Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No opinion on quarter vs semester for ADHD but probably both are fine.

But as a private practice physician, I will say that someone with slow processing speed will not thrive as a physician and will burn out before they even become a doctor. Physicians work at top speed all day long, literally as fast as we can, staying laser focused and sharp, and also smiling and compassionate with the patient. No set schedule in terms of eating or using the bathroom - it happens when there is a minute, no scheduled lunch break or other breaks. There are no accommodation in residency or working life for slow processing speeds.

I have a kid with super fast processing speed who would do great in medicine if they choose it.

I have another kid with slow processing speed (who does not get accommodations because I want kid to adapt to the real world - getting straight A's) and I would not let this kid pursue an MD. Something else in healthcare, maybe, but wouldn't keep up in med school.

In medicine, you have to move and think as fast as you can literally all day long for decades. And I love that about the field because I am super highly functioning, and anything less would bore me. Average processing speed or slow just won't be the right fit.

Do your kid a favor and guide them into another profession. If you're not in medicine, you have no idea how fast our minds work... not many other professions have to think so fast and remember so much information.

Good luck!

This is the physician god complex. I used to work with physicians in late career who were phoning it in. Trust me, there are plenty of other careers that require quick thinking, complex problem solving, and strenuous effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No opinion on quarter vs semester for ADHD but probably both are fine.

But as a private practice physician, I will say that someone with slow processing speed will not thrive as a physician and will burn out before they even become a doctor. Physicians work at top speed all day long, literally as fast as we can, staying laser focused and sharp, and also smiling and compassionate with the patient. No set schedule in terms of eating or using the bathroom - it happens when there is a minute, no scheduled lunch break or other breaks. There are no accommodation in residency or working life for slow processing speeds.

I have a kid with super fast processing speed who would do great in medicine if they choose it.

I have another kid with slow processing speed (who does not get accommodations because I want kid to adapt to the real world - getting straight A's) and I would not let this kid pursue an MD. Something else in healthcare, maybe, but wouldn't keep up in med school.

In medicine, you have to move and think as fast as you can literally all day long for decades. And I love that about the field because I am super highly functioning, and anything less would bore me. Average processing speed or slow just won't be the right fit.

Do your kid a favor and guide them into another profession. If you're not in medicine, you have no idea how fast our minds work... not many other professions have to think so fast and remember so much information.

Good luck!

This is the physician god complex. I used to work with physicians in late career who were phoning it in. Trust me, there are plenty of other careers that require quick thinking, complex problem solving, and strenuous effort.

What? You mean physicians aren't the only people in the universe who have to work hard and have stressful work conditions?
Just kidding, but lord knows a physician's hubris. I often need to humble my husband!

[Anonymous]

Wow, people really don't understand what a physician's work is like. Just because you find it boring doesn't mean it's slow paced and that a slow processor would thrive.
There's a lot of pressure from employers and insurers to go really fast, yes, even pathologists.
Just because it's not patient-focused doesn't mean it's slow paced or you can take your time, ahem radiology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, people really don't understand what a physician's work is like. Just because you find it boring doesn't mean it's slow paced and that a slow processor would thrive.
There's a lot of pressure from employers and insurers to go really fast, yes, even pathologists.
Just because it's not patient-focused doesn't mean it's slow paced or you can take your time, ahem radiology.

Okay. This has nothing to do with adhd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No idea how true this is but I was once told that low processing speed can make a great radiologist, but not a great trauma ER doc. It may also depend on how high overall IQ is v low processing speed. Do you have numbers from a neuropsych?[/quote

Low processing speed would never survive radiology. A typical radiologist’s day involves looking at studies with hundreds of images at an average pace of 1 study every 5-10 minutes, being responsible to catch the 2 mm incidental nodule lest it come back in 5 years as a cancer, and keeping that pace for 8-10 hours at a stretch while maintaining your concentration despite multiple phone calls, pages and other interruptions. if you don’t have amazingly fast visual and analytical processing speed, you will drown.

[Anonymous]

You won’t get accommodations for extra time in residency, and patients aren’t going to care if you explain to them that you need extra time to answer their phone calls or put in their prescriptions because you have ADHD. And individual doctors do not have the power to decide to go slower and see fewer patients—that is dictated by the admins and hospital overlords. doctors are essentially like highly trained Amazon/factory workers nowadays—forced to work faster and faster to earn the same amount or less every year. I would pick a different field. maybe being a psychotherapist would be a better fit where one can have long conversations over time with a client if your DD has an interest in helping people and mental health. Or perhaps being a professor—where slower, but deep thinking has more value/impact.