This women is the only person that can discuss the inadequacies that I have and not make me feel like it is a bad thing or makes me less of a person. Thank you miss!
For me, processing information slowly not only affected me in my studies, it crippled my everyday living as I was growing up. As a kid, if I were to watch a movie, and someone asked me for a brief summary of what I JUST watched, I wouldn't be able to answer because, for some reason, information literally comes from one ear, and goes out the other. It's such an unfair trait of myself. It made me feel so stupid not being able to talk about something that was showed or explained to me.
Tracey Raymundo, you are not alone in your feelings. The good thing is, when the material comes in at a pace that allows you to process it - and your brain deems it worthy of being processed (I forget loads of things that my brain doesn't clearly deem important... :) ) - you will have no worries at all with retaining it, just so long as you have processed it sufficiently. If you also think in terms of overall stuff, rather than trying to remember the details immediately (for example, if you watch a documentary on seals, first recall that it was a doco and then that is was about the sea, then about animals, then about seals, then about the life of seals...does that make sense?). However, that is more a memory technique than a slow processing speed thing - though without having time to process, you will struggle to remember. I hope that helps :)
@@ardanormm7490 Hi , It sounds as though you have a tough time with learning. No, slow processing speed is not necessarily the same thing, although it can often mean that learning is slower. Being described as a slow learner can be for many more reasons than slow processing, so it's always important to get to the bottom of why you struggle to learn. I would definitely seek help on it as it will be useful for you to understand how you learn and so harness the skills you need to help you
I've always felt slower than other people in school and I really feel like this is it, people always see me as smart and knowledgeable but I've always finished test last and I feel extremely pressured to understand a question.
Same. I’ve always been the last one to write down what teachers say, so every time they wait for me. But I don’t have enough time to grasp the concept they are talking. Strange enough, I am often seen as a “smart student”, but I’m not good at exams because I always run out of time.
The first time I hear someone explaining my real struggle: avoiding group study, spending extra time updating notes, spending extra time on assignment, spending extra time preparing for exams, test anxiety, time pressure, panic, stupid mistakes,... imagine this struggle as an engineering student 😩
This becomes a death sentence, with age. It means you are hated by the entire world. People believe you are lazy. You are are in a lifelong prison, with no possibility of Parole.
Honestly I relate to that last line in such a way that I started tearing up. That’s exactly what it feels like. Like your stuck forever in a world that moves way too fast with a brain that moves way too slow and theres no way to escape. All you can do is work harder than other people and it’s exhausting and you’re constantly running to keep up and you just fall farther and farther behind while they’re doing fine. It’s this constant state of being left behind and it fucking sucks.
I never understood this about myself, and never really understood why I couldn't understand the lesson/story/lecture... until I'd heard it a second time, but this resonates so much and I realise how helpful this knowledge would have been. Not too late though for my daughter who is very much like me in this way
For those of us struggling with this, I suggest looking into a disorder called Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT)! It's not an officially recognized condition, but it's believed to be related to the inattentive form of ADHD and is characterized by slow processing speed, frequent daydreaming, being easily confused, lethargy, etc. Some studies suggest that the ADHD drug Strattera may help and some people on the r/SCT subreddit report anecdotal benefits with stimulant medication. Hope this helps!
I always knew i was a little slow in picking things up and found it difficult to finish exams or keep up with the rest of my class. I would wonder why it would take me hours on end to complete a piece of homework, whereas it would only take someone else a few minutes. Despite this, i put in a lot of hard work and always got good grades, and have always typically been good at English, so when my mum would complain that i was struggling or needed extra time in exams, the teachers would give me a basic test and declare me as fine. With my GCSES approaching i decided it was time i got real, outside testing, and low and behold, i was told i had a very high IQ which was masking my slow processing.I now have just completed my GCSES with my 25% extra time and am hoping for the best. The time helped massively and would really reccommend getting tested if you suspect you need extra time, as in most cases, you do!
