SATS and tests

mafala

My son is nearly 9 and in year 4. He has moderate to severe dystonic CP and is fully dependent on an adult to help him with everyday tasks. He is very bright and is doing really well academically at a mainstream school. He uses a computer laptop at school for all his work.

The issue we have at the moment is that when he is teacher assessed or he is given the necessary time to complete a test, he scores very highly. However, when he is under time pressure and is only given 10-20 minutes extra, he finds it hard to complete the tasks because he fatigues easily. His muscle tone and involuntary movements get worse when he is under pressure, making it very difficult for him to use his computer mouse and the keyboard.

I am concerned that if he is tested like other children and only given the required extra time that a, let's say, dyslexic child will get he will not be able to demonstrate his academic potential for when he does his SATS and goes into secondary school.

Does anyone know, or have any experience of how a child with severe CP can be tested? Are there any guidelines?

Thanks for you advice.

forgoodnesssake

When A did his maths and science SATS 2 years ago (disapplied from English) the school looked at what the guidance was from the exam board and made the necessary arrangements. As far as I can recall it was up to double time but the school had to apply for this in advance (which they did) they also did some "dummy runs" with A so that they knew what time they needed. The school staff were also allowed to see the papers in advance in order to do any prep/differentiation (such as making pages or fonts bigger to help with his reading) And in the end they went OK!

mafala

Thanks for your helpful reply. I have actually copied it and passed it on to the SENco.

James2

I am 9 and in year4 we had tests last week. I have mild cp . When we have more time like 10 to 40 minutes i write more but when we have time like 10 to 30 mintutes i write less.Sorry i doun't have any advicie beucase I'm only 9.

mafala

Hi James,
Thanks for your reply. It sounds like you are doing well at school. Keep it up :-)

James2

thank you for the comment i have just finished my sats and i think i did quite well. My class may get our results next week . by

James2

whoes your son going in school

LilyW

I'm 15 tand dI am doing 5 GCSEs nenxt year; mathhs, engglkish, SCience,, gepograaphy and RS and people aalwaysd say to me "how can you ddddo exams if youu are severely disaaaaaaaabled?" Well, I haaave 100% extra tiime and I haave a scribe, but nnnnnnnnnot an ordinary scribee becuade I cannn''t talkkkk veryh coherenntly. Basicallly, I ttype something and the scribe wwritiwes it down properly. HHoppefuuuuuully thsis will show yoyou tahta no mattter 'how disabled' soomebody is, thhey should be able to accesds exams and I am pprredicted Bs and As!

kingboy25

My son had double time when doing his GCSE exams Unfortunately this meant on one day he had to do nine hours of exams due to having three exams being scheduled for the same day. In previous years the exams for a disabled pupil had been scheduled for times different to the rest of his class. In order to protect the pupil from accusations of cheating a member of staff had stayed at his home.

forgoodnesssake

Yes this is a huge issue...I too know of a young person who has CP, is in m/s school, is academically quite able but has real issues with fatigue...yet they ended up having 8 hours of an exam all on one day....this is ludicrous and does not help our kids at all. My son will do his GCSEs next June and we and the school are currently looking at the exam regulation conditions etc.
Its all very well to say that kids can have x amount of extra time (which of course they need)...but outrageous to then severely DISADVANTAGE them by making them do it all on one day (no non-disabled kids have to do 8 hours solid on one exam, with just a lunch break)
This is an issue I wish Scope would take up...I have spoken to a number of poeple in campaigns dept about it and they were sympathetic, but it does not seem to be on the current campaign radar....but in a way in makes a mockery of inclusion in mainstream if kids with significant disabilities can do all the course work but not actually the exam (or at least not achieve to their best potential)...