Tag: learning issues

Great Book on Processing Speed

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning, Processing Speed, working memory

 

 

 

Bright Kids Who Can’t Keep Up by Ellen Braaten, Ph.D. and Brian Willoughby, Ph.D. (2014) is the first book I have found that gives both an overview of processing speed and advice to help parents and schools provide intervention. The authors have done a great job of explaining a very complex issue. Here are excerpts from the book that I think can help you gain an understanding of processing speed. I highly recommend the book.

 

 

Processing Speed Overview

In general processing speed involves the amount of time it takes a person to perform one or more of the following functions:

  1. Perceive information
    1. This can be to any of the senses, but is usually through visual and auditory
  2. Process information
  3. Formulate or enact a response.

* Simply put processing speed can be defined as how long it takes to get stuff done.

Kids and adults who are slower at these types of processing tasks are sometimes assumed to be lacking in intelligence, but this really isn’t the case. However, processing speed does interact with other areas of cognitive functioning by negatively impacting the ability to quickly come up with an answer, retrieve information from long-­‐term memory, and remember what you’re supposed to be doing at a given time. In other words, it’s possible that someone with slow processing speed will, as a result, be impaired in other areas of thinking and may even score lower on tests of intelligence.

How do I know if my child has a slow processing speed?

To assess processing speed deficits a formal assessment by professional is recommended. Many times students with processing speed issues will also demonstrate signs of another underlying problem, the most common being attention problems. The second largest category of children with processing speed deficits are those with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, nonverbal learning disabilities, language-­‐based learning disabilities, and autism spectrum disorders (including pervasive developmental disorder and Asperger’s syndrome). Other children may suffer more transient processing speed deficits with psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, or psychosocial stressors. A final category of children with processing issues are those who don’t fall into any of these categories but who perform poorly on time tests as compared to untimed tests. This category of children has are sometimes diagnosed with something called a “ learning disorder, not otherwise specified”. More recent terminology refers to it as a learning disability with this specific impairment in reading, writing or math fluency.

Types of processing speed

Processing speed isn’t a one-­‐dimensional concept. It’s not just how fast we see, how fast we write, or how fast we can process what we heard; it’s really a combination of all those factors. In fact processing speed deficits can be observed in visual processing, verbal processing, and motor speed. Problems in one or more of these areas can manifest in problems with academic fluency and general difficulties.

 

Will my child ever get any faster?

 

  1. Changes in processing speed are likely related to the impact of practice and experience. Research on processing speed has shown that the more time someone repeats the task, the more automatic and thus quicker the response becomes.
  1. The speed increases are also due to structural changes in the brain that happen naturally as it develops during childhood.

 

These two factors, experience and growth, are crucial to increasing processing speed during the childhood and adolescent years.

 

Processing Speed and Executive Functioning

 

Processing speed is considered an important executive function skill. Executive function skills allow us to successfully use our intelligence and problem-­solving abilities. These skills include abilities such as goal setting, planning, organizing, prioritizing, remembering information in working memory, monitoring our behavior, and shifting back and forth between different tasks are typically. Imagine that executive function is the car and processing speed is the engine. Having a faster engine or more powerful engine means the car can go faster, good executive function depends on the quality of the engine. More efficient engines allow the car to function at a higher level of efficacy.

 

Is processing speed just another term for reaction time?

 

The answer is no. Reaction time is part of processing speed. Processing speed also includes how quickly a child can integrate new information, retrieve information from memory, and perform certain tasks. It can be visual, verbal, motoric, or a combination of all three; and it can be content specific in reading, writing, motor, or math. Although a child with slow processing speed will often show problems across a number of areas.

 

Practical strategies for accommodating slow processing speed at school

 

  • Advocate for extra time
  • Teach time management skills
  • Keep an extra set a textbook at home
  • Take advantage of technology is a timesaver
    • Use of the computer
  • Ask for examples of completed homework for your child to review before doing a assignment
  • Make sure assignments are clearly structured and uncluttered
    • Clear beginning and end points
    • No redundancy: allow students to only do enough problems to demonstrate that they understand the concepts rather than do many practice problems after they understand.
    • Simple uncluttered visuals
  • Avoid multitasking
    • Ask for alternatives to notetaking during lectures: getting notes in advance, getting an outline, getting an auto recording

 

Processing speed in social relationships

 

There is a big association between processing speed and social skills. Regardless of any diagnosis, children with slow processing speed are at greater risk for social deficits. They have higher rates of social and language delays in early childhood. We also found that nearly half of children with slow processing speed had some problem with communication in early childhood i.e. being slow to talk. This combination of slow processing speed and language delays is a recipe for social problems at an early age. The most frequently reported problems were difficulties with social communication, social awareness, and social cognition. These problems included things such as difficulty spontaneously complementing others, problems quickly picking up on social cues from peers, and a reluctance to join group activities.

