Support youth with confirmed slow processing speed through acceptance, advocacy, accommodations, extended time, time-management teaching, and assistive technology¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that youth whose evaluations confirm slow processing speed receive school-based supports centered on acceptance, advocacy, and accommodations. It names concrete tools: "Accommodations for extended time, teaching time-management skills, and the use of assistive technology are all good examples of such strategies." It also notes that programs directly increasing processing speed have been piloted in adults with neurological illness and need development for children.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A confirmed decrement in processing speed identified through direct evaluation of PS in youth at elevated risk (ASD, psychosis, ADHD-I)

Constraints¶

• The authors state that how best to support children with slow PS remains an open question; speed-of-processing training programs have only been piloted in adults, not children

Target Learners¶

• children and adolescents in child psychiatric outpatient settings with slow processing speed

Target Learning Goals¶

• academic achievement in reading and math
• school functioning under timed demands

Claims¶

• All diagnostic groups of referred youth, including those without full diagnoses, show processing speed below the population norm [+W]
• Processing speed is the most impaired Wechsler cognitive domain among youth referred for neuropsychiatric evaluation [+W]
• Psychosis, ASD, and ADHD-Inattentive Type independently elevate risk for slow processing speed relative to referred youth without diagnoses [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Leveraging Strengths to Support Processing Speed
• Accommodating Processing Speed Challenges
• Allow Think-Time and Re-reading (Processing Speed)
• Empowering Students Through Self-Advocacy

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Braaten EB, Ward AK, Forchelli G, Vuijk PJ, Cook NE, McGuinness P, Lee BA, Samkavitz A, Lind H, O'Keefe SM, Doyle AE. (2020). Characteristics of child psychiatric outpatients with slow processing speed and potential mechanisms of academic impact. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-019-01455-w