Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment processing speed

I think that a lot depends on your Pediatrician, and what specifically you are worried about. If you see other behaviors that suggest ADD or OCD (or Anxiety - that's a biggie!) then a pediatrician is great to talk to - but I would also bring specific examples of his behavior outside the testing situation. Some Peds love looking at WISC data, but I'll bet most would have less idea than you do what it all means.

The 2 questions I have for you are:
1) Do you think that he really does have slow processing speed, or do you think he scored average in those areas because of perfectionism or other personality aspects. What do you see in real life?

2) How is his working memory? If his PS seems to be affecting his learning or living, and his WM is strong, it might be worthwhile to teach him to compensate for his PS with his WM and work on training the WM, or at least doing an advertising campaign for it.


(My son - age 13- has an average PS (8 on coding!), but amazing WM so this is what we do. He also has been diagnosed with ADD and has recently started taking medication, which he just loves. I think what it does is allow his normal part of his brain to catch up a bit to his stronger parts. I'm really not so convinced that he is 'inattentive' as his will power seems really strong to me, as much as it takes so long to think the first thought that he misses the second thought. Or is that splitting hairs?)

Anyway - when you say average processing speed, check what the lowest subscore is - Average has a really huge spread, and 110 is a lot better than 90 when the rest of you is 140+. And remember, the subscores aren't meant to be looked at as microscopically as I am guilty of doing. I call it 'reading the tea leaves' to remind myself of this. If you son processes fast while playing games or in the car or isn't having trouble at school, then it may be 'an artifact' of the test instead of a feature of your kid!

Love and More Love,
Grinity

The" is he really slow processing/showing other signs question" - I'm just not sure. The wisc score is 103. His perfectionist issues come into it - he takes forever to decide exactly what he wants to write for instance when given a working title. Once he's made up his mind the work is excellent with perfect spelling, cursive handwriting (self-taught), and terrific detail. He's similar with lego creations and drawing - It has to be precisely as he envisions it should be, and usually eventually is. However, he's also really slow at getting moving generally - dressing, getting into the car etc. His WM score on the other hand is 144. Most of the time I think (and his teacher thinks), he has so much going on in that head of his, that is the reason he finds it hard to get into action. All your input is helping a lot, in my trying to figure this one out. Thanks
p.s. one more thing ... he's taken to 'writing in the air' with his finger lately, and he's doing it often. Ever come across this before?

Besides the entire last half of this post describing my DD9 to a tee (and she does not have a known PS issue, but we are trying to decide if we should get her tested for ADD), your P.S. describes me as a kid. I still find myself doing that at times, but I have vivid memories of doing this while growing up. I would even "write" what other people were saying while in a conversation. I have since learned that writing something down helps me remember it, so maybe that's why I do it sometimes without thinking. Now I often just visualize the words being written in the air near the person's head.

O.K. So I brought it all up with the pediatrician and I feel like I've opened up a whole can of worms, probably unnecessarily. It was so hard to find the balance between saying what's bothering me, and not blowing it out of proportion. I think I did the latter. The Dr. recommended DS to see a psychologist to be assessed for ASD and ADD, but only going on what I had to say, and now I feel awful. The Dr's now under the impression that DS has 'behavioral problems', and that really isn't the case. The whole basis of the ASD evaluation is that DS doesn't cooperate particularly well with his age peers (though not terribly), and that he is particularly smart in Math! (Many ASD kids are smart in Math so it could be a symptom!). The ADD I'm more willing to look in to, but I just wish I could take it all back now.

Oh, I'm sorry. This is such a tough course to plot, and I think most doctors assume that if we bring something up, it must be a medical problem. *sigh*

So what do you plan to do?

Thanks. The only thing I know for sure right now, is that I'm going to take things slowly and make sure the psychologist we end up with is REALLY experienced in dealing with gifted kids!