Slow processing speed

[RaveOn]

Does anyone know anything about processing speed?

My DD has autism and dyspraxia. She has a lot of difficulties, but apart from handwriting, school work has always been a strength up till now. At primary school she was above average, and she did well in her SATs, particularly English.

She is now in year 7 and is suddenly having lots of difficulties with her work, and we don't really understand why.

She is finding it hard to follow lessons, particularly when the teacher is doing lots of talking at the front of the class - she says she finds it impossible to keep up with. She says she doesn't understand when teachers explain things - but everyone else seems to follow it.

She is also have lots of problems in lessons that require a lot of writing, eg. english, RE. She can't seem to write more than a paragragh, and then gets stuck. This is having an impact on assessments - in English they are expected to produce a piece of extended writing (teacher says 1.5 - 2 pages) but DD can only write a paragragh - even when given extra time. She has a laptop so it's not handwriting that's the issue.

Does this sound like slow processing speed? Is it possible for a child with this difficulty to do well at primary, and then struggle in secondary? Is there anything else that could be causing these difficulties?

She already has an EHCP, but she is being reassessed by Ed Psych on Tuesday because she has missed a lot of school due to anxiety/school refusal.

We really want to get to the bottom of what is causing her anxiety in school. One of the things she mentioned was panicking because she can't follow what the teacher is saying - so I want to ask them to check her processing speed and anything else that could be causing her problems, but as ed psych time is limited I dont want to ask her to spend it on unnecessary tests. Any ideas/advice welcome

would it help for her to have a dictaphone. Then she can record the bits of the lesson she needs - explainations etc. If she knows she has a record to refer to it might help her stop panicking if she can’t follow it all at the time. If she is socially anxious in class this can be done discreetly and she can listen back and review it in her own time.

My ds aged 10 has just been diagnosed with a visual processing difficulty.

One of the recommendations from the ed psyche was that he isn't required to copy stuff down from the board. She recommended either worksheets or that the information is presented through a laptop on his desk.

If your dd already uses a laptop, it would be very straightforward for the teacher to load the questions on the white board onto there, I would imagine.

My ds can't stand copying questions down from worksheets, and I've always done this for him at home without previously really understanding why ie he isn't using his concentration, time and mental energy doing something that isn't actually necessary for the task which is to do the sums.