levels are torment to most schoolchildren, the amount that has to be learned, and the rigidity with which these are marked, having to get the correct alignment of an answer, which she will be coached at by teachers. So very much hangs on A Level results - not just a career but success of life. And all this government meddling with education is not helping matters - the stress on the teachers is being passed onto the pupils.

The advantage of being on the spectrum might be good memory, but how do you stack information into memory if not good at organising your studies or confused by information given in common that NTs might pick up better.

I think its swings and horses - what might disadvantage a student on the spectrum is offset by things that would affect NTs more.

All I can say is I sympathise with anyone doing A Levels these days. A ridiculous amount of pressure is placed on schoolchildren, and the consequences of failure can seem very harsh at that age.

Kids play dungeons and dragons games on their computers that trivialise death and injuiry, but doing A Levels is really a whole lot riskier.

Be encouraging and supportive.

Yes it could be the AS (something called executive dysfunction is often part of it) or it could be a co-morbid condition such as ADHD.  Over 70% of people with ASC have a co-morbid condition.  Even anxiety can do it.  Or sensory overload.

Has she asked for reasonable adjustments for her disability, such as extra time?  She is entitled to these in law.  Does she have a visual processing problem such as the colour of the background of the paper behind the text?  You can ask for a different coloured paper and things like that.