I finally had my child assessed. While her Verbal Comprehension is 130 and Perceptual Reasoning is 119, her Working Memory is 91 and Processing Speed is 94. So, she is very smart, but performs at an average level in math and spelling and is at the upper extreme for reading comprehension, oral language and written expression (minus the spelling). Any ideas about how to improve the areas of working memory and processing speed? ADHD assessment could not give an accurate diagnosis because the number of commissions was through the roof and the detectability index was high, but everything else was average to above average.
It is hard because she doesn’t understand why she does not perform better.
Re: Weak Working Memory and Processing Speed
It could be a difficulty with visual working memory?
Which can effect both math and spelling.
You could simply ask if her if she can visualise how words are spelled in her mind?
Also if she can visualise math calculations?
Geoff,
You didn’t mention how old your daughter is. To help with the spelling, even though she’s a good reader, reviewing some information about phonics rules might help with spelling. Also “Word prediction” software can help students with writing and spelling. What word prediction software does is to show a window of words as an individual types. The program predicts what you’re trying to type. So frequently, the words you are trying to spell will appear in the predictive word window. In my opinion, the best program for word prediction is Premier Predictor Pro ($90) from Premier Assistive (www.readingmadeeasy.com). Premier Assistive also has available Talking Word Processor ($100) which has word prediction built into it. Both of these products will read the list of words to the student, if they would like to hear the words in the list.
You might also consider asking your school for a section 504 plan. Under this type of plan your daughter can have extra time on tests to compensate for the slower processing speed.
James Nuttall — Michigan