i have been professionally diagnosed with slow cognitive processing skills since i was in grade 4, and it;s only gotten worse since i got older. im in year 10 now and it's been really hard for me to keep up. this is ecpecially bad for me since i also have a few mental disorders such as inattentive ADHD, depression, GAD ( Generalised Anxiety Disorder), SAD (Social Anxiety Disorder), and i'm on the autism spectrum slightly. my point is, with all my mental disorders, the cognitive processing tends to cause a lot of clashes wit people, since they don't understand why i'm not understanding, and i don't understand why they don't understand that i don't understand... (wow that was more confusing than intended lol) which leads to many confused teacher which just end up putting more pressure on me to work faster, but i can't... i'll stop rambling now, but it's just very hard for me. at least this video helped me to understand more about my cognitive processing skils.
Hi Emma, It sounds as though you have had a bit of a tough old time. I am glad that the video helped with understanding the cognitive side of things. Slow information processing speed is a recognised condition (at least here in the UK) and you may be able to access support at school from the Learning Support department. Once you have a clear understanding about what is going on for you, it is easier to communicate that to others. However, if you can access help from Learning Support then they can also go into bat for you with other teaching staff. :)
Exel in Exams thank you for your helpful advise, i am looking into contacting my school to sort out why certain things are happening with my learning, so hopefully they can do something about that. :)
@@madinao635Thank you for asking. Since this comment, I had been put into the special education program at school, which kinda helped, because in certain classes there would be a teacher aid who would help me if I needed it. I still struggle to keep up though, but it hasn't gotten worse, so that's a good thing. I have also recently graduated, so that's cool.
I was always like that... At school most of the time I finished tests last or almost last but I scored better than average, in best 30% of student group. Being at uni I remember when I lived with 2 flatmates they passed their school exams (before going to uni) exceptionally well, super smart people, very fast thinkers and all. So we were reading the same papers, preparing for exam, they both read it 2 times while I was able to read it only once but I got the same grade as one of them and abit higher grade than the other. It was very hard for me at uni, half of the time I wasnt able to fully get the information professors told me, only being at home reading the info alone I got the understanding in me. Now at work I process new information in the same manner - slowly but when I understand it fully I can do it in normal speed. My work needs a lot of concentration which was very hard thing to do at first, I made lots of mistakes. But then I made a list of steps I need to take to do my job properly and it worked, it took a load of my brain. Also I dont like being in bigger group of people because my though processing is slower so it takes abit more time to come up with what to say about ideas or explanation to things (if I want to give a proper answer) so most of the time I just dont talk. Also most of the time it feels that all conversations in groups are just to not be in silence, nothing meaningful happens, noone shares personal information, just a fasade talk. I prefer one on one conversation better because I like to talk it deep and personal and to understand a person and then I can talk in my pace. It's very inconvenient when arguing. Also my short term memory is very low. I get confused easily. It sucks. Can you give me some advice?
Hi coldminded21 It sounds as though you are affected by slow processing speed in a social setting more than an academic one, these days. You have clearly worked out some strategies to help you succeed in your career as far as work is concerned, which is great. From a social perspective, there are a few things to bear in mind: first, when it comes to interacting with groups of people, there are plenty of people who prefer individual, in-depth conversations more than general chitchat. So, from the point of view of how you spend your chill time, you do not need to change anything - your preference for those sorts of conversations is your preference and how you choose to interact socially is entirely your preference. There is only something to address if you need group communication skills from a work perspective. If you need to 'perform' in group settings for work reasons, then there are strategies you can acquire, in just the same way as you did through school and for your technical side of work - selection of conversation 'tools' that you refine and apply to various situations. For responses to others, your preference to consider all elements and allow things to process at your own speed means that you are better off saying, 'Interesting point. I shall get back to you after I have considered it further.' There are plenty of skills you can use along those lines. Either way, I would say to you that you have no need to change if you do not wish to - the world is made up of people with breadth and depth of various preferences and that is what makes our world successful; we would not move forward so fast if we were all the same. However, should you wish to, then my advice would be to work with a psychologist/specialist communication coach on some specific communication strategies that are handy for group situations. I do that sort of training with senior management, especially with CEO's new to their job!
