I’m looking for parents with kids who have a diagnosed disability of slow processing speed, but I’d be ok with parents whose student has slow processing, but doesn’t have a formal diagnosis.
For those that have accommodations for slow processing speed, what are those accommodations? Has your student used them? Was the school open to the accommodations? What about individual professors.
I am in the process of finding inexpensive (re)testing for my son, 18, whose on a gap year. I would like to have that in place before he heads off to college in the fall. He will already have diabetes and a physical vision disability logged in with the disability office, but the retest may also flag both his slow processing and his math disability. He was tested at ages 10 1/2 and 12, and processing speed and math %iles were super low compared to overall IQ and achievement.
He is most concerned about his slow processing and keeping up with the workload. Not so concerned about the math disability. Says he can muscle through the vision disability.
One thing he should do is plan his classes carefully. Don’t take 3 classes heavy in reading at the same time. Don’t take a literature class in a short term (summer, Jan) as there is just so much reading that can be done in a short period of time. One lab class, one math etc. My daughter has come up with unrealistic schedules (both work load and times when the classes meet -4 on a Friday afternoon?) and I’ve had to suggest other classes. My other daughter is much easier as she’s in engineering and just follows the sequence. She also gets priority registration since she’s an athlete.
He might also want to take a lighter load, but that might require a summer session or an extra year.
Our Aspie has a very high IQ with incredibly low processing speeds. Super low (2nd and 18th percentiles low). He was given 1 1/2 time, private room for testing, front row, ability to record and/or use a laptop in the classroom.
I would love for him to take a lighter load or an extra year, but finances are pretty much critical. He’ll be attending Penn and getting a bunch of need-based aid, so an extra year is simply not feasable. We were looking at more reasonable majors-Cinema being the one that looked most interesting-but now he says you can’t do anything with that major, so at this point, he’s sticking with Fine Arts with animation concentration. It will require a lot of time and work, and I am concerned. I’m trying to get him to take a class this summer at the local state univ. with the hopes it will transfer in (Penn ok’d it), and then for at least the first two summers after he begins. I think that would help tremendously.
Yes, that’s a good idea to pick classes carefully, and not to overload on heavy reading. I am concerned about the amount of time art projects will take and trying to balance those with more academic classes. I think the accommodations would be very helpful just in buying him extra time on projects and tests.
Wow, @Mom2aphysicsgeek, that 2%ile is very low! My son’s processing speed was 13th%ile, but IQ was 99.9 with GAI. Do you think that would qualify him for extra time? Do you know what qualifies as a disability? I know his math %ile on the achievement test was 14th%ile, and that qualified him with a math disability. Oh yeah! I did use the processing speed along with a note from his counselor to get keyboarding on the SAT. Well, we’ll see what his processing speed %ile is now. He feels it really negatively affects him.
@sbjdorlo our son’s psy wrote a letter requesting the specified accommodations. That is all it took. They were what he thought were appropriate We met with the disability office and they gave him letters to provide his teachers. Fwiw, ds did not use them all.
So he’s not using them in college? My son really feels his processing speed is his biggest handicap. I believe he will use accommodations if he can get them, at least I will encourage him to do so. He did use them on the SAT, PSAT, AP, and SAT II tests.
My son’s processing speed dropped precipitously after he fell ill with schizophrenia. He tested at 5%. He was given double time for tests, and allowed to take them in a separate room. He was also given the option of having someone take notes for him, but he declined.
My son’s issues are complicated. He also suffers from extreme anxiety and is truly disabled by his Aspergers (he has extreme executive functions deficits as well.)
How is he doing in college, @Mom2aphysicsgeek? How is your son doing, @MaineLonghorn? I worry about my son going far away with all his disabilities and medical issues, but he is insisting on giving it a try…so, I think he should be equipped to give it his best shot.
My son is not too far from finishing his degree in applied math, but he took a downturn last spring and is still recovering. He is capable of doing the work, but when he gets stressed at all, his symptoms get worse. He’s 23 now. We’re letting him set the pace - we’ve learned it does more harm than good to “encourage” him.
Our son dropped out of school after his sophomore yr. He is now 24 and is starting to talk about going back, but he needs a lot more conviction and clarity of goals before we are willing to go there.
