Children With Sen Issues And The Barriers They Have To Formal Exam.

Teaching children with additional needs can be challenging, predominantly when the exams are written for neurotypical children. I have seen many children struggle to complete exam papers. Not because they don`t have the knowledge but because they cannot access the exam paper. Children with ADHD often struggle to concentrate for the entire test.

Children with ASD and Aspergers often struggle with the often inaccurate contexts that are given in the exam. `For example, Charlie cooks a chicken for 20 minutes how long will ten chickens take to cook?` This seems like a simple question however, for someone with ASD, this is very stressful. A chicken in the real world will not take 20 minutes to cook, and this what they will focus on. They would not look at the question as a whole but obsess over the fact the question is wrong. This leads to wasted time and effort.

Dyslexic children struggle to read the paper and understand the questions. Written work that is printed on white paper with black text (as all exam papers are) is challenging for dyslexic children to read. Writing a cohesive answer is hard for Your dyslexic child. They may know the answer but be unsure how to communicate this.

Dyspraxic children may struggle to sit in the same position for long periods, as is demanded from a formal exam. They may find it challenging to write the amount required for the exam and get painful cramps in their hand. They may have poor handwriting that makes it hard for markers to read and give the marks that they deserve for the answer they gave.

All of these issues are barriers to a child with special educational needs achieving the best grades they can. So what can you do as a parent to help your child succeed? See my top 5 tips below.

Be patient with your child.

It would be best if you were patient when any child is learning, especially those with SEN issues. Children with SEN issues cannot help or control the problems they have when learning. Remember this when they cannot do a question that you know they can do. Remind them of the principle the question is asking your child to do and show them how you know that is what is being asked of them.

Understand as much as you can about your child`s SEN issue

This one may seem very obvious, but a deep understanding of your child`s issues will help you enable your child to thrive. Learn all you can about your child`s barriers to education and learning. There are many good resources for free on the internet and videos on YouTube that you can use to educate yourself. Once you understand how you can helo your child, you will never look back.

Ensure that your child`s tutor understands the barriers your child has to learning.

Having a specialist SEN tutor will ensure that your child has fewer barriers to learning as the tutor can explain things in a way your child will understand and achieve their full potential. A specialist tutor can remove exam barriers and give your child coping strategies to overcome the issues that exams present. At the same time, your child will always have these barriers. They will understand how to use coping strategies to overcome and work around them these strategies will be used thought your child`s life and well into adulthood.

While all children with SEN issues are different and have different needs, they will achieve great things.

Get in touch today to see how I can help your child.