This is me to a T! last year I achieved 3 high A grades in my English coursework and ended up with a C overall because I could only complete half of my test in time! It's something I've ALWAYS struggled with and been ridiculed by teachers for (even since primary school) and now work colleges. I'm currently practicing for my upcoming biology exams and I'm still finding that the main reasons that the marks I'm getting are so low is because I have to rush the whole paper in order to attempt to answer all questions within an hour. This has been a problem for as long as I can remember!! Thank you for this information! x
Hi Meinung. thanks for your comment. When working with people who have slow processing speed, stress and anxiety as well as organisational and time management skills can all contribute to exacerbating the issue. Whilst slow processing speed alone is about grasping concepts, there are a lot of other factors that can exacerbate the issue - which is why it is important to work with each individual based on their own experiences. I hope that clarifies things for you.
Brain training games and puzzles will help across a number of cognitive processes, depending on the nature of the games and the nature of the tasks you need to process. Good advice regardless, though!
IMO if you struggle with brain fog you should take dissociation disorder (e.g. depersonalization-derealization disorder) into account as well as anxiety disorders...
Thanks. I've had this problem for a long time. I have high functioning autism. But sometimes i've felt that there was something else that was slowing me down and i couldn't figure out what.
I was given an IEP for an "extremely slow processing speed" at school but tested a very high intelligence. Thank you for further explaining this to me... Last year they took away my IEP, yet I'm still struggling, I don't know what to do.
People always tell me this and they I keep asking more questions because I do not understand. They say things like are you blind , your slow, someone even told me I don’t know if you’re acting stupid to be funny or you actually are. It makes me feel sad. When I was in school I did not talk to no one I kind of kept to myself. In school it seemed like all the other kids picked up something right away and I never even got to fully understand it. I failed twice because I did not have anough credits then I went to alternative school where you get pass just to show up so I did graduate
i learned to cope with this in every day situations by memorizing like a parrot what is going on and what is being said and then my brain takes it in slowly and this helps alot but in school and uni I'm completely crippled, the lectures are always way too fast, and when i watch a recorded lesson that's 20 minutes for example it takes me an hour to finish it and understand it. i used to think im just stupid but then i realized I'm smart but just a little slow and that's okay, and as long as i know I'm slow i can figure out ways to live with that, great video and also great comment section
R. thank you for your thoughtful comment and for joining in our little community conversations. I think you will find that you are not alone in your feelings and I am delighted that you have had the realisation you did - which is correct! We all carry within us unique ways in which we contribute to society; it's a shame that our education systems still often favour a single approach to learning that is time dependent. Keep doing what you're doing and your path will become clear for how you find your purpose - which is by far the most important part of the education strategy.
I get so suicidal thinking about how slow I am. I feel like I am so slow and dumb and it doesn't really help that all my life (I'm 26) people have always told me how slow and "awkward" I am. My family always makes jokes about it, and when I was a child growing my paternal grandmother and my father would constantly call me an "idiot" a "retard" "worthless" "stupid" an "animal" "not normal" and would often compare me to other children around me and mention how much dumber and slower I was than them. Now they think I am still living at home and am worthless for that and that I won't amount to anything but I swear if I could do better I would have a job and not lose it. I don't know what to do. I feel so meaningless and like all I do in this world is take up space and not provide anything productive or good to society. I feel so alone... I don't want to keep living like this anymore. It hurts so much... I just want out.
Thank you for writing. It sounds as though you are living in a difficult situation. I don't know the details and I am not sure whether you feel that you are slow due to processing speed or due to low confidence or due to other reasons. However, the fact that you are feeling suicidal means that you need help and quickly. I am not sure which country you are writing from, but in the UK you can access the Samaritans telephone help line. There are other help lines available too and in other countries. I would start with calling them and talking things through. Once you have done that, it can start to make things a little clearer regarding what needs to happen next. You are valuable. You will contribute positively in ways that you may not even be aware of. Everyone can live a life with meaning and positive contribution, no matter their challenges - physical or mental. However, when you feel so low, it is almost impossible to see how and you need help to do so. Make those calls and start making moves forward. You are not alone and there are people waiting there to help you and who will help you to believe in yourself as well.
