Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Processing speed in WISC

DS got low average (21%) PSI on WISC test. He also got relative low scores on every timed test on WJ-iii achievement. Psych told me he has visual-motor coordination problem. Is visual-motor the only possible reason to affect PSI or his information processing speed in his brain is also low? I am the slow person on everything but I don't think I have coordination problem.

He could be very careful. or perfectionistic. or a deep thinker. or ADD. or anxious. or a slow-poke. My meditation friends would say he might not be breathing as deeply as he needs to breath.

I hope that helps,
Grinity

Our dd12 came out around the 42nd percentile on PSI at age 7.4. She doesn't have any visual-motor issues as far as I can tell. An OT who assessed her shortly after said she had SPD and dyspraxia, but I really don't think that she has dyspraxia. It is a motor planning disorder.

The tests she was given for motor planning all came out at age appropriate or well above what would be expected for her age, so I honestly don't know where she was coming from in hindsight. As Grinity said, there are a whole lot of possibilities but not all of them are necessarily problems. Dd is getting along quite nicely in middle school.

What she said!

DS8 tested at 34th percentile at 7:6. The tester, who specialized in gifted kids, said DS's anxiety was obvious each time a portion of the test was timed. DS has perfectionism and anxiety issues, and can be very cautious in such circumstances.

I've sometimes thought that DS's thought process can also seem a bit broad, too. In some situations, especially where he really feels the need to be accurate (or sometimes wants to be impressive), it's like his brain fills up with ALL the possible answers to a question and he then sends them through a filter to see which one is best.

I've seen this concern posted many times here, so you're not alone in this community. FWIW, I'm not concerned about DS's processing speed anymore, although it was a disconcerting to see the relatively low number on the WISC report when we first got it.

Oh gosh, it's something to keep in mind but our educational psychologist said a lower processing speed is common in gifted kids.

My DD8 took the Wisc-IV a year ago. Her scores: 99.7% Verbal, 99% perceptual, a GAI 140 (99.5%) but a PSI of 34%.

For the last three years, I have had to deal with problems relating to her "slowness." This year, she cannot seem to write down all the homework in her assignment book -- "I don't have enough time, mom." Thank God, her teacher this year completely accepted that her PSI is out of sync with her cognitive abilities (and even researched gifted kids' issues the SAME NIGHT we talked, and confirmed back to me that gifted kids often work slower than average ones.) We came up with several solutions, one being that DD8 bring home ALL her books, so even if she does not write down all the homework, we can figure out homework anyhow. She is still one of the top performing students in the class, despite the fact that she has missed homework; fact is, she just understands math concepts so well she tests almost perfectly on all tests!

To give you even more confidence, here is a quote about "slowness" from our psychologist's report: " [DD8] was relatively weaker on processing speed tests. It appears that she is far more concerned with accuracy than speed. . .This much lower processing speed coupled with superior reasoning and problem-solving ability is not unusual as gifted children are often more concerned with accuracy over speed."

My advice is to be prepared for issues that may arise from "being a slow poke" , but not to worry about the long-term issues, because the scores show that your child is gifted. Enjoy the ride -- I do! DD8 got into a great University gifted program that meets on Saturdays and she is currently working on computer programming.

Loving Mom

Thank you. DS does have poor motor skills issue. His handwriting is messy, he cannot cut along the line well, he barely can tie the shoelace, he refused to play any game with ball involved. He actually has ability to do them well only if he is slowing down and with caution. I will check with OT to confirm that. I am just not sure his mental processing speed is slow too or not.

I am a very slow person since very young. I am thinking slow, processing slow, reacting slow, and acting slow. Every time I had to rush, I made mistakes, which makes me even slower to prevent mistakes. DS is not like me, but the tester said she notice DS had anxiety issue during the test.

Another thought: it makes a lot of sense that PSI is low in gifted kids because PSI has to do with visual tracking. More average kids are "sure" about what they see, and they follow up on visual stimuli quickly, whereas gifted kids are processing not only visual stimuli but the many intuitions and thoughts that are coming from their brains at the same time (and, in the case of emotionally sensitive kids, also other people's thoughts and feelings!). Consequently, they seem to lose concentration when tracking visually.

I actually told my daughter to SAY the words on the blackboard to herself, then write them down, as opposed to trying to COPY them. She is much more able to write words from her own mind (hearing them in her head).

Boo-boo, what were some of his cognitive scores? And how old is he? If we are talking about a young child, coordination is still developing. My DD8 has very messy handwriting.

Luci, he is 8, just like your DD. I had him test to seek any 2e issue. He is gifted, but has trouble on writing. The psychologist confirmed that he doesn't have ADHD and AS. After the test, he diagnosed DS has dysgraphia. I talked to DS's teacher today and she seemed she had never heard that before. Our school's budget is very tight so it is highly possible we will seek OT outside of school. The teacher and I had agreement to give DS more time to write. When the writing material is long, he can use computer to type.

DS's WISC result is not as high as I expected. His only scored 116 on VCI and 137 on PRI. His Comprehension is 50%. Maybe that is the reason I suspect he has AS. My close friend joked to me, "Because he is a nerd!" Anyway, he scored quite high on WJ-iii math so I asked teacher to skip his "boring" math homework and doing EPGY instead.

The poor processing speed sounds like my son. He was tested at 6yo and was closer to the 79th percentile.

I recall the psychologist saying the test reflected:
1. visual processing
2. visual memory
3. fine motor skills

He has very weak fine motor skills, so he found the test very hard going and stopped before the time was up. The tester made a comment that he has near photographic memory because he took one look at the symbols, had little need to crosscheck again, and proceeded to fill in the blanks accurately.

I found Lucijane's comments very interesting, because that's exactly my son - he's usually unsure about what he sees because "it could be this-and-that". He had his vision test done a few months ago and while it's clear he has some pretty significant issues, I'm just not sure if part of the problem stems from seeing too many possibilities!