Your Child’s Slow Processing Speed

How do you know that your child’s processing speed is slow? Understanding your child’s processing speed is critical to reducing stress at home and school, according to one mother’s experience.

Every task is an imaginary race that must be completed as quickly as possible. When my 10-year-old daughter gets bogged down in even the most trivial duties, it feels like a cruel twist of fate. It’s a struggle of the will to get out of bed every morning. Due to the fact that we are running late, I am frustrated and enraged. As a result of mismatches in processing speed, this sort of family conflict emerges in families.

If you’re rushing and your child is moving like a sloth, it’s hard not to yell. The two of you will be late to appointments and practices if you both procrastinate. Alternatively, if one child is extremely fast and the other is extremely sluggish, the speedy kid may resent having to wait for the slower ones.

Stress can be minimized both within and outside the home if you are aware of how you and your family members handle information and time, as well as how they make decisions.

Identifying and Addressing Possible Problems with Learning

Mismatches in processing speed can begin at home, but they are commonly worsened in school. Teachers aren’t educated to search for disparities in processing speed and may assume that the youngster isn’t intelligent because of this.

While slow processing speed and learning disabilities like dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or anxiety are not mutually exclusive, they frequently occur together. Roughly 60% of those with sluggish processing speed also have ADHD, and about 30% have dyslexia, according to experts. Trying to figure out if a child’s poor response time is due to nervousness or the other way around is challenging because it’s impossible to tell. Removing any time pressure and remaining calm even when their speed is frustrating is essential.

As a result of their inattentiveness and the need for extra time to process and respond, children with ADHD and slow processing speed face additional challenges. We must provide these children with various opportunities for multi-sensory exposure in order to best serve their needs.

More special education services and more time will be required if your child has dyslexia.

What can parents do to assist?

My daughter’s processing speed is much below the national average. For a long time, I didn’t believe her when I felt she ignored my cries to hurry up or finish a task. Time-outs and no electronic devices didn’t work.

I stopped berating her for taking longer than the rest of us once I realized she couldn’t speed up on her own. Her little brother is woken up 30 minutes earlier than she is. On our drive to dinner, I now look over the menu with her so that she has time to decide what to get. Her job switching was facilitated by the use of stopwatches.

To help their children cope with a sluggish processing speed, parents can do the following.

Tell your children what to expect from the beginning.

With practice, kids become more efficient at moving. The day’s itinerary can be shown on a calendar at your home. Take a look at it early in the day and give them time to transition between tasks. Every day, we post a daily to-do list on a whiteboard that my kid loves to cross out. In the event that your youngster is unable to read, you might use visuals to convey your message.

1. Make a point.

Rather than saying, “Go clean your room,” try using more precise words.

2. Consult with their professors.

The school may also be able to assist you. At the beginning of each school year, meet with your child’s teacher. Tell them how your youngster prefers to learn. IEPs and adjustments don’t guarantee that a new teacher will read the plan and understand how your child learns.

3. If you need assistance, seek it out.

If you or your youngster is having some problems, don’t be afraid to seek assistance. If you’re unable to organize your family’s calendar because you’re a clone of your sluggish youngster, you can outsource the job. To help their daughter stay on track and complete her assignments on time, this family sought out an executive functioning tutor.

4. Make the most of the unique skills and talents that each member of your family possesses.

Because he has a slower processing speed than I do, my husband is far more patient when it comes to assisting our kids with their homework. My kid is speedy, so when he helps his sister with tasks like brushing her teeth or getting ready for bed, we give him a prize.

It is important to notice and harness a child’s speed if you have one who is significantly faster than the rest of the family. Involve them in the process of learning and teaching others about new technology.

5. Positive thinking is the key to success.

In today’s fast-paced world, kids with high processing speeds are able to keep up with the demands of the world and are more likely to look for competition. The beauty of those with slower cognitive speeds is that they tend to live in the here and now. They’ll gravitate toward things that need them to think slower.

Meaningful articles you might like: The Causes of Speech Delay in Children, The Effects of Online Education on Young Learners, Potential COVID-19 Adverse Effects in Children