 

How does slow processing speed affect the child’s friendships?

 

  • Children with slow processing speed take longer to pick up on social cues in general, thus missing the point of the social exchange
  • Interactions can seem stilted or awkward because it takes them a long time to figure out a response
  • They lose track of what’s happening during pretend player games, causing their peers to become frustrated with them
  • They are disorganized in relating stories are reporting events, causing peers to lose interest in what they are
  • Reactions to jokes and sarcasm can be just a few seconds behind, which can make them seem a bit off to their peers
  • Slow work performance makes it difficult when working with a group and on group assignments

Provide support for organization and communication

In addition to general interventions, kids with slow processing speed often need help organizing their thoughts so they can communicate better. They frequently have difficulty expressing themselves clearly and concisely and may make comments that are poorly organized and sequenced. Their frequent problems with quick word retrieval and verbal organization cause them to talk around the subject and make it difficult for the listener to know what they’re trying to say.

Read the book to learn more about processing speed. I found the information to be thoughtful, relevant and easy to understand. The area of processing speed and how it is impacting students in the classroom needs to given more attention.

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Working Memory and Processing Speed

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning differences, Processing Speed, working memory

 

Working memory skills are used for all learning tasks. A child with weak working memory skills has to work harder than other students to keep information in mind, as rather than being able to both hold and process the information, the child is working hard just to hold the information. Many students with weak working memory skills lose new information before it can be processed, making learning difficult. When a child also has a slow processing speed, it becomes even harder to hold on tothe new information before it is lost.

My favorite theory of working memory is by Baddeley and Hitch (1974). They created a multicomponent model of working memory. This theory describes two “slave systems” for short-term storage of information, and a “central executive” which integrates and coordinates the slave systems. The slave systems include the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baddeley%27s_model_of_working_memory

The phonological loop stores phonological information (that is, the sound of language). The visuo-spatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial information. The important information presented by the current theories is that working memory can be strengthened with mental training. That is why a program like Cogmed can be effective for people with working memory weakness. However, in addition to building working memory skills, students need to learn metacognitive strategies to help them learn how to learn. Students who have weak working memory skills usually also have poor executive functioning skills, using metacognitive strategies can help build executive functioning skills. Here is a link to an article I wrote about metacognitive strategies.http://bitsofwisdomforall.com/2012/02/05/metacognition-helps-build-self-regulation-and-executive-functioning-skills/
REPLY

Classroom Recommendations and Accommodations:

For students with Weak Working Memory Skills

  • Help students organize the information they hear in meaningful ways, including chunking the information into shorter steps or connecting new information with previously learned information.
  • Preview new concepts with students so they know what to expect – this will decrease stress and help with attention and engagement in the classroom.

For students with Weak Executive Function/Memory Skills/Processing Speed

  • Build strategies to help students analyze, prioritize, and execute specific steps in a given assignment.
  • Encourage students to think through responses and take their time; many students with processing speed issues develop a compensatory strategy to rush through in order to finish work in time; these students would benefit from slowing down to process the information more deeply.
  • Teach students to stop and read directions carefully prior to starting a task.
  • Break down tasks and follow the order-checking work along the way.
  • Build memory skills by building associations to preexisting knowledge.
  • Rehearse new information to help encode it.
  • Encourage students to visualize what they are going to do before they begin a task.
  • Teach students strategies to increase engagement such as use of reminders (which can be set on devices such as the iPhone) to help build attention, awareness, structure and independent work habits.
  • Teach students to use self-talk to organize learning and performance strategies and to focus attention on tasks.
  • Teach students strategies to help recall information, such as PAR:
    • P= Picture it.
      A= Associate it
      R= Review it.