you are amazing and talented,perhaps in ways you haven’t thought about yet.please call Samaritans.i hope everything works out for you,sending you lots of love🤍🤍🤍
I have processing speed disorder, and if i can add 1 more thing find the skill you are good at. Me i am good at computers, and in my Information Technology degree i got a 3.6 gpa overall.
hi please reply, I struggle to comprehend instructions at the same rate as others kids my age, it effects my pace of course in school and out of school as well, once I process the information I get it realy well and I'm clever at it then but I can't think fast and contribute normally in daily life because my processing is extremely slow, it then knocks my confidence and stops me from doing things, and makes me worry more cause of frustration, and everyone thinks I'm not very clever which I'm concerned will effect my future jobs and stuff, is there any possible way to increase the speed of how you process an instruction, it will solve all problems and help others.
Hi Tony and thanks for your question. Unfortunately, you describe a very common phenomenon: confidence being whacked because of processing speed being slower. In a nutshell, you will improve your rate of processing if you are able to focus in an environment with very few distractions (focus/attentional skills definitely improve with practice), but your fundamental rate of processing is still going to be slower than those who are able to process speedily. Sort of like being right or left handed - you can improve your use of your non dominant hand, but it is very difficult to improve it to the point of similar levels of performance. However...and this is important for confidence...if you can accept that your method of processing is DIFFERENT not BAD then things will help: you will be less likely to panic and more likely to expect others to give you the time that you need. The more you know a subject, the better you will be, but tbh, I work with senior execs too and there is definitely an argument to say that it can often be advantageous to have someone who is slower to process things in the head job - or at least one rung down. This is because those who are slower to process are usually far more thorough (as long as they are not feeling pressured to cut corners) and considered in their responses. There is room in a team for many differences in approach - it just doesn't often appear obvious when you're in the classroom. Being the best you can be, rather than comparing with others, is key here - and then you will be an asset to any business that you join in the future.
I just don't like the idea of knowing that I process information slowly and coping with it..There has to be a way we can train our brains to think quickly and fluently because the outcomes with slow processing effected me in every aspect of life tbh
Same. I know this is an old comment, but I am looking to get some testing done by a naturopath doctor. Conventional doctors will just say that you are stuck with it. I've read that some people may have this condition due to heavy metal toxicity, mold or trauma (birth or physical). There's nothing to lose by investigating and doing your own research
I didn’t know I had this until my A-levels, luckily though for my AS mocks my teachers noticed I was misinterpreting the question and running out of time, so I was tested and they realised I have slow processing speed and a working memory that isnt as good as other people’s. The extra time really helps though ^^
You have good teachers to have picked it up so systematically, Rhiannon. Happy days! Now you know, you can make the small tweaks and give yourself the extra time - and remember that it doesn't need to hold you back from what you want to achieve... :)
Excel in Exams can you please explain the correlation between slow processing speed and working memory? I have short term memory issues I’ve only recognized the last few years of my late 20’s and have always struggled with slower processing speed but didn’t recognize it until after I had my daughter 4 years ago. I started going to college and couldn’t keep up in some of the exams, took a test and found out I had learning disability. But, I notice I struggle with short term memory loss as well.
Thank you for this informative talk. This really describes me. I am 61 and today I have learnt about slow processing speed for the first time. I am bright, but am a slow learner. When at school, exams never did me justice. For example I failed most of my O levels, to the surprise of my teachers. I find it difficult to do certain tasks quickly. For example, when I do a task like cleaning a classroom, I struggle to do it as fast as others doing the same task. As I look back over my life, I think I would have benefitted greatly if I had been coached in the ability to do tasks quickly be they academic or practical. At the age of 16, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. I never liked reading because I was painfully slow at it and my mind would wander even though I read the words. More recently, I have discovered that I may be slightly on the autistic spectrum, but I have no diagnosis. Professor Tony Attwood has said many autistic people are dyslexic.Now I come across slow processing speed. My question is this. Is there a relationship between being on the autism spectrum and having a slow processing speed or are they quite separate? I'm a bit confused. On one hand I am definitely a slow learner and I have some mild autistic traits. However my son who is also on the autism spectrum is a fast learner.
