CP and exams

Jessie25

My teenage daughter has hemiplegia CP and suffers daily with her struggles with daily anxiety and struggles at school as well as painful ligaments especially during the hot weather.
 
When it comes to exams she does her revision but seems to have blank moments where she forgets everything she has learnt and revised. 

Is this common?
 
Her mocks are ungraded and she is feeling useless as she compares herself to her piers !
She also has had quite a bit of time off with her anxiety and aches and pains. 

Her condition is getting worse too.

Can you help? 

Richard_Scope

Hi @Jessie25
Thanks for your post and a very warm welcome to our community. I am sorry to read that your daughter is experiencing such a tough time at the moment. From memory, exam time is a very stressful time for students and their families.
Periods of high stress can make the effects of CP more problematic, muscles are tighter and movement is more painful and difficult.  This could be why her condition appears to be getting worse. I think that your daughter is placing so much pressure on herself that this is leading to the 'exam freeze' that you describe. 
Can I ask does your daughter have any special arrangements in place for exams, such as additional time?
Has anybody talked to you both about mindfulness or relaxation techniques?

I will include some links here to information that I think might be helpful. I'm also going to tag my colleague @Chloe_Scope into our conversation. Chloe may have some tips.

CP Teens
Exam stress/Anxiety

Keep in touch.

Chloe_Scope

Hi @Jessie25 and welcome to the community! I have mild cerebral palsy myself and am currently at university. I also am actually the assistant coordinator for CP Teens! (the link @Richard_Scope has just sent you)
I too struggled with exams and remembering the content. I found that breaking it down really helped, and colouring my notes. I used to make up scenarios in my head to help remember information or link it together in some way. I also love flash cards

Stayce

@Jessie25

Welcome to the community. I have Hemiplegia  and have sat a lot of exams myself   

I agree with @Richard_Scope that in times of stress spasticity can increase and you can feel like things are declining 

You might find this link from the charity Hemihelp on common difficulties associated with Hemiplegia and learning helpful

http://www.hemihelp.org.uk/professionals/education/secondary/learning_difficulties/

My top tips are
I found flash cards helpful and mind maps when revising. Listening to music whilst revising helped too

Taking hot baths and massaging tight muscles after having sat an exam ( as I used to experience cramping if I had successive exams over several days.)

Keep up with Physio schedule don’t let it slip due to exams/ revision

Set aside some time to do something enjoy that’s relaxing.

Try the Headspace app - it’s a really accessible mindfulness app that your daughter could perhaps listen to 10 minutes before an exam

Hope this helps

best