For students with Weak Visual-Perceptual Strategies

  • Use of graphic organizers to depict information visually and increase retention of ideas.
  • Note-taking techniques that will present and summarize heard information visually.
  • Exercises to sharpen the ability to attend to visual detail and to express similarities and differences between images.

For students with Weak Processing Speed/ fine motor skills

  • Allow extra time for tests, usually time and a half.
  • Provide extra time for students to complete in-class assignments.
  • Train students in time management techniques to become aware of the time that tasks take.
  • Teach typing skills to enable students to type as fast as they think.
  • Allow students to use the computer for all writing tasks.

For students with Weak Organization of Language

  • Students may have excellent ideas but have difficulty organizing their thoughts. Building pre-writing will help them express their ideas more clearly.
  • Review of writing formats (Narrative, Expository, Descriptive, Compare/Contrast, Persuasive) would facilitate and structure written expression.
  • Reinforce the writing process for students in a systematic manner (Brainstorming or clustering, writing, editing). The Inspiration Program is a creative computer tool that helps students brainstorm and organize their ideas before writing.

For students with Weak Reading Comprehension Skills

  • The SQ3R approach is recommended as an approach to studying information from text books
  • Teach students to preview reading material
    prior to class to ensure they are able to follow along during class time
  • Teach students to take notes at the end of each chapter of books they read. This will not only aid comprehension but assist in studying or finding information quickly when writing an essay
  • Pull out keywords and main ideas while reading to help put what students are learning into context

Hopefully students’ academic achievement will improve as they build strategies to help overcome areas of challenge. Building the student’s ability, and developing strategies to understand directions is the first step to helping students start tasks. Teaching how to break down and organize the steps to complete tasks will allow students to finish the tasks they start. As these skills are developed, it is hoped that students will be able to complete tasks in a timely manner, thereby increasing their processing speed.

 

 

 

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“I want to be like him!”

ADHD, Dyslexia, Executive Functioning, Flexible Thinking, Learning differences, Math, Processing Speed, Reading, Visual Processing, Writing

 

Bryce wants to be like his friend who is excellent at soccer, can memorize anything quickly and always has a witty comment to share. So he asked me to explain how his brain works and what he can do to be more like his friend. We discussed his strengths and weaknesses and how they affect his processing of information. In my explanation to Bryce I realized that he is not as worried about his academic levels as he is about his ability to interact with his friends. The same processing difficulties he is having learning new information in the classroom are hindering him in his social interactions.

Helping Bryce process information quickly will make all learning and social interactions easier for him. Once the brain is smoothly processing new input; social interactions along with reading, writing, and math skills will be mastered more easily.

Many students come to the K&M Center with diagnoses of a processing disorder, a developmental delay, dyslexia, processing speed issues, ADHD, executive functioning disorder, dysgraphia, language processing issues, and auditory processing issues. Each diagnosis identifies a difficulty in absorbing new information, effectively storing information and/or retrieving the desired information efficiently. The question changes from, “ How do I teach a child to read?” to “What neuro-pathways need to be developed so this child can read fluently?”

How do we build new neuro-pathways? Memory and learning are related but different and it is important to understand their relationship. Memory is dependent on learning because memory takes learned information and stores it so it can be retrieved at a later time. Learning is dependent on memory because the stored information in memory provides the framework used to create associations and inferences to further learning and strengthen memory.

The Process of Creating New Neuro-pathways:

  • The memory/learning process starts with perception and attention, which cause neurons to fire.
  • Once the neurons fire a trace memory is created and the consolidation or stabilizing of a memory begins.
    • This is considered the encoding or storage of information.
    • During this process synapses increase in strength and number.
  • When a group of neurons frequently fire together they form a pathway and the brain “re-wires” itself rearranging its organization.
    • These neural pathways are what make learning possible.

The brain is designed to process information along the path of least resistance. Pathways that are frequently used become stronger and faster, so information that is learned and practiced allows that information to be retrieved more quickly.

Frequent use of neurons builds quick, strong neural pathways. Educating students with learning disabilities requires finding activities that stimulate the desired neurons to develop new pathways. Finding the right activities for each student is the key to successful learning.

How frequently the pathways need to be stimulated is not clear. Most research indicates that intensive intervention requires 60 hours, with daily sessions.