Hugo thank you for your interesting point. To be honest, I do not do enough work with clients on the spectrum to comment with any sort of reliability. However, what I can say is that students with slow processing speed do not often show autistic characteristics, in my experience. When I have had the odd autistic client in the past, some have shown slower processing - but only in certain areas; they are capable of processing some things with considerable alacrity! For example, two of my former clients who were diagnosed on the spectrum were particularly strong with Maths and showed no processing speed difficulties at all here. Yet, in social circumstances, it would often take them a while to work out what was going on - true to form for many spectrum challenges. Although I am far from expert on the link between autism and processing speed, my gut feel is to treat the two as separate.
Thank you for this video, I have been struggling for a long time and this was really helpful! I myself am exactly like you described, high IQ but I really struggle with written work. I have been diagnosed with dyslexia but my reading is perfectly fine but the problem is always that I can't seem to actually absorb the information. Like a lot of dyslexic students, my marks are usually really good or really poor, unlike most I can't study just the right amount to pass so its all or nothing for me. Like many students I am constantly suffering from the imposter syndrome. I am at a good university studying a hard STEM subject but it is a constant battle and I would love to hear what advice you have. I know that I am capable of so much more as teachers have always felt that I am bright and when I get something eventually, I'm really good at it. Thanks!
Hi I have dyslexia like you but my reading is perfectly fine, I have the exact symptoms as you. I have been trying to get a degree for 5 years now but it seems impossible for me but I keep going. I have been so depressed and frustrated, my family doesn't understand what I am going thru. How did you make out with your studying?
Thank you so much for this video, i struggled with this all my life, and I'm applying for uni soon, hoping to give my best n be able to cope with the lessons
I don't have problem in exams or classes. However, homework and new situations are a whole other matter. I don't know...I process homework slowly, read it slowly, write slowly. It takes a lot of time for me to build phrases. So I end up missing the deadline or being cornered into giving something subpar (because anything is better than zero). Also, while doing homework I get distracted: think of a random thing and then start brainstorming with myself about it instead of doing homework; daydreaming. I conter it by listenning to music but it is a distraction by itself and cause me to be slow. Somewhat focused but slow. New situations. like my first job this month. Situations where I have to remember/pay attention to a lot of things all at once. News things. I hear it and then I forget. I start something and then get distracted. I feel overwhoelmed. Like somebody trying to carry too many things at once. Some things slips through your fingers and you can't- And then I forget those things were in my hands in the first place. And when people lecture me, I now remember but it's too late and I feel powerless... I am a slow person and do everything slowly. I am also tired most of the time. (Comes from sleeping late, but sometimes I wonder if it's more than that) Not tired to a point of being sleepy. But I can't be dynamic. Like just the mere Idea of keeping it up tires me. And when I do it out of necessity I am exausted few minutes later. I just have low energy. My forgetfullness, slowness and lack of energy. My coworkers told me to work on that. The teachers tell me to fake it. But I can't and I don't know what to do. Those problems caused me to fail college. Technically I can meet the demands. But the deadlines are too much for me. Too much all at once and too fast. It's been 5 years in University. And I haven't got past year 1 or 2 in anything. No diploma.
