Hi! I'm new here and have a 6-year-old who was just tested using the WISC-V. His GAI makes him eligible for gifted services in our district, which is why I had him assessed, but his processing speed was much lower than his other scores (<10th%) and depressed his FSIQ. I am close friends with a licensed child psychologist (lucky me!) who performed the test and did not seem concerned about his low processing speed, at least for now. He is finishing K and has done very well academically this year.
Basically, I have been googling everything I can find about this and am at a loss as to what I should do, if anything, because he has just about every potential reason for low processing speed there is, including:
*Poor fine motor skills (inherited from me--I had a very difficult time learning to write and have terrible handwriting).
*Strabismus/wandering eyes (mild and also inherited from me, but he is being conservatively treated for it and is reading well, so I wouldn't think this would be a big issue--it is apparently worse at far-vision than near-vision).
*General clumsiness/lack of coordination (also inherited from me--sorry kid. We are hypermobile, which can contribute to this).
*Very slow and methodical and similar to my husband in this. Husband is a STEM professional and was an excellent student, but he has complained that he would have done better on standardized tests if he'd had more time. (His SATs were still in top 1%, so please don't cry on his behalf.)
*General asynchronous development--I only had my kid tested now because he has started complaining school is boring and he isn't learning anything new, and he hasn't really made any close friends. He was not *at all* academically ahead at the end of preschool except perhaps for vocabulary, and things just sort of sprang online overnight this year. My husband was also not a developmentally advanced kid and didn't really shine as a student until middle school, though he never struggled. My son couldn't read a word at the beginning of the school year, was still sounding out almost every word two months ago, and has jumped about a year in reading ability since then. (He's just started basic chapter books.) He started doing advanced math work on his own early this year--nothing crazy advanced, as I don't think he's highly gifted, but stuff like "70 + 10 x 3 = 100" that is beyond what they're doing in K. I feel like I see new skills "come online" every day. I don't think processing speed will ever be one of his strengths per se, but I wonder if his brain has just been working too hard on his other cognitive leaps this year.
*And finally, of course, the possibility of non-hyperactive ADHD. There's no family history there, but my family is notorious for being forgetful/losing things/hyperfocused or not at all focused. However, we've all been great students, and processing speed is one of my intellectual strengths. My son is the kind of kid that you have to tell to get dressed several times, put on his shoes several times, etc.--though I have been using lots of positive reinforcement when he doesn't need reminders since the test, and he's improved a lot with regards to this in the past two weeks. His teacher noticed at the beginning of the school year that he will appear distracted while actually paying attention, which I already knew.
So I kind of don't know what to do, if anything. Should I just wait and see if my son develops any issues that seem more concerning? Should I seek additional evaluation? My child psychologist friend wasn't that concerned by his low processing speed--she knows my husband, and he's obviously more of a tortoise than a hare--but I also don't want my kid to *not* get help he needs if he needs any help.
Any thoughts/encouragement appreciated!