Bryce has a unique and wonderful brain. In our discussion we talked about how every person has strengths and weaknesses that make them valuable. Bryce wants to learn and he is willing to do the work, therefore his brain will continue to build new neural pathways that will help him in his social interactions. We also discussed that he will most likely never be exactly like his friend and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Learning to accept ourselves, while continuing to improve ourselves is what makes life interesting.

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Executive Functioning Workbook

Executive Functioning

Here is a video showing what our Executive Functioning Workbook can do. You can find out more about executive functioning and take a free executive functioning quiz  at www.executivefunctioning.com

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Slow Processing Speed…is it due to weak motor skills, weak auditory processing skills or weak executive function skills?

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning, Processing Speed, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing


 

Slow processing speed can be due to more than just weak motor skills. Sarah’s experience highlights some of the more complex factors that should be considered for a child with slow processing speed.

Sarah is a diligent, athletic and caring 15-year-old girl. Sarah has always done well in school, but not without support. When Sarah entered ninth grade at her new high school her study skills deteriorated and she began to have trouble completing her homework and turning it in. In spite of Sarah’s best intentions she was not able to pull up her grades and complete her work. Based on recommendations from her school Sarah was evaluated to see if any learning issues were hindering her progress. The results of the evaluation demonstrated that while Sarah has an overall cognitive potential in the average range, her Processing Speed Index was significantly below her Verbal Comprehension and Working Memory Index scores.

The findings from Sarah’s evaluation indicate that her processing speed deficit is due to her difficulty with visual discrimination, auditory processing, and weak executive functioning skills. While inattentive ADHD was not completely ruled out, the examiners felt that Sarah’s main area of challenge was in the area of executive functioning rather than ADHD. Observation of Sarah during testing demonstrated her difficulty with task initiation. Sarah’s auditory processing weakness resulted in a difficulty understanding directions. Without a complete understanding of directions Sarah often did not know what she was expected to do on the tasks presented. Sarah’s response to not fully understanding the directions given to her, was to stop and try to figure out what she was supposed to do before she began working. This delay significantly impacted the time that it took her to complete the tasks. In addition, without a full understanding of directions Sara often did not complete the tasks fully.

 Sarah’s challenge with executive functioning skills was evident in her difficulty starting tasks, as well as her difficulty organizing her thoughts and language as she listened to instructions. The combination of weak auditory processing skills along with weak organization and problem solving skills made it extremely difficult for Sarah to begin a new task.

 Sarah’s fine motor skills, reading skills and language skills were in the average range. Her slow processing speed affected her performance on writing and math tasks. In addition, Sarah needed extra time for reading comprehension tasks due to the complex language and organization processing required to comprehend the material.

 Recommendations to help students like Sarah

Classroom Recommendations and Accommodations

  • The following recommendations are suggested for use in the classroom:
    • Students will benefit from cueing so they know what to expect – check in with them periodically and preview what is to come.
    • Help students organize the information they hear in meaningful ways, including chunking the information into shorter steps or connecting new information with previously learned information.
    • Preview new concepts with students so they know what to expect – this will decrease stress and help with attention and engagement in the classroom.

 

Executive Function/Memory Skills

  • Build strategies to help students analyze, prioritize, and execute specific steps in a given assignment.
  • Encourage students to think through responses and take their time; many students with processing speed issues develop a compensatory strategy to rush through in order to finish work in time; these students would benefit from slowing down to process the information more deeply.
  • Teach students to stop and read directions carefully prior to starting a task.
  • Break down tasks and follow the order-checking work along the way.
  • Build memory skills by building associations to preexisting knowledge.
  • Rehearse new information to help encode it.
  • Encourage students to visualize what they are going to do before they begin a task.
  • Teach students strategies to increase engagement such as use of reminders (which can be set on devices such as the iPhone) to help build attention, awareness, structure and independent work habits.
  • Teach students to use self-talk to organize learning and performance strategies and to focus attention on tasks.
  • Teach students strategies to help recall information, such as PAR:

P= Picture it.
A= Associate it
R= Review it.

 

  • Teach students study and memory strategies such as:

o   “Chunking” information into more manageable units

o   Rehearse new information to help encode it

o   Use notecards to review information

 

Visual-Perceptual Strategies

  • Use of graphic organizers to depict information visually and increase retention of ideas.
  • Note-taking techniques that will present and summarize heard information visually.
  • Exercises to sharpen the ability to attend to visual detail and to express similarities and differences between images.