This is an excellent and informative video. I definitely agree with you how people with slow processing speed benefit from extra time on tests. When a person with slow processing speed doesn't have extra time on tests, the test is not going to accurately reflect how well they know and understand the material. When people with slow processing speed get extra time on tests, the test is going to accurately reflect how well they know and understand the material. It's definitely not unfair for people with certain kinds of disabilities to get extra time on tests. It's only unfair for people to get extra time on tests if the purpose of the test is to see how fast you can accomplish something like a swimming test to be a lifeguard where in order to pass the test, you need to swim from one side of the pool to the other side is 3 minutes or less or a running test for a particular job where in order to pass, you need to be able to run a mile in 15 minutes or less in order to pass the test. The purpose of taking a Math test, a Science test, an Accounting test, a Psychology test, a History test, etc in school or college is to see how well you know and understand the material; not to see how fast you can finish the test. The reason why there's time limits on certain kinds of tests where the purpose of the test is to see how well you know and understand the material is to keep students from taking advantage of unlimited time and to help prevent students from cheating. Certain kinds of disabilities such as slow processing speed issues, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD, anxiety issues, dyslexia, etc can cause people to take longer to finish. When people with those kinds of disabilities don't receive extra time on tests, the test doesn't reflect how well they know and understand the material, but when they get extra time on tests, their test score accurately reflects how well they know and understand the material. Having a processing disorder doesn't affect a person's intelligence. Many people with processing disorders are very intelligent. Keep up the great work with your videos. I wish you the best.
Thanks for the video! I have always been a mid range student for most subjects and better than average for English/Creative arts/Drama. However, my maths skills, language learning (especially grammar) and ability to listen and absorb instruction quickly has always been a problem for me. As a child who went through primary school in the mid eighties, I feel I never put down the solid basic foundation of numeracy which I should have. Possibly because back then the educational world did not have such a nuanced understanding of things such as "slow processing speed". Most just defined this as "Thick" or "Not a very academic pupil" etc. I am bright, but I learn very slowly. Once I have learnt something it usually sticks well. Can I ask as an adult, where I would go about having a processing speed test done for me? Are there any online tests available which are considered good? I am currently trying to re-teach myself maths, and a better understanding of my inherent learning strengths and weaknesses would be most beneficial. Many thanks, Rich
Hi Richard. I apologise for being slow to reply. I have just discovered a flaw in notifications... The best play to go as an adult for testing processing speed would be to an educational psychologist who will administer the correct tests. To be honest, I couldn't recommend any online tests that have integrity, of which I am aware. Happy to stand corrected if one exists!
You can download one from www.hmhco.com/hmh-assessments/clinical-and-special-needs-assessment/wj-iv . But you should go to an educational psychologist too, they can help you interpret it. You can buy the books that are associated with the test to gain further clarification. Also read books related to cognitive neuroscience, maybe at first one for laymen, then to those that are meant for professionals if you find yourself needing more information and fine tuning.
I am 24 years old man and this whole slow processing thing has affected my confidence and even my life choices till now. Whatever thing I chose, i find it extremely hard to decide if I'll be able to do that or not, simply because i always believe i would lag behind in whatever i will do. As a result I've made terrible mistakes and poor choices till now that has left me unemployed till now...
Thank you! This video, the information you shared and the way you are talking about this means a lot to me!!! And I am sure this is very valuable for other people in your audience. Thank you so much!! I am a law student and I've been struggling with managing the time and the stress behind fast paced exams. Thank you for saying that this processing speed doesn't make people with this processing speed stupid. This is very valuable especially in a place where a lot of people get picked on because they are "slow". Nowadays it seems you MUST adjust yourself to work as fast as a computer... But we ARE human.
I have this.. when I'm presenting, I will(probably) stutter. In social studies we were talking about how now people work more "lazy" than before. I shot my hand up and spoke about this and my experience (I have trouble going up stairs and having gigantism is no help), I also can't process what people want me to do.. I had this for my entire life. People say hurtful words like: " HURRY UP! " "slowpoke" "GO FASTER" it's really painfull..
To those with slow processing speed, what are you doing career wise? I so desperately want to be successful (from a societal standpoint as well as my own!) And I try oh, so hard ... but I'm in university studying nearly 20 hours a day... it's so unsustainable and I'm terrified of burning completely out...
I’m only year 9 at the moment, but I am very eager to teach aerospace (if that’s the correct term) as an elective subject to high school students. However I’m not sure if this is available yet or if it can be introduced as a subject to study in high school. I have thought of becoming a commercial pilot prior to this but that is not possible at all. My slow processing speed of things and frequent inability to speak out loud coherent sentences without stuttering will also interfere. Teamwork skills are very bad too (I’m very shy, anxious, a bunch of other stuff).