Did you both take a financial hit? There seems to be so much riding on finances, unfortunately. Not only does he get a lot of need-based aid, but he has a four year, 6K a year scholarship. I fully expect that he will need to transfer close to home and take longer to finish-if he can. He does fine in his community college classes, but he’s living at home with support.
Thanks for your honesty. It’s important for me to go into this knowing what could happen.
Please be aware that the slow processing speed is not in and of itself a diagnosed disability. The math disorder is a diagnosed disability, but slow processing speed is a symptom, and most schools will require a diagnosed disability. Anxiety, Aspergers, ASD, schizophrenia, are all diagnosed disabilities, and the slow processing speed would be addressed under these diagnoses. Colleges will vary in how rigid they are about the documentation required to support the accommodations requested, so you are doing the right thing by exploring possible accommodations so that the report adequately addresses this.
Oh! Ok, I didn’t know that. He was able to get keyboarding using the low processing speed and his counselor writing a letter stating something to the effect that he worked slowly, and that using a keyboard would more accurately reflect what he knows. None of those listed would be our son, but he does have depression and diabetes which both could make him slow moving at times. He keeps saying something about slow reflexes. He just takes a much longer time to do things (like math problems, etc) than most kids. I don’t know what kind of diagnosis that would possibly be then. I think I’ll look at the disability website some more, and maybe put in another call. The woman my husband and I talked with (our son didn’t meet with them yet) was really nice.
Didn’t you say in your OP that he has a math disability ( as well as vision issues , etc) If he is going to. Penn, they will likely have pretty stringent requirements for what they will require to support the documented, diagnosed disability and requested accommodations. Read their requirements on their disability services page on their website and/or call the disability office. Their requirements for a learning disability documentation are pretty comprehensive, and need to be current. Not sure an “inexpensive” eval will get you what you need, so be sure to talk to the evaluator about all the required testing. You want the testing that you are updating to include what you need. A letter from his counselor will not be sufficient to document the disability and requested accommodation. BTW his vision disability, depending on the specifics, might qualify him for extended time, or no more than one exam in a day, etc.
Was yoir son homeschooled? Or am I confusing him with someone else? As noted by @jym626 above…colleges need documentation of a disability…not just one characteristic. In terms of accommodations, my experience is that colleges look more favorably on accommodations that have already been in place, along with the current evaluative information to support a disability. So for example…if your son were diagnosed with a learning disability AND had had accommodations in HS that enabled him to be successful in terms of accessing the regular curriculum…these same accommodations would be considered (not necessarily adopted…but considered) by the college.
In addition, it is very important that your so learn to advocate for himself. It sounds like you already have dealt with the disability office at Penn. Since he is taking a gap year, you want to reestablish this prior to yoir son’s enrollment. He will also need to learn to advocate himself for the documented accommodations he is given.
Don’t want to hijack the thread, but can ordinary ophthalmologists diagnose vision disabilities that impact reading speed or do colleges require neuropsych evals? D has always had reading quirks, but compensated until 2nd year IB reading load and now we are thinking she needs some accommodations or (more importantly) coping strategies for college. We don’t want to pay $xK if it isn’t necessary. I’m totally new to this and would appreciate your advice.
This is D2–single digit processing speed, at least back when we had her tested prior to 9th grade. PNWedwonk, no, an ordinary ophthalmologist cannot do the testing; it does take the full-on evaluation to uncover. We got the evaluation, and then went with that to our HMO to get an evaluation to confirm ADHD. I do not recall if the HMO psych evaluation also included the processing speed deficit. You may want to confirm with your family’s health care professional. Colleges want to see any sort of diagnosis like this from a physician; we’d had the non-HMO evaluation done as step one in finding a high school for D2 that would be a good fit.
She has not needed accommodations in college; her processing speed issues are more to do with numbers than with words, and she is able to keep up with reading. She attends a small LAC and has done a great job of asking for help through usual academic channels (office hours, tutoring). The school is also one where students are upfront about having psychological issues; it’s not regarded as a sign of weakness to admit that you have weaknesses.
I agree with posters above who emphasized the importance of students being able to self-advocate.