Exam accommodations

Thank you for your response.  She had no accommodations at GCSE as she was on the pathway so it was asserted she didn’t have the evidence required.  This was despite being identified as underperforming in 7 subjects in exams. 

25% extra time is usually a standard accomodation for SEN. They may need to provide evidence of her difficulties with processing speed. I'm surprised the school are saying no. I'd understand with other accomodations, it is supposed to be normal way of working. But exams are not normal circumstances and processing is harder under pressure. Surely they did mocks etc to be able to show she'd struggle in exam circumstances. I would be asking for a meeting to discuss it personally. Did she have accomodations at GCSE?

StephMW said:

 The school are saying ‘no’ to extra time because it is not her usual way of working.

I wonder how they have assessed "usual way of working" and what is meant by that?

the excellent resource from ArchaeC (with what strikes me as good advice as well)  says the following about establishing what is their "normal" way of working -

6. How does my exam centre establish my normal way of working?

Your Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) will gather evidence to show your normal way of working through:

• Feedback from teachers on how you work in class
• Notes from support lessons or interventions
• Evidence from mock exams or internal assessments
• Records of previous access arrangements
• Work samples that highlight specific difficulties
• Screening tests or assessments from professionals

So, have the school acknowledged the processing difficulties? - are they part of the diagnosis/following recommendations following the assessment? 

Has all the evidence been gathered by the SENCo?

generally...

However your daughter does the exams now, it's all learning about learning and that's most important - things can be good :-) .

Use whatever support is necessary while working towards independence.  If and when you no longer need it, pass it on to others.  That's the way I reckon.  Support that  enables people to do their best is necessary for equality.  

Anyway for a lot time hereon-wards  working appears to be moving to using more generative artificial intelligence - how the education system and the associated sorting system of academic achievement adapts to that will be unfolding soon I expect (fingers crossed).

Quality of thinking and outcome performance are perhaps more important in the long run than speed.  So what if I take longer - I'm doing it in the best and most effective way I can! 

Bit of a blow that exams are stressful - often an associated issue with ASD finding stress especially tricky.

One of the things I most learned was the importance of having stress levels OK for prolonged study and concentration.

Giving over longer times to get qualifications eventually came through for me.  I studied for fewer qualifications but with more depth, finding something that maintained my interest best by one means or another.  Along the way learning how to study and pass exams reasonably well.

Eventually kind off working out what exams are metaphorically coming up in the life that continues outside of formal education, then preparing and taking them on.  Mental exercise is kind off addictive and self-sustaining!  

All the best to you and yours.  keep up the good parenting! 

I know that he had extra time for his GCSEs he took and for the A level he took. The school seemed perfectly happy to do it and didn’t make a big deal about it at all. My son had an EHCP - which is always helpful in these situations I think.

The school should not be discriminating against your daughter. You could make an appointment to see the SENCO and explain that just because your daughter did not used to have extra time, it does not mean that she wasn’t experiencing difficulties before and was being discriminated against (albeit possibly unknowingly). You could say that following your daughter’s autism diagnosis, you have a greater awareness and understanding of the exact nature of her difficulties, and that you know she needs extra time so as not to disadvantage her.

The link explains the steps needed to get extra exam time. 

www.disabilityrightsuk.org/.../exam-access-arrangements-gcses-and-levels-faqs

Thank you Martin.  I find it very frustrating how her teachers are saying she needs the extra time definitely and they’ve spoken to the SENco themselves but he’s adamant she’s not to have it.  

Taking exams in a small room, not a large hall filled with people, and an extra 25% of time are standard accommodations for autistic people taking university exams.

All schools are required by law to make 'reasonable accommodations', so that disabled students are not disadvantaged by their disability, relative to their non-disabled peers. What your daughter's school are insisting upon could be classed as discrimination on the grounds of disability and therefore illegal.

Thanks for your reply. Can I ask if he’d always had extra time for exams? As the school seem to be asserting that even with a diagnosis and the exams being mentioned in a speech and language therapy care plan plus subject teachers saying she needs the time, the SENco is saying no.   

My son got extra time for his exams - as I remember 50% extra.