I am looking into why I am thinking slower and even having problems understanding words or hearing what people are saying. Like knowing that they are talking and not understanding the words that they are saying or being able to put that into a sentence to make sense of it. I'm in my early 30s. I can hear the tv so I don't think it's like a hearing problem completely.
Hi. Looking into slow information processing would certainly be worthwhile doing. There can be a number of reasons as to why you are experiencing these things - from auditory processing difficulties to anxiety, but slow processing speed may also be a significant factor. It would be worth consulting a neuropsychologist for help.
It might be anxiety related. I don't want to label myself as someone with a learning disorder, but I have been a slower test taker. Occasionally, I am rather sharp minded. I guess it varies. If I do notice what I noticed earlier again, I may need to get some help. It was obvious when I was in class last week that I was having problems. Maybe I haven't realized how much it is a problem until recently.
This video is so extremely spot on for me! I got diagnosed with slow processing speed after doing neuropsychological tests because I found myself reading extremely slowly and unable to finish my tests on time. At this point I was 22 and this research started because I had suffered from a rare disease in my head. The researchers said there is a high chance something happened in my brain that caused me to have slow processing speed. Now, that's all nice that I got that diagnosis and that I got extra time for my tests, but I got no instructions for how to deal with it or to live with it. I only thought of looking into it a bit more three years later, at 25, while I find myself having the greatest difficulty keeping up in university. Besides the fact that I am still not used to working a bit slower than the others around me, it is making me very anxious. I am trying to find sources that explain this concept in more depth and sources that give tools to work with it, but I seem to only be finding sources that are based on and meant for children. Are there any sources on slow processing speed that you know of, and recommend, for adults?
Hi Chinchinni. The best advice that I can give you would be to access your Student Support centre at university. I have found that they are super-helpful with the clients with whom I have worked and will offer structured support as well as other, more practical, help. Their advice is also tailored for university study - for students of that age range. I have found that there is not a great deal of information readily available for truly useful help, so tend to use my own strategies with my students which are based on neuropsychology, performance psychology and positive psychology. These are then tailored to each person, depending on their situation. If I were you, start with Student Support and see what they offer and whether or not they could recommend you to an Educational Psychologist if not.
RUclips is a great resource. Study preparation and metacognition will improve your study and essay writing abilities. Consider watching videos from Thomas Frank, Jordan B. Peterson, Marty Lobdell and Scott Brueckner
This is in school what about at the job and your later life? I'm programmer and I'm unable to finish my projects on time. I've learned everything I could but i still can't compete with my coworkers to finish the projects in a reasonable time. I make it like 3x or 4x slower what the average programmer would do. How can I solve that, It seems like everything is moving to fast for me. I've already changed like 6 companies in 4 years. I really love programming but I can't make myself helpful at work.
Hi Lone Wolf. This is a problem typical for slow processing students as well. If we worked together, I would take it from two angles: look at improving your work rate (there are lots of elements here which contribute to completion speeds) but also to work with your manager/work, so that they understand your needs and create an environment where you can feel good at producing - also reducing your anxiety around it.
I struggle with this sometimes.. But it gets better when I go home and study the things i'm learning in my job. I'm trying to get it all down, and being told one time is not enough. Also I learn better by doing than reading, so when I read I have to highlight key points, or instructions, and write things out that I learned. I write down responses I could have if a customer asks certain questions and I already thought it out.
I know how you feel. I struggled with this in school and it's now affecting my performance in the workplace. There are slower jobs that exist out there though-- my slowness didn't significantly impact my last job. Perhaps doing freelance work instead of a full-time job might work for you? I'd also do some research into Sluggish Cognitive Tempo disorder - a condition related to ADHD which involves slow processing speed. Some individuals with this benefit from ADHD drugs. Hope this helps!
i know i have adhd and and receptive and expressive processing disorder. I'm really slow. I take adhd meds. I'm failing inschool already especially in biology. What is my next step? What should i tell my teachers. I heard something about recording classes and reading ahead of time. Please share with me stragedies and what helped you.
