What’s school like for slow processing speed, but above average intelligence
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| ^^to clarify, his office job is a summer internship, but the challenge is still there. |
Anonymous
| All processing speed means is that under a 2 minute timed condition, your child was able to complete x number of rote items. It's also just a measure of how focused they were, how seriously they took the task, whether they were tired, etc. I wouldn't take it too seriously. |
Anonymous
And if your child has any motor skills issues, the score looks artificially low, at least as it corresponds to cognitive strengths. |
Anonymous
| My DD is similar. 99 percentile in verbal comprehension and 10th percentile in processing speed. We did not get the ADHD diagnosis until age 16 though, so medicating for that earlier may have helped. My DD can handle the intellectual rigor of honors classes but gets easily overwhelmed with the amount of information she has to process which causes a lot of anxiety. It became more pronounced as she got older - later middle school is when it became particularly challenging and we looked at alternative schooling options. We were never able to find the balance of a school that could challenge her intellectually but also keep her from being overwhelmed. Maybe those are mutually exclusive. She is currently in community college and I expect will transfer to a 4 year college, but despite high stats, we will look for a mid-range school and a reduced schedule to see if that works. Stay flexible is my best advice. |
Anonymous
My son is the same. He had an IEP at school with 50% then 100% extra time. He is in college now with 100% extra time, which I'm told is rare. Productivity at work will be a problem. He has to target workplaces that prioritize quality of work over quantity. With his high IQ, he relishes intellectually complex tasks... but he's going to take ages to do it. One other very important point. With ADHD, which is a dysregulation of attention, people are able to hyperfocus on preferred tasks. So I've been telling my son to work in his area of interest, otherwise there's no hope he'll be productive. He works faster when he's interested. School is difficult in that regard, since students are asked to do well in all subject areas. |
Anonymous
| Please, OP, don't put so much stock in this that you lose your expectations for your child! If you plan to medicate for the ADHD, the processing speed will probably improve. |
Anonymous
It usually doesn't improve it by much, PP. Some of the low processing speed is due to distraction, and meds will improve that part of it. But processing speed is usually a separate, even though often comorbid, issue to ADHD. We joke that my son wouldn't get out of a burning building: it's like he can't speed up his movements even when he wants to. The brain doesn't produce the right signals to his muscles. The morning routine takes a set amount of time, and if the slightest issue arises, he's late to school or work, because he cannot adjust like normal people. Like he can't tie his shoelaces quicker: it always takes him the same amount of time. He can't rush going to the bathroom. He can't pack his bag quicker than how he normally packs a bag. It's hard to explain, even though I've been watching him do this for 19 years. Normal people have an accordeon ability to rush certain movements under duress. He doesn't. |
Anonymous
My son has a very similar profile. 3rd percentile for processing speed, 98th percentile and above for all those others. I was told from the age of 5 on, when this profile was discovered, that it would be very hard. And it was. He is quite intelligent--no mere mortal is how one tester have described him--but struggled terribly all through school. He could do very well in honors and advanced classes in humanities, as long as he was managing his time and using the right tools to study--repeating back, etc. And failed miserably in most math classes. He is now a senior finance major in college, did horribly in all business classes that have anything to do with numbers, but wonderfully in all the liberal arts type classes and decided to double-major in Philosophy. OP: your child's profile will not be as challenging. 25th perecentile is not that low and the gap between all the tests isn't as large. I was told that it's the gap that makes life so challenging. I would cement really good study practices from a very young age. My DD has a profile more like your daughter's and she is very good at managing her time, using good study skills, and meeting with teachers--I cannot emphasize that enough. As she gets into high school, meeting with teachers, all the time, is huge. Don't forget that. Your DD seems like she has a lot of good strengths, so just shore those up and she'll do great! |
Anonymous
If it's any consolation, my son has that same profile. He was at a rigorous private who only permitted him to take a few advanced classes. Throughout school, teachers only ever focused on his issues and not his tremendous strengths, which was very frustrating. Fast forward, he did get into a "prestigious" university, through connections, and it hasn't been great. I think if he had chosen to be around peers that didn't continue to make him feel like he's incapable, he could be doing much better. Being surrounded for another four years with these incredibly high achievers who make getting As look so easy can be very demoralizing. I know it will be hard to convince your son of that, but my son wishes he had gone to school with a wider range of students. Your son will find his place and thrive I bet! |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
Great job building that resiliency and getting them to good college that won’t break the bank. |
Anonymous
NP. My DD is medicated for ADHD, and processing speed did not improve. |
Anonymous
| Not much you can do for improving processing speed. Focus on building workarounds and work habits. It will make a difference. |
Anonymous
And if your child is a perfectionist and is overly careful in order to be 100% accurate processing speed might be lower because the child fir 2 minutes is coding accurately and making sure if matches or no matches in symbol search for 2 minutes. A better indicator for how your schooling is going to be impacted is to interpret processing speed with the sentence writing fluency tasks in the wjiv academics. You have 5 minutes to look at a picture and three words are given. You write a simple sentence like the picture is of a boy building a sand castle and the words are sand, castle, boy. So you write anything with those three words like The boy is building a sand castle. Or the boy makes a sand castle. That’s at least a 5 minute task and shows how quickly you can write. If you score in the 25th percentile in processing speed but sentence writing fluency is higher like the 75th percentile rank then there most likely isn’t a problem. But if your processing speed is in the 25th percentile rank and sentence writing fluency is in the 5th percentile rank, you are really going to need extra time doing class work and homework. |
Anonymous
|
Anyone have coaches or tutors or other specialists who worked with kids in this category?
Especially to the poster who wrote "school's a blur, have to work out everything at home." That's exactly where we are! |