Have been told DS2 is 'slow processing' - what does this mean?

[abitworried]

DS2 7 (who is Aug born/ youngest in the class - Yr3) seemed to be very slow at completing work, and also got in a right old tizz in timed tests (although could manage them fine in his own time at home).

He had an assessment with the learning support teacher and his form teacher told us that he appears to have 'slow processing' issues.

What does this mean? She explained it in terms of his brain taking a long time to make sense of information. She also said we may need to see an Ed pysch to get him extra time for exams etc.

We are having a full meeting later this week, but I'd like to know more before this meeting.

What does this mean?
Is it a recognised problem? i.e. does it mean he would be statemented
Is it just something that 'is' that he has to cope with, or are there strategies to help?

From my very ignorant starting point it seems that being 'slow' is going to cause him problems throughout his school life, and affect his chances of succeeding academically surely?

However his form teacher also said that he was 'bright' and said he scored 128 in the CAT?

I'm feeling all confused!

She probably means 'slow auditory processing' - in other words, it takes his brain a long time to analyse instructions and (possibly) to answer questions etc. DS1 is affected by this to a certain extent - he's dyspraxic - though his major problem is how slowly and awkwardly he writes. He also panics when in a timed test situation. I suppose the teacher could also mean your son takes a long time to process written information. But it's a bit vague to be honest. The Ed Psych will probably be able to give you more detailed info. A CAT score of 128 is very good. It sounds as you have what I have - a bright boy who finds it a bit harder than most to work quickly and to organise his thoughts. There are lots of things you can to to help at home - play a game where he has to follow one instruction, then two, then three etc. Or games where he has to follow written clues to find treasure. There's a very old thread on Education called 'Dreamer of dreams...' - you should be able to find it if you search - it's full of very useful information about children who are a bit quirky but mostly have no official diagnosis.

Abitworried, teachers cannot identify 'slow processing'. Although it is good that they have identified a problem, i would be thanking them for their concerns and asking to which expert they are planning on referring your ds to.

Oops sorry, just realised they have said they might involve EP. Good idea.

Claw - the Learning Support person is SEN qualified (mostly dyslexia though I think).

I thought his 128 CAT score sounded good, but have no benchmark really.

The thing DH & I are a bit worried about is the whole 'labelling' issue. I tend to think a lot of children have issues of one thing or another, and if they are perhaps at the marginal end of the scale I'm not too sure how much help it is attaching a label, unless it opens up opportunities to help him I suppose?

abit, I think it is quite unlikely that anyone will be rushing to label your ds if he doesn't need it

statements are like gold dust these days, money is tight, and noone is going to be throwing it at you willy-nilly

most likely, all that will happen is that they will do an initial assessment and then wait to see how your ds develops and if he does need extra help later

they may come up with an IEP (individual plan) but that will be more like setting targets and having a plan of how to work towards them (if it's a good school- in a school with poor SEN provision, it may mean zilch)

the extra exam time is one they are quite happy to dish out, as it's cheap

being labelled is not necessarily a disadvantage in later life: a fairish proportion of my university students come with disability reports, they are confidential and only shared with the people who need to see them, it doesn't count against anyone, but it does help us to provide a bit more of a level playing field

cory - thanks, that's helpful to know.

I guess we just go and see what they say at this stage.

Abitworried, i would be more worried about the school labelling him as having 'slow processing'. What are they basing this on? What tests or assessments showed his processing is slow?

Dont get me wrong, i think its great that they have identified a difficult. But an EP is best qualified to establish the cause of this difficult and what help or support is needed.

I don't know exactly what tests they have done, but will find this out later in the week.

I know he had 2 x 30 mins sessions with the SEN person after we asked whether the school thought there was 'anything else' going on, as all his reports talk about him struggling to finish work etc etc

Is the SEN person based at the school? is she the SENCO or someone school have asked to come into school to assess your ds?

She's an independent SEN teacher who comes in to support children with a variety of needs, but I know her mostly in the context of her dyslexia. I don't know her qualifications.
It's a private school btw, hence no on-site SEN. However I know she also teaches at a local state school too.

Oh right, dont know much about private schools work to be honest. But i would grab the chance of EP involvement with both hands.

I wouldnt worry about labelling your ds, no one can label him other than a Paed. Try to see it as a difficulty being identified and him needing appropriate support for that difficult.

Good luck.

If the CAT tests are the same as we used when I was teaching, we would say, as a general guide, that 100 was an average score, 110-120 high ability and 120+ very high ability (the sorts of kids who would be expected to go on to get As and A*s at GCSE.)
This was in secondary though. We did three types of CAT - Maths, English and Non-Verbal Reasoning - you'd need to find out what type of test they did with him.

slow processing can be identified by a specialist teacher - it's one of the criteria used for extra time in GCSE's/A levels and specialist teachers are usually used for that as E.P's are too expensive!
OP - find out what tests the teacher administered and what his strengths were. Find out if he will be eligible for extra time in SATS (Including optional SATS).