What’s school like for slow processing speed, but above average intelligence

[Anonymous]

My kid was diagnosed with adhd, which mostly manifests as inattentive. The evaluator said her processing speed is in the 25th percentile, but she scored in the 70th-85th percentiles in assessments for reading, vocab, problem solving, etc. She will be in 2nd grade in the fall. So far, school has been fine—she’s in the mix with her peers academically, but I wonder how things look for slow processors as they get older and academic demands increase.

If you have an order kid with a similar profile, how has school gone? Were they able to take honors classes? Did they do well? Is there anything you did that worked well to support your kid? And advice about what to do/not do as a kid with this profile goes through school?

[Anonymous]

My child also has ADHD, primarily inattentive, with processing speed in the 9th percentile and other IQ domains in the 90th+ percentiles. He just finished 8th grade and so far, taking upper level classes has been fine. He does need help with time management.

[Anonymous]

25th percentile is still technically average, so it probably isn’t affecting your child too much tbh. Maybe they will need a bit more time to think and answer questions on standardized tests.

[Anonymous]

Mine is a young adult now. Processing speed <5th percentile. IQ >97th percentile. It’s really tough for him. It’s like it takes him awhile to understand what’s going on around him. But once he’s got it, you wouldn’t notice. Honestly though it can be painful to watch him try to enter conversations and start school assignments and projects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is a young adult now. Processing speed <5th percentile. IQ >97th percentile. It’s really tough for him. It’s like it takes him awhile to understand what’s going on around him. But once he’s got it, you wouldn’t notice. Honestly though it can be painful to watch him try to enter conversations and start school assignments and projects.

We have this too. What it looks like for us is a kid who does quite well in school, albeit less well than would be expected given the exceptional intelligence, but who “hates school” and for whom everything takes much longer than it should, so homework can be brutal. Bottom line, there are challenges, and will occasionally be tears and frustration and anger due to workload, but it’s a playable hand and if the child finds things they are actually interested in, they can do quite well in our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:25th percentile is still technically average, so it probably isn’t affecting your child too much tbh. Maybe they will need a bit more time to think and answer questions on standardized tests.

How is 25th percentile average? 50th percentile is average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:25th percentile is still technically average, so it probably isn’t affecting your child too much tbh. Maybe they will need a bit more time to think and answer questions on standardized tests.

How is 25th percentile average? 50th percentile is average.

It’s low average. 25-75 percentile is average range.

[Anonymous]

School is a blur

Have to work everything out at home.

[Anonymous]

My DC has a similar processing speed but somewhat higher IQ (99% for verbal). Luckily the school district recognized GTLD profiles and DC was allowed to take the most rigorous classes. Did reasonably well with some support (mostly extra time and ADHD meds), but definitely had more uneven grades and performance than neurotypical peers (handful of Bs). Is heading to a state flagship this fall. Which is great, but DC is disappointed about being rejected from the very prestigious schools. It’s a frustrating profile to have as DC rarely feels like their abilities are seen. Luckily, they have a good amount of resiliency to keep trying.

[Anonymous]

Similar. The accomodations about extra transition time notice and opportunity to continue going deeper have helped. I heard it explained that the slow processing speed with high IQ combo is due to the deep processing of so much input.

[Anonymous]

I strongly believe that the “processing speed” subscales are kind of bullsh*t and no evaluators can really give a coherent explanation for what it means when there are big disparities between subscores. People try to say all sorts of things about these tests as gospel truth, and they’re never really based on anything. My kid’s profile doesn’t correspond in any way to what his diagnosis is said to be. And to the extent his scores showed areas of challenge and areas of giftedness, that was already totally apparent without formal testing. This is one of the reasons I’m not really a supporter of “full neuropsych testing.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Similar. The accomodations about extra transition time notice and opportunity to continue going deeper have helped. I heard it explained that the slow processing speed with high IQ combo is due to the deep processing of so much input.

another bullsh*t fairytale explanation 😆

[Anonymous]

My DD with a similar profile did well enough, with some medication starting her junior year of HS, to get into and do well at UVA.

[Anonymous]

DC is at an office job where he takes time, but he knows exactly what he's doing and when he finishes a project, his supervisor is always happy with DC's work.

[Anonymous]

Processing speed really only matters if it's really low- like 12th percentile and below. Where I've seen it matter more is if a child has another behavioral health problem like Autism and they get very frustrated if their motor output doesn't match their ideas- they usually benefit more from things like speech to text or learning to type. That being said, 25th percentile processing speed really should not impact your child in a hugely meaningful way, and I agree with the poster who mentioned that it's not the most consistent/coherent piece of data.