? on processing speed....

K's post made me think of this. Is processing speed measured in such a way we can relate it to the written word or is it a general processing of all stimuli coming in?

My son had low processing on the TOVA which used no words, just computer blips. His procesing speed on the woodcock johnson/wisc/whichever was actually high. What did that measure-words?

I would be interested in what others think about this question. My son scored poorly on response time on the TOVA for both visually and auditorily presented information SS's of 40-70. On the WISC his processing index was over 100.

I would also like to better understand processing speed and how to increase it!!

Good topic!!

K.

Me too. My younger son's VIQ is 128 (97th %ile) while his Processing Speed Index is 75 (5th %ile) Makes it very hard for him to show what he knows!

Karen

There is a lot of information/studies on processing speed and improving it if you search on ADHD and medication effects on google. It seems like processing speed is a continuum, and kids with LD are on the slower side, and kids with ADD are on the much slower side. Generally very bright kids process faster than kids with mental retardation or neuological problems(including autism, aspergers, etc.).

Neither the Coding nor the Symbol Search subtests on the WISC deal with words.

In Coding the examinee is asked to write a symbol (such as line or t-shape) in a box under a number which correlates to a certain code given in a key at the top of the page.

In Symbol Search, the examinee visually scans several shapes to see if the stimulous shape is present in the list. They make a slash mark in one of two boxes marked "yes" or "no."

I don't give the TOVA, so I don't know what it measures or what tasks are presented. Perhaps someone else can describe the tasks in a similar manner to the descriptions in this post. That should make it clear for you.