Year 10 diagnosed with low processing speeds.

[missinglalaland]

I’m confused and looking for advice on how to proceed. My 15 year old daughter has just been diagnosed with very low processing speed. So far she has kept up in school and done well. She is taking maths GCSE early. But she is finding it hard to get through the work as the classes become more demanding.

She self reported being a slow reader. The school gave her a simple diagnostic that showed her reading speed was bottom 10% and suggested we ask for a report from an educational psychologist which we paid for privately. (Wow! That was expensive!) The report is all over the place, but it says her processing speeds are in the bottom 9% and some of her results are consistent with dyslexia. Otherwise her abilities are average or above average. I’m amazed how well she has done so far considering her challenges for which she has had no support of any kind from us or the school. I know some DC with SEN actually have IQs above 130 and so, but she is just average to above average. She must have been working so hard.

And that seems to be that. We don’t know what to do next to advocate for her. We frankly don’t understand what she needs.

I wonder if this report is enough for her to be given extra time on exams? Or is there another process we need to go through? If she is able to go to university, can she get extra time then too?

She has severe exam anxiety. I now think the timed element must be what panics her.

I want to help, but I don’t even know what to advocate for.

Sadly, it is too late for access arrangements like extra time for this year as it has to be the pupil’s normal way of working. And the deadline was the end of March for applying.

Does DD have 2 below average (standardised score of 84 or below)? You can see the detailed eligibility criteria here.

As well as/instead of extra time think about whether using a laptop would help. And rest breaks.

It is possible to get access arrangements at university.

Thank you for coming back to me. And thank you for the link.

I’m not sure which two diagnostic tests you mean. In the broken down IQ section, nothing was below 84.

in the Literacy and Numeracy Diagnostic tests she had a score of 80 for DASH COPYING and scores of 85 for both CTOPP Rapid Naming and TOWRE Sight Word Efficiency. I guess this means she is near a cut off but just misses it?

It sounds like DD should qualify.

When a Form 8 needs to be completed, as in DD’s case, 2 standardised scores are required to be below 84 or one below and one between 85-89 but from different areas of working. This is the ‘easiest’ way to qualify.

If 2 or more are between 85-89 it is still possible to quantify but requires more evidence, and rarely if several are between 90-94 even more evidence.

The different areas are speed of reading, speed of writing, the different parts of cognitive processing (e.g. working memory, phonological awareness, visual processing) and, for maths, mathematical processing.

The body which governs exam accommodations is called JCQ, they publish a new doc every year in September. The doc produced in sept 2021 outlined more stringent conditions to qualify for extra time in exams. Now students need two standard scores of 84 or less relating to two different areas to speed of working. The form is filled out by school, and they are also expected to provide a detailed picture of need with evident with how the child would benefit from extra time. Schools are advised to develop a ‘pen portrait’ IE asking child to swap coloured pens when they reach ‘full time’ during an exam, and then swapping to another colour for the duration of their extra time. To show the benefit of the extra time. For some children having the extra time can be counter productive, particularly those who have attention problems.
To get extra time at university the strict standard scores. no longer apply, but the university usually require that they have a diagnosis of a specific learning difficulty.
link to JCQ guidelines- JCQ guidelines for extra time 21/22

The diagnostic tests have to be related to speed of processing (Reading speed, writing speed or processing speed on a cognitive assessment) The 10 minute free writing exercise on the DASH would be the most important for access arrangements, which sections of the DASH do you have scores for? Because DC scored between 85-89 on TOWRE and CTOPP, the school would have to provide a detailed picture of need (part 1 of form 8) and would also have to provide two pieces of supplementary evidence to proceed with the request (for example a past exam paper or in class assignments).

With one standardised score of below 84 and one 85-89 in 2 different areas of speed of working only one piece of supplementary evidence is required (pg35 of the guidance). Although many schools will have far more evidence than this purely because evidence is there from the pupil’s normal way of working.

The DASH test has five subsections, four are normally administered. OP said the DASH score was just the copying section, not free writing (which would be more representative of the child’s writing speed in exams, as it is a ten min exercise, considerably longer than the other sub tests). Usually the school would need the free writing speed rather than copying, as it is the school that have to put in the request for extra time.

It is possible for extra time to be granted using the DASH Copying standardised score as one of the scores.

The JCQ form is computerised, the algorithm will accept the score and not question the subtest, but its the school that have to submit the form, the school are unlikely to submit this from the copying exercise alone from the DASH, unless they have evidence to support from their own internal investigations with subject teachers with writing speed.

You posted ”the school would have to provide a detailed picture of need (part 1 of form 8) and would also have to provide two pieces of supplementary evidence to proceed with the request (for example a past exam paper or in class assignments).” which isn’t true for the OP, as you confirm in your latest post, the school do not have to provide that with one score below 84 and one 85-89, only 1 piece of evidence is required, although as I said many schools will have more because of it being the normal way of working. What evidence the school want to gather is different from what they have to do.

Thank you for all this input! I can’t really keep up with it all…I’m out of my depth here. I appreciate the reassurance. I feel like a very incompetent mother for letting her get on with it for so long with no support at all.

Her DASH Free Writing score was 94. So better. Her DASH Graphic Speed is 90. Her CTOPP Nonword Repetition is also 90.

The school has been kind. DD self reported asking for help with speeding up her reading. We just got the psychologists report back, and I do hope the school will help us to understand the report and what we should do next. DD is keen to see the report herself, but I’m torn. I know it’s wrong to hide things from her, but the language is quite stark. I don’t want her to give up on herself.

I wanted to come back and update you on how it’s all panned out. The school has been lovely, they explained that DD is a classic dyslexic. She will get 25% extra time in exams and the option to use a laptop.

The school SENCO is a lovely person, just the sort any parent would want for their DC. DD goes in for one session per week to discuss how things are going and learning strategies. DD has already been given a coloured, plastic film sheet to use as an overlay on top of reading materials. She finds this helpful.

After doing final exams with extra time she seemed really cheerful and a lot of exam anxiety has washed away now that she has time to read the questions. I’m so glad this was spotted and she is getting support.

Thsnk you al for your input, explanations and reassurances. I really needed the hand holding. xx