 

Processing Speed/ fine motor skills

  • Allow extra time for tests, usually time and a half.
  • Provide extra time for students to complete in-class assignments.
  • Train students in time management techniques to become aware of the time that tasks take.
  • Teach typing skills to enable students to type as fast as they think.
  • Allow students to use the computer for all writing tasks.

 

Organization of language

  • Students may have excellent ideas but have difficulty organizing their thoughts. Building pre-writing will help them express their ideas more clearly.
  • Review of writing formats (Narrative, Expository, Descriptive, Compare/Contrast, Persuasive) would facilitate and structure written expression.
  • Reinforce the writing process for students in a systematic manner (Brainstorming or clustering, writing, editing). The Inspiration Program is a creative computer tool that helps students brainstorm and organize their ideas before writing.
  • Build students expressive lanuage skills by:

o   Building language categorization skills

o   Building rapid naming skills

o   Teaching them how to organize new information as they learn it to create associations they can use later to recall the information

o   Building flexible thinking skills

 

Increase reading comprehension

o   The SQ3R approach is recommended as an approach to studying information from text books

o   Teach students to preview reading material prior to class to ensure they are able to follow along during class time

o   Teach students to take notes at the end of each chapter of books they read. This will not only aid comprehension but assist in studying or finding information quickly when writing an essay

o   Pull out keywords and main ideas while reading to help put what students are learning into context

 

Hopefully Sarah’s academic achievement will improve as she builds strategies to help her overcome her areas of challenge. Building Sarah’s ability, and helping her develop strategies, to understand directions is the first step to helping her start tasks. Teaching Sarah how to break down and organize the steps to complete tasks will allow her to finish the tasks she starts. As Sarah develops these skills, it is hoped that she will be able to complete tasks in a timely manner, thereby increasing her processing speed.

 

 

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How DO you teach children with learning challenges?

ADHD, Behavioral Regulation, Dyslexia, Executive Functioning, Learning, Thinking Skills

Effective teaching requires a connection between the teacher and the student. This connection allows the teacher to modify and accelerate instruction as the student grows. Understanding the zone of proximal development helps the teacher understand what a child is capable of learning in any given session. The zone of proximal development is a way to visualize the learning zone.

Zone of Proxmial development

Any information above the zone is too difficult for the child to comprehend while anything below the zone she’s already mastered and no longer needs to work on. The tricky part about the zone is it is always moving. On days that the stars are aligned and the child is open and able to learn easily, the child will move swiftly through almost any appropriate material you give. However, if a child has a learning disability, or struggles with emotional regulation, the zone may be different for different subjects or on different days depending on what has happened already before the learning session. It is the role of the teacher to connect with the child at the beginning of the session to determine where the zone is for that day and then moving the child step-by-step though the material to take him to higher levels of comprehension.

Staying in the zone may sound simple, but it is the core of working with any child with a learning challenge. If instructors stay within a child’s zone of proximal development the child will learn. The challenge for the instructor is both staying within the zone and having the appropriate materials so that the child can connect to the new information. Having instructional tools that appropriately address the child’s area of deficits is critical to the learning process. The selection of materials can be a challenge in itself. One reading program may be great for certain kind of student and completely inappropriate for another student. This is where testing and evaluations are helpful. An educational professional can read the testing results and match the child’s areas of weaknesses to programs that develop those specific areas.

Another key component for creating a successful treatment plan is making it fun and motivating for the child. I believe all children want to learn and feel good about their intellectual capability. Our role as teachers, parents and educators is creating the right interventions which stay in the child learning zone, address the specific needs of the child, are fun and guide the child towards his or her potential.

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Language Organization Skills Blend Executive Functioning and Language Skills To Help Us Communicate Clearly

ADHD, Dyslexia, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing

Language serves many purposes. We use language to share our needs, our wants, our feelings and our thoughts. We use language to become apart of our shared community and socially interact with others. Weak language skills can make a person feel isolated and disconnected from those around him. In addition, he may miss out on learning opportunities. Language skills help build strong social connections and friendships as well as allow us to absorb information from teachers and the world around us.

