What does your child’s low processing speed “look” like?

[Anonymous]

My DD is a rising 4th grader and presents with symptoms of ADHD-inattentive but actually has sleep apnea. She has low processing speed, problems with working memory, and weaknesses in sustained attention. Math is the subject she struggles with the most. She has a hard time memorizing math facts. Handwo is excellent. Good at reading but has some difficulty with remembering details when she has to respond to reading comprehension questions in writing bc it involves mental planning and organizing of details. She needs a lot more time on tests and assignments. She has a 504 plan that provides the right supports and is doing well in school.

[Anonymous]

Meant to say “handwriting” is excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Sigh. We have been living the nightmare of my son's low processing speed every since his birth 14 years ago, practically.
He has significant ADHD, and will soon be tested for high-functioning autism and possibly other disorders (anxiety?), because we fear there is something more going on here that impact his processing speed.

So far, we understand that he's slow because:
1. Of unchangeable, intrinsic slowness.
2. Inattention stemming from his ADHD, unless medicated.
3. Perfectionism, possibly linked to OCD/anxiety.
4. Poor understanding and prioritizing of tasks, possibly linked to autism.
5. Motor coordination issues and poor spatial awareness.

Result: he's in middle school and spends ALL his time doing his homework. He does not see friends. He loves video games but has little time for them. He takes more time than average to find things, he takes more time to eat, more time to dress, more time to tie his shoelaces. All this times accumulates and he is late to everything, because of course he always underestimates the time it takes to prepare and cannot time manage easily.

I am somewhat slow myself and so is my husband, but not nearly as bad. Our son probably got a double dose of low processing traits from us

As for your interesting question on how one can succeed with these traits: my husband got an MD and a PhD in a different country where you didn't have to be well-rounded, present a slew of extra-curriculars, etc. All you needed was to do well on the exams at every level. This is something we all do well in the family. However, we are concerned my son will not be able to go to a good college if they are looking for multitasking and soft skills. He's strong academically but doesn't do those!

Our daughter has dyspraxia, ADHD and autism and it's very hard to tease out what is really going on at any given time. We think visual processing issues too though visual processing is better than auditory. In our case, there are some language-based issues, motor ones and attention ones but so far it's been impossible to untangle these things to figure out what is causal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a rising 4th grader and presents with symptoms of ADHD-inattentive but actually has sleep apnea. She has low processing speed, problems with working memory, and weaknesses in sustained attention. Math is the subject she struggles with the most. She has a hard time memorizing math facts. Handwo is excellent. Good at reading but has some difficulty with remembering details when she has to respond to reading comprehension questions in writing bc it involves mental planning and organizing of details. She needs a lot more time on tests and assignments. She has a 504 plan that provides the right supports and is doing well in school.

What do they do when kids have sleep apnea? Do they make CPAP masks for kids or do they take out tonsils or something?

[Anonymous]

I have low processing speed along with some other LDs and I’ve had a successful and satisfying career. Obviously I was not diagnosed as a child, but this and other issues were discovered when I got a full psych assessment for accommodations for grad school (where I did great, btw).

I have all kind of coping mechanisms. For example, I take notes constantly because seeing things on paper helps me think them through, and allows me to go over convos multiple times.

While I wish I could have gotten accommodations earlier, I am glad I was never told I should see myself as limited or lesser. Because I’m not! Everybody has their quirks; some have labels and some do not, some are comforted disabilities and some are not, but everybody has something. It’s fine!

I did best in “sit and think” jobs, not “meet and discuss” jobs. but I’ve learned to handle the latter. I write down ideas before meetings, I print materials so I can reference them during the meeting, etc. it’s a little extra work, but the point is I can cope. I’m sure your DC can too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have low processing speed along with some other LDs and I’ve had a successful and satisfying career. Obviously I was not diagnosed as a child, but this and other issues were discovered when I got a full psych assessment for accommodations for grad school (where I did great, btw).

I have all kind of coping mechanisms. For example, I take notes constantly because seeing things on paper helps me think them through, and allows me to go over convos multiple times.

While I wish I could have gotten accommodations earlier, I am glad I was never told I should see myself as limited or lesser. Because I’m not! Everybody has their quirks; some have labels and some do not, some are comforted disabilities and some are not, but everybody has something. It’s fine!

I did best in “sit and think” jobs, not “meet and discuss” jobs. but I’ve learned to handle the latter. I write down ideas before meetings, I print materials so I can reference them during the meeting, etc. it’s a little extra work, but the point is I can cope. I’m sure your DC can too.

This is encouraging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a rising 4th grader and presents with symptoms of ADHD-inattentive but actually has sleep apnea. She has low processing speed, problems with working memory, and weaknesses in sustained attention. Math is the subject she struggles with the most. She has a hard time memorizing math facts. Handwo is excellent. Good at reading but has some difficulty with remembering details when she has to respond to reading comprehension questions in writing bc it involves mental planning and organizing of details. She needs a lot more time on tests and assignments. She has a 504 plan that provides the right supports and is doing well in school.

What do they do when kids have sleep apnea? Do they make CPAP masks for kids or do they take out tonsils or something?

Yes to both. Tonsil and adenoids removal is usually the first line of treatment. If surgery doesn’t improve it, kids can use a CPAP if sleep apnea is moderate to severe. Many kids will outgrow sleep apnea over time when their airways get bigger. Just depends on what is causing the breathing obstruction.

[Anonymous]

Adhd daughter 21, low processing speed. Also smart. Dropped out of good college after one semester, now working coffee shop going to CC part time, and grades all over the place in CC as well. My advice is when it comes to college, even with any supports they have, if they aren't doing great in high school - or not studying and turning stuff in - college won't go well. Not matter where.
She also has under achieving boyfriend, and few friends. The Adhd and the low processing speed always win over being smart.