Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Higher IQ, low processing speed and daily fatigue

Hi there

It is my first time here and I wonder if anyone could share their experiences with me or offer any suggestions?

In summary, my son has an IQ score of 125 (96%ile) and standardised speeds of processing in different tests of 82 and 45 (the lower of which is below 1st%ile), giving differences of between 43 points and 80 points.

His performance results are around a standardised score in assessment conditions of 90 (below 50%ile)

In real life it is very difficult to produce this standard of work as his brain cannot seem to cope with thinking or working for any more than about 10 minutes at a time, whereas in the tests only short bursts of effort are required for each test.

My question is, do any other families with children with unusually low processing speeds notice that their children are unusually and easily fatigued and frustrated in their everyday life?

DS is grossly affected in all ways, and it is certainly not restricted to academic work only. For example, two hours spent with friends or a trip to a museum during the holidays can give him a total brain fog for the rest of the day and maybe the next as well, leaving him unable to process verbal instructions, taking such a long time to do anything, unable to think or formulate thoughts, very short attention span, lack of interest in things, bad tempered, emotional, annoying his siblings deliberately etc.

What are your experiences?

I would wonder about sensory issues, among other things. My DS10 (I'd have to check scores to know if he has low processing speeds, so I wouldn't say those are a paramount issue for him.) gets overloaded when he's around too many people or even one friend for too long, like spending the night, and he has to decompress before he's fit to be around anybody again. He starts getting emotional, annoying his sister deliberately, bad tempered, spacing out, all those things you mention. Some people react the same way to having to focus on something for too long -- I would say DS is that way, as well, except it's only things he doesn't want to be doing. He's fine playing Minecraft all day long.

First, I would definitely say I believe there is a connection to something about higher IQ/lower processing speed and fatigue...maybe the compensation or effort needed to make up for the gap or whatever is happening takes more power from them.

Also the sensory issues do take a toll - more sensitive to hearing, smelling, etc., takes more compensation to look "typical" with a group or in a setting.

I have been mentioning the noticable fatigue to teachers since K and the usual response is "alot of the kids are tired, they are very over-scheduled, have screen time that cuts into bedtime" etc. but as I always say, my DD has never been overscheduled and gets about 9-10 hours of good sleep.

How old is your son? My DD is 9. She has a very large span between IQ (verbal/peceptual reasoning) and processing speed and a large gap though less significant between those and working memory.

We had neuropsych testing scheduled for months out last spring but cancelled but are going to try again this year because though her school situation is better the fatigue issue and whatever is there does still affect her frustration level, to a lesser degree but still more than "neuro typical" peers..affected is time needed for homework, social time, and also she tends to become ill more frequently than her peers. I do think she has to compensate very much to blend which must be tiring...but we'll look into it further in case there is anything we can do for her that we're not doing.

I will say that as far as tolerance though my DD has come a long, long way since she was a preschooler/kindy. Still behind her peers as far as sensory tolerance but it does seem to get better than previous years - heading in the right direction, anyway!

Did your ds have any additional testing or evals to determine why his processing speed score is low? Coping with whatever is causing the discrepancy can definitely leave a child fatigued... But there is a chance that you can remediate or accommodate depending on *why* the PSI is low. For example, my ds13 has fine motor challenges which cause a large dip in PSI. We can't remove his fine motor challenge, but he can and does receive accommodations at school ( and outside of school) which lessen the impact of his fine motor challenge. He still spends considerably more tens on homework and some other tasks than his peers, but overall he is doing very well in accelerated challenging courses at school and he's happy.

My dd10, otoh, scored less than .5th percentile (yes, that was point5!) on one of the PSI subtests the first time she was tested. She had another lowish score in another WISC subtest outside of the PSI/WM, a test that depended on vision. She was referred to a developmental optometrist who discovered she had severe double vision and tracking issues. A cruise of vision therapy improved her vision dramatically and her PSI scores were back up in the same range as her other subtest scores the next time she was tested. She'd always been a kid who needed a ton of down time and sleep before her VT, and that disappeared as here vision mproved.

So, yes, for both of my low PSI kids there was a tie to frustration, fatigue, and the low PSI score...and for both of them, having the additional testing to determine what was causing the dip in scores was extremely important.

Best Wishes,

Polarbear

I cant remember what the two processing scores related to, I will dig them out, but I know the issue of processing speed wasn't explored in detail in the assessment.

We also saw a behavioural optometrist who found problems such as convergence, double vision, poor 3d perception. We completed a full course of vision therapy for this and now have bifocals.

The optometrist tested for processing speed using reading a vertical and then horizontal list of single digit numbers. The vertical list reading was below 1st percentile and the difference between speed of vertical and horizontal was also below first percentile - although both did improve with the therapy and glasses.

DS says text on a page and also environmental print still shakes when he looks at it, so maybe the whole world shakes? So , yes, definitely a visual problem.

I know the slow processing causes social difficulties for him as he really struggles to process what people are saying a formulate an appropriate response, mostly he uses slightly inappropriate coping strategies such as ignoring people and not looking at them!!

The processing also severely affects his cognitive processes, it is really really hard work (ten minutes is the max he can do) to understand and process new material. It is less difficult to recall it once learnt BUT the information that comes out is often jumbled and a bit incoherent.

And auditory, I notice that only one instruction can be given at a time otherwise all the instructions will be forgotten. Also he is very very easily distracted by background noises, and his head will hurt if there is a background "hubub".

DS also has poor fine and gross motor control - ball games are definitely out, he is clumsy, and writing is incredibly laborious.

Does any of this provide some pointers for me?

Any more personal experiences of tiredness and it's presentation in your child?

I don't have any input, other than to note that the range of symptoms you describe strongly remind me of things I've read related to glucose management issues.

Zen, can you elaborate on "glucose management issues?" I am very curious!

Marytheres, I've sent you a PM (blinking envelope near the top).

Curious here too!

Hmmm, I don't have any new messages! Perhaps your PM did not go through for some reason?