Most people learn language organically as they develop from an infant to a toddler and beyond into adulthood. Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, breaks language into two parts. The first part involves creating a relationship between meaning and sound. What this refers to is that when we hear the sound “d-o-g” we think of a dog, an animal that has four legs and a tail. The average person performs this task quickly and automatically. Most people have learned 50,000 to 100,000 words, which they can quickly and efficiently process from sound to meaning.

The second part of language, according to Pinker, is ability to follow rules and combine words to communicate the thought we have to another person. We learn that “Sarah sat on a hat” has a different meaning than “ A hat sat on Sarah”. We learn that the order of the words is important and that we can get different meanings from the same words.

There is a growing population of students who are struggling with the organizational component of language. Many of these students have acquired the sound to meaning portion of language, but they get overwhelmed when they are required to organize their thoughts to effectively communicate their idea to others. I have begun to call this a “Language Organization Deficit.”

Many of the students who experience this difficulty have a background history of dyslexia, ADHD or language processing difficulty. Some students with Language Organization issues experience word-finding issues, but more commonly they have trouble quickly and clearly conveying information. They may talk around an idea without ever stating what they are trying to communicate. Students with Language organization issues can have trouble keeping up with the pace of the conversation, leading to difficulty in social situations. They also struggle with organizing their ideas to write a paper.

Students with a Language Organization weakness need to build both their language skills and their executive functioning skills.

  • Strengthening the phonological loop with rapid naming exercises can help speed up the word finding component of language.
  • Teaching the Executive Functioning skills of Stop, Think, Plan, Do can allow the student to slow down to organize his ideas.
  • Building a strong vocabulary base, learning antonyms and synonyms, will increase the choices a student has to express his ideas.
  • Learning to breakdown ideas into parts and then organize them can help a student start a task without feeling overwhelmed.
  • Building flexible thinking skills can help a child with language organization issues find new ways of thinking and organizing ideas.

Language and the ability to share thoughts is a basic skill. Those who struggle in this area miss many opportunities for development and friendships. I hope that looking at and considering the organizational component of language can help more students effectively and fluently communicate their thoughts and feelings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Building Executive Functioning Skills May Be The Best Intervention For Increasing Processing Speed.

Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Processing Speed, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing

 

Processing speed is becoming a stumbling block for many students. The number of students who are requesting extra time on tests has increased tremendously over the years. What does it mean to have a processing speed dysfunction?  The case studies below are examples of how processing speed issues can vary from student to student.

  • Don is a quiet shy boy who loves skateboarding and hanging out with his family. He is sweet and everyone likes him, however he has no close friends. Don does not initiate conversations or join in conversations with friends at school, which keeps him from being part of the “group”.  Don moves at his own pace and cannot be rushed. Don’s slow processing is global. He is slow moving (except on a skateboard!), slow reading and writing, slow to take in verbal information and to respond verbally to questions.  Don can now read and write at grade level, but his reading and writing fluency are slow. Don continues to have difficulty finding the right words to express his ideas and still would rather sit back and watch a group than join in. Don needs extra time to take in, process and organize his ideas before responding regardless of the type of task presented. 
  • Sara is 8 years year old and quick as quick can be to let you know her opinions. She is highly social and very verbal. Her reading and reading comprehension skills are strong. Sara struggles with slowing down when she is writing. Her handwriting skills are poor and her spelling is weak. She makes careless errors on math problems, which causes her to lose points and get low grades. When asked to write for school Sara quickly becomes upset. Homework is a stressful and prolonged activity. Sara’s fine motor skills are weak and she hates writing. Her weakness in handwriting and organizing her thoughts cause her to avoid writing and she often turns in incomplete work. Sara needs extra time to allow her to stop and think, organize her thoughts and narrow them down in to a manageable amount of information to write down. She also needs extra time to allow her to slowly and carefully write the words on paper.
  • Alex has been diagnosed with a Nonverbal Learning Disability (NLD). One of the main components of NLD is a lack of organizational skills. This means that Alex has a hard time putting all the pieces of information he gathers together to allow him to come to a meaningful conclusion. Breaking down instructions in order to follow them is a challenge, so Alex often just guesses at what he is supposed to do based on pictures or looking at what other are doing. Alex needs extra time to circle and highlight the important information in texts and worksheets so that he can focus on the most important part. He also needs extra time to contemplate the information and come to meaningful conclusion.

