He is so totally stressed out about SATs

[PinkSapphireAngel]

My son is doing his Year 6 SATs from May 8th and is in a right state about them, no matter what I or the SENCO say or do its not helping.

He is not yet statemented (begining statutory assessment now) but the LEA have just agreed to allow him support during the SATs (conveinaiantly they can manage it when its something important to them eh?)

He will get extra time and a TA to scribe/write for him and will be in the library with her and the SENCO who will be assisting another child in the same way.

 

He only met this TA on Monday (typical of this thoughtless school) and he is saying he really wants to be with the SENCO as he knows her and she is a friend!

He is also panicking about achieveing a level 4 as this is what his teacher is constantly drilling into the class they have to do.

Realistically he may not get this in literacy especially and this is also what his teacher says.

I hate this so much, I do not even agree with the SATs let alone having to see him go through this distress with them.

 

Does anyone know the rules etc if I was to widthdraw him if this gets much worse or if he starts them and cannot cope?

He is a classic contained at school/meltdown at home ASD/Aspergers child.

[Flora]

PSA, there is no rule that says he can't have a 'tummy bug' that week.

 

Lauren

[Tally]

SATs are not compulsory, but it's probably too late to get him excluded from them now.

 

Will your doctor sign him off sick with stress if he's having trouble coping?

[Surrey]

Last year my son was in the same predicament. He was totally stressed out and the school called me in and said they thought he was too upset to take SATS and would be willing to take him out if I wanted. However, one Teaching Assistant pulled me aside and told me that he would probably make grade 4 in science at it would be fantastic for his self esteem if he did. Well I took the chance - when it came to it, they made it as least stressful as possible for my son. When he achieved his grade 4, I knew it was worth it - you should have seen the look on his face!. It has given him the confidence to feel he can achieve. He is in year 7 at his new school, doing well and talking about going to University!!!!!! I could never have imagined this a year ago. I think I made the right decision - but of course every case is different - I feel for you and wish you all the luck in the world.

[OPooh]

My thoughts exactly Helen. It would be a real shame if Luke was just too ill to go to school that day wouldn't it. Hope he is ok and not getting too anxious about it all...disgusting how much pressure they put on kids.

[Kazzen161]

He doesn't have to get a level 4 - he just has to do his best, which for him may be just going and trying.

 

If his reading is good, it can counteract poor writing enough to give a level 4.

 

There is nothing they can do if he is ill, so that is a good backup plan.

 

Karen

[LKS]

It's not just the week of the Sats is it. It's the huge amount of time they spend preparing for them before. The practice papers, the discussions of what they need to work harder on etc.etc. everything revolves around the Sats. This seems to dominate the teaching for weeks and weeks before and all the normal timetable stuff goes out the window. I think these tests are grossly unfair on the kids and the teachers

[PinkSapphireAngel]

I emailed the SENCO yesterday about how bad he is feeling about it all and that he is also upset he will be with a stranger who he only met for the first and only time this Monday rather than with her.

 

She explained why she has to be with another child (apparently this child has possible Meares Irlen same as my other son has and needs all his test papers put onto blue paper and she is the only one who can do this??)

 

She is going to speak to Luke today as he is with her for his so called social skills group.

[jb1964]

Hi PSA,

 

My daughter had an extremely difficult time when she sat her Year 6 SATS although we didn't know at the time she had AS so we didn't have any help in that respect although she missed loads of school for health reasons and they were very good about it that way.

 

I was told at the time that if she couldn't make it in because she was ill that the teacher gives a grade representative of her work during the year and that would be factored into her grading at high school (mainstream). We were also worried about her not doing as well in them as she was capable of due to anxieties and the teacher told us that was a problem because if the teacher felt that the grade they achieved was not of their expectations then they usually pass this information on to the high school although they don't always factor this into their streaming. She told me that she had taught a boy the previous year who should get a 5 easily in his English (reading) - but because he got anxious only just made a 3 - she said that she passed this info on to the next school but they agreed only to grade him as a 4 - which she was really annoyed with.

