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Exam help

LPW

Hi,

My autistic 15 year old son is due to sit exams in May/June this year.

He has done mocks but, apart from his favourite subjects, he has not got his predicted grades or even passed in some cases.

He is on target to get grade 4 and above for most subjects but freezes in the exam, resulting in either nothing or very few questions being completed.

He has extra time, a small space and TA support.

He can't verbalise why he can't answer the questions.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any possible solutions?

He is very clever and is getting grade 6 in his favourite subjects. His aim is to go to college to study politics but at the moment this won't be an option.

TIA

Parents

  • I once got taken out of an exam before I even read the first question because I had a meltdown on the spot. The thing is I’m not officially diagnosed so nobody, including myself, knew where this might come from. I had to figure out my own strategies and even though they still don’t work perfectly, I’m managing a lot better. Personally, I found progressive muscle relaxing to be a good awareness exercise to help ground me. Also sensory input (fidgeting, smelling something, focusing on sounds around me). Those exercises are for when I feel like something could happen during this exam. It’s important to do those things before the exam in question starts or before you look at the tasks, this way you can focus on calming the mind before it gets too fast to be controlled which is most likely the reason for this fight/flight/freeze-response. Also having a set morning routine for exam-days is a quite helpful and helps me to stay on track.

    It could also be a blackout. In this case I’d recommend trying different study-methods (I struggle a lot with studying because I never really had to study until last year (when the “Abitur”-phase/qualification-phase started… German system) and focusing on practice tasks instead of endless revision helped me to feel more prepared which soothes the mind at least a bit and can prevent blackouts). Also try to practice stepping away from a task. Sometimes you get stuck on something or bored doing that or you fall into a rabbit hole while answering a question with only a few points. I used to be unable to move on from that. My mind would get stuck and I’d lose a lot of time. I currently try to practice that by doing my homework in an unusual order or on good days even switching mid-task.

    I hope there’s something in there for your son, good luck! 

  • in reply to Emmalephant

    Thank you for sharing, I will definitely show him this and see what he can take from it. There are some great suggestions. 

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