Each of these children struggle with processing speed, but the cause of their struggle is different. Weak fine motor skills and/or organizational skills are common factors in processing speed issues. While for many students the fine motor skills are a chief cause of frustration, I am beginning to consider weak executive functioning skills a key factor affecting processing speed.

Young children can work to improve their fine motor skills and therefore increase their processing speed, if that is the main cause of the processing speed deficit. However, for older children and those whose processing speed deficit is cognitively based, building executive functioning skills will be the best intervention for increasing processing speed.

I invite you to take our free executive functioning quiz and find out what skills are strong, and which are weak for you or your child.

Here is a list of Executive Functioning skills:

Initiation

•

 starting work

Inhibition

•

 stopping off-task behavior

Shift

•

 moving from one activity to another

Working Memory

•

 remembering information for immediate use

Planning

•

 setting goals and the steps to accomplish them

Organizing Materials

•

 tracking items in work spaces

Time Management

•

 allotting appropriate time for each task

Monitoring

•

 judging the quality and pace of work

Emotional Control

•

 regulating stress and distractibility

For many of the students I see with a processing speed issue, the executive functioning skills of initiate, shift, plan, time management and emotional control are difficult for them. I consider the ability to shift as the most important skill to develop. If a child gets stuck on an idea and can’t let go of it to consider a new idea, nothing can change. If a child gets frustrated and shuts down he can’t find solution to the problem, rather he becomes overwhelmed and defeated. Many students with this profile need to learn new ways to approach tasks so that they can hone in on the most important part. To help them save time and therefore speed up, these students can learn new organization skills that will help them start and finish work in a timely manner. However, they need to be flexible thinkers to do this.

For students with this profile I suggest they build flexible thinking skills first and then organization skills. You can read my blog article on building flexible thinking skills to learn more. I also created The Flexible Thinking Workbook to help students build these very important skills.

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How Does A Low Processing Speed Score Affect My Child?

Executive Functioning, Learning, Processing Speed, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing

Question: My 16 year old son has just had an evaluation and he was given the following scores on the test: 
 PRI 132, VCI 130, WMI 110, PSI 76
. I don’t understand how exactly this affects him, though I do notice he is a bit slow on some activities. How does the combination of the factors above translate into his abilities?

My son also can be difficult to deal with. He often does not like to work on any work assigned to him (It’s difficult to get him to do homework), which causes him to sometimes not hand in homework assignments. He is also quite disorganized, and procrastinates often. Socially, he is withdrawn and shy, even with people he knows.  He does have a few friends, and he can be lively around them. I wouldn’t say he has any deficits in communication, as he can still communicate well, and I think he just does not prefer to communicate or is shy.

 Answer: Your child has developed a strong vocabulary and is easily able to explain his understanding of socially based concepts. Your child’ ability to quickly and efficiently process auditory information, especially verbal information, is excellent. His ability to perform visual spatial problem solving is also very strong.

However, while your child demonstrates well-developed cognitive skills his ability to process information at the level his reasoning skills suggest is compromised by several factors present in testing. First, your child’s ability to read and synthesize material in a timely manner may be affected by his weakness in visual-discrimination and processing speed. His weak processing speed impacts his ability to process visual information as quickly as his strong cognitive skills suggest. This can impact his ability to read, write and perform math problem quickly.

Taken together, the significant discrepancy  between your child’ Verbal Comprehension and his Processing Speed Indexes; along with the differences between Perceptual Organization and Working Memory Indexes and Processing Speed Index, reflects a need for extended time on academic tasks and tests. Therefore, it is recommended that your child be granted extended time on all assignments and tests, including standardized testing such as the SAT and ACT. Furthermore, Your child’s current profile confirms he has  a visual perceptual and visual motor processing deficit and accommodations are warranted to allow your child additional time, or a reduction in work on all academic tasks.

The issue of your son’s lack of desire to communicate could be due to many reasons. There is a great book out called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking 
by Susan Cain. This might be a good book for you to read to determine if your son is an introvert, which may explain his lack of interaction with people around him.

The issue of his disorganization and difficulty completing homework may be due to weak executive functioning skills. You can learn more about executive functioning at http://executivefunctioning.com.

