A Question About Processing Speed

[hsmom]

I know that in the past we had many questions and discussions about slow processing speed that our children seem to have problems with.

The question here starts out like this:


"A fellow educator called me the other day to talk about a tenth grader whose scores on the Wechsler IQ test (WISC-IV) just didn’t add up. He described the student as being a terrific young man who is verbal, curious, and social. Math was an area of strength, he was artistic, musical, and a fairly decent athlete; the kind of student who would add to the school community in many ways.


My colleague went on to say that on the WISC-IV the student’s scores were:


Verbal Comprehension 115, Perceptual Reasoning 123, Working Memory 109, and Processing Speed 83.

He wanted to know what would make the Processing Speed score so low, and how at risk this young man would be in a competitive private school. The evaluation did not provide this information and he needed some clarification and advice."


Here is a link to the answers that Caryl Frankenberger, Ed.M., gives:

www.falearningsolutions.com/a-question-about-processing-speed/

[healthy11]

Thank you for posting this. Ms. Frankenberger's response does seem quite thorough, and lists a number of possibilities to consider ~ hopefully, school personnel will also recognize that a single test and/or score on a test does not give the whole story.

[michellea]

Love her response!

BTW - I checked out her website and saw that she once taught at the Carroll School! Before my time - wish I could have met her!

[jisp]

The above post describes my son ...although the numbers and gaps between the numbers are different the basic profile is the same. The response is good but at least in my son's case the answer is not complete. Yes my son had anxiety and depression. He also had poor short term memory. But also his brain just works at a different pace. My son does not have a sluggish pace. He does not have ADHD and he was always highly motivated. He is just a deep thoughtful thinker who processes language particularly slowly. I suspect it is in his wiring. I would often ask him a question such as "Do you want ice cream in a cone or a cup?" It would be tempting to get angry at him for not responding right away, but instead I took to counting on my fingers to ten. Often he would respond by 7 or 8. But sometimes it was between 9 and 10.

My son had to learn how to learn given that is brain worked that way. And I am convinced as others were who worked with him that the slow In college small classes and classes that were video taped were a lifesaver. But also pre-learning where he could learn the vocabulary and language before a lecture helped a lot.

FYI if you met my son you might think of him as the "silent type". But then if you got to know him you would think of him as somebody who is funny and who can actually be quick witted. I know that doesn't seem to go together with the slow processing. And it is strange. But it is proof that when it comes to things such as processing speed and cognition it is not always possible to summarize the nuances in just one number. What is important for educators and parents to know is that the speed that a child responds is not necessarily an indication of their intelligence.

[michellea]

I've shared this presentation with parents and IEP TEAMs to help explain WM and Processing speed, how they work together, and ideas for facilitating learning, despite deficits in these areas. vbida.org/PDFs/WorkingMemoryProcessingSpeedClassroom.pdf

My son's WM is quite strong but processing is weak - especially when visual motor demands are in place. He is slow and steady with almost all he does. And when we are approaching a drive up window, I have to remind him to think about his order and be ready - it usually takes him awhile to make a decision and formulate his response. It could look like he is not paying attention - but it is not inattention at work - just the wheels turning and a latency in getting the words out.