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A level Revision Suggestions for son with writing difficulties.

Oleta

Hi

I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas for helping my son to revise. He has particular issues around written work and uses a scribe for exams, and dictates notes to me at home which is ok, but we need some other ideas for him to use for when I'm not available to revise with him. He has Dragon voice recognition software but seems a little embarrased to use it. 

What has worked well for people on the forum? I'd be particularly keen to hear from students as I'm concerned how he will cope with this sort of thing once he's at university (hopefully) and I'm not around to support him.

He's studying Chemistry, Biology and Maths.

Thanks,

Oleta

  • Hi Oleta

    My son has Aspergers, ADHD and hypermobility in his hands and is not statemented. He finds the physical act of writing very difficult indeed.  He is in Y8 at a good school with a special unit for ASD.

    Things we have found very helpful:

    1) For revision purposes I have designed blank "Cheat Sheets", with 9 boxes per A4 page.  He must fit the facts of each topic into one section only.  Once he and I have completed the sheet together, he revises only from those and leaves the textbook behind.  He likes the fact that it is a structured page and pre-printable.  His Science teacher saw them and commended him on them, so that's a winning strategy for us.

    2) In class - the most significant improvement - the school has provided him with an  AlphaSmart wordprocessor for taking notes.  He has improved from two to three handwritten sentences per 50 min period, to whole typed pages.  He is so relieved, and this works very well for him. The work has to be saved onto a memory stick every day at school and brought home for printing, which is not perfect, so I am considering buying him a laptop of his own to take to school and bring home every day.  There will be no games!!!!!! on it, so don't need anything fancy :)

    3) I now discourage him from doing any homework by hand, and his work has improved immeasurably.

    I appreciate your son is much further ahead with his studies, but what works for us may just help a little.

    Good luck, I do believe it's all about having the right tools for the job.