 

If my daughter had appeared over anxious on the morning of the SAT's I would probably have kept her home - but she desperately wanted to do them because her teacher had told her she would get a '5' easily in her English reading - it was a very tough time that week and her anxiety levels were at their highest but she sat each one - and got the 5 which made her feel great - but I know it would have been such a different story had she not got what was expected of her.

 

Good luck and take care,

Jb

[Guest flutter]

well it has to be said that these exams are not improtant for the child, try and reinforce that

the teacher is sayin these things cos she needs the results to be good incase it makes her look bad,

i would be inclined if they dont chage waht is going on to get signed off form school for the week, it is really not worth the agro u are gonna get at home, and the stress your poor child willbe put under

[PinkSapphireAngel]

I am telling him all the time that these tests don't matter and that I am so proud of everything he does anyway but its not helping his anxiety levels (despite being on Risperidone)

 

The SENCO was meant to be talking to him today but apparently was in a meeting and then said she would talk to him later in the day and never did.

[Zemanski]

hope it goes alright today

 

Com starts Y9 SATs too, even worse as they are very formal, he's going up the wall - expecting exclusion this week

 

Zemanski

[PinkSapphireAngel]

Hope Com gets on ok and that it doesn't stress him (and you) out too much.

Luke's SATs are actually from next Monday for the week so I still have him doing the daily (almost hourly) countdown bless him.

[Zemanski]

Com, amazingly, so far, fingers crossed, etc., etc., is actually enjoying his SATs.

 

seems it is the build up not the test itself that causes problems.

 

if you think about it once he's in there he knows what to do (more or less) and can just get on with it, no social interaction, no faceless teacher spouting from the front and expecting him to write at the same time as listening, no problems reading off the whiteboard, no noise, no having to remember to modulate his voice (a real problem since it broke before xmas)...............

 

on the other hand, I'm not holding my breath, tomorrow he has to do a paper on Macbeth which he really has no idea about

 

Zemanski

[PinkSapphireAngel]

I am so glad he is not finding them too much.

Thats a really good point about the tests being different enviromentally to normal lessons.

[pepper]

Bit of a drama here.......

 

Sons year 9, did all the chat and explinations and he sat the math and science papers like a dream ( bar him insisting he didnt need extra time - which annoyed me but i didnt like to push the issue )

 

Seemed fine this morning and major MAJOR problems with english shakespear paper - couldnt grasp question so sat for whole test without writing a thing! How can no-one have noticed? i cant believe it. Apparently he was too worried to put his hand up as they had had it drummed into them not to disturb unless it was an emergency.

 

By the time he came out of exam room he slipped into hysterics, thank heavens the school mentors been keeping an eye on him and took him aside, he was in such a terrible state im seething, but least she phoned me, which im relieved about

 

But what on earth happens? hes level 7 to 8 in all three subjects and isnt he going to have the most bizzare SATS results ever? Theres only two papers and the other english paper in a complete trauma for him because its free writing GRrrrrrrrr - the shakespere he can normally do with ease so I have no idea why hes paniced on reading

 

oh - im just venting really, i know SATS marks are for the school and dont effect him but hes so dissapointed and I dont know how to gloss over it to him. Its always 2 steps forward , one step back eh *fixes forces smile and grinds teeth * lol

 

xx pep

[PinkSapphireAngel]

I am so sorry he is having such a hard time, it must be awful for you.

