Does anybody have any ideas about DS with his ______slow processing time?

[RTKangaMummy]

Does anybody have any ideas about DS with his ....... slow processing time?

DS had a cognatitive test yesterday and he has a very very delayed slow processing time.

He was very premature @ 27 weeks and was ventilated and on oxygen for 3 months.

He has DYSPRAXIA

Does anybody have any idea what can be done to help him with this

Please

.

How old is he RTKM?

Can you explain more about "slow processing time."
Is this a general slow response, cognitive delay, does it effect his motor skills?? Sorry to be so ignorant, but as you may or may not know my dd Amelia, has Down Syndrome and a global developemental delay. So all areas of developement are delayed especially speech and motor skill, both gross and fine.

one of my girls is like this so we have the one minute rule, i ask her something e.g do you want a drink, she always says no straight away but a minute later she will ask for a drink, she always says no it's like an automatic response, i dunno what you can do other than finding out how long his processing time is and allow him that time first before expecting an answer

He is 10 years

It is especially when asked a question that needs some thinking about

like in school if you ask him what is 4 x 6 =

He knows the answer but it takes him a long long time to answer

He is very slow to do stuff physically cos of the dyspraxia and hypermobility

like getting dressed etc

tying shoelaces which is still dodgy iyswim

I would actually try something like brain gym or the raviv method. Some (limited) evidence that they can help this sort of thing.

In this test that happened yest with the ED PYSCH he came out with a score of a 7 year old ie 3 years younger than him

His verbal and non verbal scores were very high

He also came out with short term memory lower than his age

rtkm, not sure what the answer is as ds is very similar - you can almost see the cogs working and sometimes he never does get to the end. It is especially pronounced when he has to transfer a thought process into a physical action - current difficulties are tying a tie and doing up top button (he already thinks he's "hopeless" having only been in school 2 days ).

With shoelaces his OT drilled him so he can just about manage but even so he opted for velcro shoes as he says he couldn't do it every day. we may well have to do the same for the tie.

afaik the delay in reaction is part and parcel of dyspraxia but we see a paediatrician in 2 weeks so may get an alternative opinion.

he has velcro shoes atm for school but his trainers are laces because he goes to senior school ne=xt year so will have to have laces

So he has to have laces to practise with.

He doesn't have a problem with his tie but he did have a elastic one when he first started at school IYSWIM

Thanks for those ideas jimjams have looked them up via search engine

I have a slight problem I told him yesterday that this was the last person he was going to see

Cos he said he was tired of going to see all these people and them not helping him

So will have to do it at home rather than going to see someone else IYSWIM

The problem is that you cant get extra time in exams tests etc for slow processing time

which is unfair imho

I think he should be able to turn over the paper to read it but not write

COs it takes him sooooooooo long to think of the answer

You can go on a brain gym course yourself and do it at home. They run day loing parent ones- would give you enough.

You CAN get extra time in exams for dyspraxia though (I used to be an exams officer- I know these things )

The ed pysch said cos his reading and writing speeds were within normal range

the slow processing time won't get the time

How do we get it then?

Well for GCSE/AS/A2's (a while away but assume other external exams have similar criteria) you have to ask the schools exams officer to fill in a request. The exam boards then decide whether to grant it- but I've never known them to refuse a request a school has made never refused on of mine). Usually it's the same as dyslexia- 25% extra time.

oke doke thanks

onlyjoking the EP said we should time him and try to get him quicker at doing things at home

DH has just found a stopwatch and so we amy be able to make it into a game

Hi...this may not be much help whatsoever. But my boy (8) has Apsergers tendencies....and has had similar problems.He didn't seem to have awareness of how much time was passing when he was doing anything. Last year he had a teacher who really worked at it (used an egg timer when she asked him to respond to tasks...made him class time keeper...and we used a kitchen timer at home for homework etc) It really seemed to help him realise how long a unit of time was....and although he still has problems starting his response to anything..he is much improved.

