My kid is the absolute last kid in her class to finish tests

[Anonymous]

My daughter has mild adhd, mild dyslexia and her processing soeed on her neuropsyche was 26th percentile. For these reasons, I expect her to need additional time for testing. That said, with the exception of the tests related to dyslexia, adhd and processing soeed, she scored above the 90th percentile. So she’s bright, but not a fast worker.

For the past two years, she hasn’t finished the I-ready tests, even with extra time. All of the other kids in her class compete the tests and she almost never does. She says that she tries her best but it just takes forever.

Amy thoughts on this? She’s finishing up 3rd grade and the tests are low stakes now, but will eventually be important. She loves school, is well behaved and understands all of the material. She’s great at math, a good writer (but poor speller) and her reading comprehension is decent, even with dyslexia. But she moves at a snail’s pace. Help! What can I do to improve this to help set her up for success by middle school. I understand she may always need extra time but I am hoping to make finishing her work a bit more feasible.

[Anonymous]

She needs extra time in her IEP and then don’t worry about it. Because she’s bright she is considering her answers before selecting one, but her slower processing speed makes that take a long time. You should just focus on her strengths and encourage her to use accommodations like extended time, and let her be her. Sometimes kids take a long time on tests because they are anxious about being perfect. That’s the nay thing I would worry about. She has a strong profile despite her challenges, thank goodness. Don’t spend a minute worrying about I-ready scores. That test is one of the worst things in education today, and I’ve been a teacher for a very long time.

[Anonymous]

Someone has to be the last kid. It sounds like she is more methodical and a deeper thinker.

As an anecdote, Both my kids were always the slowest in the swimming pool. They still did swim team to help make them better swimmers. They practiced daily, but declined to articulate in the meets - except as cheerleaders.

[Anonymous]

My kid (in college now) needs and gets 100% extra time instead of the more common 50% extra time, and she uses every moment of it. When your daughter takes high stakes multiple choice tests (SATs, etc), she'll need to learn shortcuts to shave a little time. Otherwise, make sure that she's getting the accommodations she needs (read aloud, voice to text, audiobooks, etc) and consider accommodations to save her time -- limited problems, work only until mastery. She still only has 24 hours a day and needs and deserves the same free time as everyone else, and if you're not careful, extra time eats all that up.

[Anonymous]

Does she need a quiet and distraction free environment too?

[Anonymous]

I work in a low performing school. I wish some of those kids would actually use all their time! So many of them click through the answers on tests just to get it done.

I think the best thing you can do is to tell her how proud you are with how hard she works. Give her plenty of opportunities to read, write, do fun science experiments and practical math over the summer. Limit screen time, which will increase adhd symptoms. Just know that each year it will improve and even if she doesn’t show her top potential when she’s in high school, she still has a bright future where she can hopefully find a job which she can master and go at her own needed pace.

[Anonymous]

Iready is supposed to be untimed. My kid has a similar profile but without the dyslexia. The iready math takes my kid forever and a day to finish but she does finish because the kids who take more than two class periods are allowed to go to another class to keep working on it over the next few days. She has faced pressure from teachers to try to reach a certain percentage completed each day but she is always allowed to finish, even if they are annoyed by it. You should ask why they are not letting her finish to completion.

Also, what seems to drive my DD crazy on the iready math diagnostic is the way it jumps around in topic and difficulty. That seems to be the real killer for her processing speed. I think she’d have a much easier time if it was linear or segmented by topic. I agree it’s not an amazing test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amy thoughts on this?

OP I work in the special ed space. My thoughts: many 3rd graders with slow processing also have ADHD that causes them to rush through these tests. As you might expect, their scores reflect it. Later on, many of them will be given stimulant meds, tutors, and EF coaches. All of these will help them slow down and attend. But for now, they are rushing through and your DD is not, so your DD probably thinks she's the slowest kid in her class. 26th %ile is by no means the slowest processing speed in many classrooms.

My point is that if I were you, my top priority would be to build her up emotionally, because she is probably discouraged. The older she gets, the more she'll look to her peers to judge what is "normal" so it's important to counteract this now, by helping her understand what to focus on (test strategies and understanding which tests are for what purpose) and what not to focus on (speed).

[Anonymous]

My now college student has processing speed in the 5th percentile. The amount of time it takes him to do things is unbelievable. And, it's tough on him knowing that others have such an easier time. Nothing at all has improved it. We got to the place where we had to teach him how to live with it because it's not going to get better.

[Anonymous]

My son's processing speed was measured at the 4th percentile, but his GAI subscore (the thinking portion of the IQ test) is well above average. In elementary school, he never finished anything. He had 50% extra time in his IEP, then in middle school, he was given 100% extra time (double time). He still has double time in college. We need to figure out a career path that values deep thought at a slow pace

He was also diagnosed with dysgraphia, dyscalculia, severe inattentive ADHD and ASD level 1.

[Anonymous]

I would imagine test taking for her is very stressful. I have a kid who is very smart but not as great of a standardized test taker. It is what it is. There is a methodology to taking standardized tests. How to reduce four potential answers down to two, and pick the right one for harder questions. Just be her biggest fan and let the teachers know that she needs more time. I wouldn't put much stock in these tests, personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My now college student has processing speed in the 5th percentile. The amount of time it takes him to do things is unbelievable. And, it's tough on him knowing that others have such an easier time. Nothing at all has improved it. We got to the place where we had to teach him how to live with it because it's not going to get better.

+1. I have a kid with a 5 pctile processing speed too. Now that he’s in middle school he spends a lot of his lunches and free periods just finishing classroom assignments and finishing tests. He has a 504 which gives him 50 pct extra time. I don’t think you can do much to change this and magically make them speedy. Just add some scaffolding around your kid to help on the subjects where she’s struggling.