I am begining to think we need to be given easier options for our children to be able to opt out of these things, they (and us of course) have more than enough stress and distress daily without this, especially as it is only about the school and not about helping our kids

[Zemanski]

Well, we had meltdowns last night and this morning because he really really hates English and Shakespeare is not his favourite but he settled and it went OK

 

or it did if he didn't do what he did in last week's test paper I just saw:

 

Write one word from the passage that is repeated - in

 

what impact did Shakespeare intend this word to have? - none

 

explain why you think he chose this word - it makes the sentence make sense

 

 

just the writing to go, Com loves it about as much as your lad, Pepper

 

Z

[pepper]

awwwwwwwwwww - as long as sons ok about exams and tests ill back him 100% im just a bit fed up now and then that because hes a bright boy they lump expectations on him with zero tolerance on leeway

 

I just get cross that no extra help ever seems offered and though hes doing good this year - year 7 was a 'mare and i never ever want him to suffer like that ( and ive puberty to face )

 

I even got it pointed out to me that he isnt the only boy with aspergers in school and his reactions are 'unusual...' well NO they arnt!! they are how As affects him and thats teh way it is, hes unique in his own right

 

and thankyou for tea and sympathy now sons glued to online role play games and has no homework hes as happy as a pig in clover............. swift change of analagy there!

 

xx pep

[pepper]

Well, we had meltdowns last night and this morning because he really really hates English and Shakespeare is not his favourite but he settled and it went OK

 

or it did if he didn't do what he did in last week's test paper I just saw:

 

Write one word from the passage that is repeated - in

 

what impact did Shakespeare intend this word to have? - none

 

explain why you think he chose this word - it makes the sentence make sense

 

 

just the writing to go, Com loves it about as much as your lad, Pepper

 

Z

 

 

CLASSSSSSSSSSSSSSIC z pmsl - i sometimes just love the precise straightforward stuff our kids come out with , son cant ever see the point of waffling EVER so he does very much the same ( cant wait to see what story essays like as 'if it isnt true' he wont write it

 

 

thank gawd other subjects were science and math eh

[PinkSapphireAngel]

LOL Bless him thats just the way Luke thinks too

[OPooh]

Hope they are not all too stressed this weekend about it all.

[DaisyFulkirk]

I had a horrible time doing my SATs too (in 1999 - it feels like a long time ago!) - I really, really hated English before GCSE level, all that 'creative writing' stuff caused a lot of stress and the teacher said she would be surprised if I got a C in English GCSE.

 

Once I did get to the GCSE classes (at a different school then) I found that I liked it much more. I had a specialist tutor for English Language who helped me to understand some of it better and in the end I got an A in English Language and an A* in English Literature... so much for that C or D prediction.

 

SATs are horrible narrow tests that only really test how good a school is at force-feeding the students a certain load of information and how good the students are at repeating the information a certain way in the test. It will be better for everyone when they get rid of them.

 

PinkSapphireAngel could you talk to your son about not doing the tests and explain that if he misses them then they will give him a grade based on how hard he has worked all year which is much fairer anyway, and see if he would prefer to 'be ill' that day. Some schools are actually encouraging parents of non-disabled kids to do that anyway by way of a boycott of the tests...

[Zemanski]

Well, we got through Y9 SATs, they're done and dusted and we can forget about them however they went. - time for praise and relaxation and rebuilding self-esteem now, hope everyone recovers quickly

 

Good luck with them for all you Y6 people next week

 

we really shouldn't be doing this to children, any children

 

Zemanski

[Canopus]

SATs are horrible narrow tests that only really test how good a school is at force-feeding the students a certain load of information and how good the students are at repeating the information a certain way in the test. It will be better for everyone when they get rid of them.

 

Absolutely. It irritates me that so many parents use SATs results to determine how good or bad a school is. Head teachers are worried that if a school does badly at SATs then future applications to the school will fall because it will be perceived as a bad school. As a result, schools have become machines for passing exams rather than centres for teaching and learning.

 

I think the best action plan would be to organise a mass boycott of SATs. Could an LEA sack head teachers and governors who support such a boycott?

[CarerQuie]

I think it's all a load of tripe,anyway.

 

My son bought home a letter along the lines of 'in the unlikely event of your child being ill next week,please bring them in for the tests'.

 

Wouldn't it be a shame if Rhys was to have a relapse of SJS next week!!!xx

 

PS.He'll probably do the tests,really,sigh!