My ds (6.5) has this too, quite markedly. I thought is was only auditory (like your example of answering 4 x 6, or even does he want peas or corn ... peas or corn ... peas or corn ...) but the ed psych tests showed it's even more extreme in his visual processing.

Our most successful thing has practising some automatic responses - "fine" when someone asks him how he is, "I'm thinking about it" for more general use - so that he buys a bit of time for the cogs to go round.

Our ed psych said there are exercises you could do to speed up processing, but they mean the child could lose the breadth of reflective thinking which happens while those cogs are gently revolving. Certainly after ds has been cogitating (as we call it) we get some far more interesting ideas than you'd get with a fast answer.

Does he also have word finding difficulties?

I have some activity sheets for word finding/short term memory problems that I could send you if you like.

Does your ds have speech therapy?
I have found this has really helped ds with his listening and attention skils and he can pick out key words in what is being said to help him process.

Could you email me some more details{if you don't mind) such as phone number, cost, your general opinion

Thanks

Jimjams-I am amazed that they can allow extra time for GCSEs for dyspraxia-my 16 year old has dyspraxia and dyscalculia, and the SENCO told me there was no provision for extra time. (He sat them this year. She did say this was changing in the future but not in time for him to benefit.) I am really angry if he could have got extra time after all-he did manage to get 6 A-Cs including a couple of As, but extra time would have helped as his writing is so poor if he has to rush!
RTkanga-does your DS have problems with maths: as I mentioned, mine has been DX with dyscaculia as well?

The SALT thought he did have word finding difficulties but this didn't show up on sat with EP. He has been discharged from SALT now.

He did have an IEP that focused on speaking in the classroom, the teacher would ask a question to DS and then there would be a huge delay before he would answer, but would get it right. At the end of class 5 his teacher said it was alot better

He had a EP come to the school who was hopeless and only talked to him for a few minutes and said he was fine, he was asked to do a full cog assessment but didn't, anyway he recommended his IEP should stop so when we get this report from the EP {who spent over 3 hours with him on sat} we will take it into school and get the IEP back again, hopefully.

But it isn't just when things are said to him it is written things as well. And physical as well.

He does have Apsergers tendencies IMHO but no one else seems to pick it up.

But not sure if it is just part of his dyspraxia.

He has a high IQ {we found out on with the EP tests} he has a policing of others when he sees others smoking, climbing trees at school, playing football where they shouldn't, he doesn't see why it is not his job to tell others that they are doing something against the rules. IYSWIM.

Not only can you get extra time (25%) in an exam, but if their handwriting is very poor they can use a laptop as well. There is a lot of paperwork involved beforehand, and it has to be sorted well in advance, but if a child on on the school's SEN register, then the SENCO should be prepared. In my school we always had at least 20 children with special exam arrangements - often more.

Tiggiwinkle congrats to him for great results.

He sort of does, in that number bonds and times tables.

like 17-5 would deffo not come as a quick answer

but he can do complicated maths stuff sometimes

but it is slow

At DH school {private secondary} they deffo give extra time to DYSLEXIC but they don't have any dyspraxic boys atm.

DS handwriting is neat but it is slow but EP didn't think it was slow enough.

It is the thinking time he needs really

rtkm , Given that dyspraxia affects 1:20 children, more often boys, I'd think it very unlikely that there would be no boys at all in your dh's school. Perhaps it just goes unspotted or by then the children have learnt to cope in other ways ?

So far this term ds has had to start a story from their own imagination (of which he managed 2 words) and write something about a story read to them (half a sentence). Haven't spoken to his teacher yet as we have a Parent's Info evening on Thursday anyway, but ds says she has already told him he has to get started quicker . They are going to be spilt into ability groups for English and Maths so think this is part of the assessment process.

RTKanga-re the Aspergers tendencies-I have a 6 year old with AS as well as the 16 year old with dyspraxia and there is a great deal of similarity between them. IMHO if my older one had been assessed with todays knowledge he would also have a DX of AS. I sometimes wonder about asking for a reassessment but he really is not keen on the idea!