RECOMMENDATIONS & ACCOMMODATIONS

• It is recommended that the results of his evaluation be shared with your child so he may understand his profile of strengths and weaknesses and can adjust his learning and study strategies accordingly.

• Based upon your child’s status as a student with a Learning Disability, he should be provided the following accommodations:

  • Extra time on tests (at least 50%)
  • Extended time (at least 50%) on all standardized tests including ACT, SAT and AP tests

Improve your child’s Working Memory, Attention and Executive Functioning Skills

• The CogMed program is recommended to build your child’s working memory, which will help support his attention processing.

• A program designed to improve your child’s executive functioning skills (such as the K & M Center Executive Functioning Program) is recommended.

• A program designed to increase your child’s cognitive flexibility is also recommended (such as the K & M Flexible Thinking Program)

• Teach your child to use self-talk to organize his learning and performance strategies and to focus his attention on tasks

• Build strategies to help your child analyze, prioritize, and execute specific steps in a given assignment

• Break down tasks and follows the order checking work along the way

• Teach strategies to increase engagement

Writing


• Encourage pre-writing activities such as brainstorming and outlining

• Use of Inspiration (Inspriation.com) and Dragon Speak Naturally (http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm) to help him organize his thoughts and share them.

• Re-Train the Brain (Retrainthebrain.com) can help fine motor skills to make writing easier.

Visual-Perceptual Strategies

• Use graphic organizers to depict information visually and increase his retention of ideas.

• Note-taking techniques that will present and summarize heard information visually.

• Practice exercises to sharpen his ability to attend to visual detail and to express similarities and differences between images.

Processing Speed

• Allow extra time for tests, usually time and a half

• Provide extra time for your child to complete in-class assignments

• Train your child in time management techniques to become aware of the time that tasks take.

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How to help your child succeed in middle school

ADHD, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences

Communication is the key to success in Middle School

Last week Mrs. Smith came to visit me and discuss her daughter, Sarah. Sarah is in seventh grade and has been struggling all year. Last year in sixth grade Sarah earned all A’s and B”s on her report card.  Sarah has a history of doing well in school. At the beginning of seventh grade Sarah began experiencing difficulty in a class or two, but she promised her mother that she would work harder and handle it. All year long Sarah promised her mother that she would do better. However, Sarah was not able to take control of her schoolwork and pull up her grades.

Teacher comments on Sarah’s report cards consistently stated that she was missing homework and doing poorly on tests. Sarah’s mother trusted her because Sarah had always done well in school. Mrs. Smith did not realize until too late that Sarah needed some academic support to help her to well in seventh-grade.

This story is important. The transition between elementary school and middle school can place an extraordinary load on a child’s organizational, planning and follow-through skills. Many students have not developed, or needed, executive functioning skills prior to middle school. The tragedy of this is when you have a strong student like Sarah who suddenly fails three classes.

It is important for parents to realize what they need to do to help their children succeed in middle school. I wish that Sarah’s mother had come to us in October or November of last year and we could have set up a plan to help her get her work done and turned in on time.

Communication is the key to success.

The communication needs to be between the teachers, the parents and the child. This sounds like a simple task, but as many middle school parents know it is not. If your child is at a school where teachers have an online homework program, that they actually keep up to date, then it is important for parents and students to check that online tool and make sure the child knows what needs to be done and when it needs to be turned in.

Many middle school teachers find it difficult to keep these online homework sites updated.  Without the online homework check it can become a challenge for parents to know what assignments their child has. So what can you do?

  •  Have a meeting with the teacher
  • Find a friend who is a good note taker and is willing to help update your child on what is due
  • Have your child take a picture of the assignments listed on the board
  •  Request that the school give you weekly updates on unfinished assignments and outstanding homework
  • Check in with your child every night, go through the notebook and planner to help them get organized.
  •  Create a homework calendar where weekly and monthly assignments are written down
  • Understand that you are teaching your child the steps to success and that this is a process that will take time.
  •  Don’t wait more than a month if your child begins to struggle in school
  • Ask for help and find a system that works for your family

Middle school is a very exciting and trying time as your child goes through developmental growth, both mentally and physically. It is a time when children require more independence, however they are not always ready for parents to step back completely. This is the time period where parents transition from teacher to coach, guiding their children to develop the skills that they need to succeed.

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