Can you make a video of how to plan during your exam, i really don’t have any time knowledge. As if I trie to forget it, to not get stressed, is that possible? Thank you for the great advies you have given me!!
Hi,I’m think I’m having this problem;I don’t think there’s a problem with my intellectual,in fact I often get high marks on more information based subjects. In exams I often sit there for 15 odd minutes not writing at all just simply trying to work out what questions are asking of me and trying to plan my answers. I’m not sure how to get help in this or get help and with my GCSEs coming up I think I need to deal with this problem.I can remember dates and numbers easily but I can’t write for extended periods of time or even work for extended periods of time.I’ve always felt smart but dumb at the same time and have a hard time believing in my self.Glad to know I’m not alone though,you explained this beautifully,love the video!❤️❤️
Excellent video. Do you have any advice for adults with slow processing speed in working environments. I was always like the student who you described. I got tested for low processing speed (35%ile) last year when I was a student. But now that I am in a fast paced working environment, I feel lost and confused. The amount and quality of information that is being thrown at me makes me paranoid and anxious. Too combat this, I secretly record my meetings and play them back whenever I am lost (which is almost always). I often make mistakes in my work and am generally nervous because of this. How can I improve my situation? Should I ask a psychiatrist for ADHD medication?
Hi Ankit G. You sound as though you are the typical old profile for a low processing speed brain. In my experience, ADHD meds do not help unless you have high distractability as well - what you actually need is time to process. Once processed, you will likely be one of the most reliable people for making a decision as you will have taken the time and properly thought things through. However, this does not help you current situation. My advice is this: identify the best senior person to speak to whom you feel will be flexible and could support you; explain to them the way that you prefer to receive and process information, maybe giving examples of certain tasks; then ask them whether there is any flexibility in the workplace to make a few small changes which will help you to be a better employee (and them to be a better employer!). To be completely honest, if your workplace is too inflexible, then I would recommend looking for another employer. However, in fairness to your workplace, if they do not know that you are struggling, they cannot do anything to help. Most switched-on employers want to keep good employees, so will make an effort accommodate changes. But don't leave things too long - if you continue in your current situation, you will start doubting your own capacity to do the work (which isn't the case; you just need longer to process and then your responses will be strong and reliable) and then you will have a long way to climb out of that particular pit... Good luck.
Interestingly, she mentions that they often have a high IQ, but the truth is that IQ tests actually include cognitive efficiency/processing speed in their numbers, so it's likely that someone with slow speed is actually showing an average IQ (though not real). What happens is that these numbers will bring down the full-scale IQ. What you want to look for is the "gap". For example, my nephew has a verbal index of 135 (98th percentile), but his slow processing speed (in 18th percentile), brings down his overall full-scaled IQ to average. So he's superior if you take out cognitive speed, and average if you leave it in. These IQ tests need to be restructured.
You are correct. Full scale IQ is rarely a helpful measure and, to be honest, one that most psychologists rarely use in a practical sense, even though they will usually report it. Verbal IQ and perceptual IQ are far more useful measures and also provide the 'gap' information. Furthermore, performance on individual subtests is even better to understand as it provides the detail on how that particular brain likes to work.
I am suffering from the problem of slow processing speed,slow absorption of instructions,doing silly mistakes. But,I can think out of the box and give solutions,average in academics,believe in perfection. Plz suggest treatment to overcome this problem or atleast improve myself
i have adhd and expressive and receptive language processing disorder. I have similiar issues. I have never been treated besides adhd meds. Please let me know what's been working for you. Have you tried recording your classes. I don't know but im really struggling.
I was diagnosed with slow processing speed. What about learning in the class room? if you have a class schedule of 4 classes and holding down work, you're slow processing will _really_ hold you back.
+hdjksa52 You describe a common problem. Normal class scheduling rarely takes into account the needs of students with slow processing speed. It means that you need to be super-organised: it is what it is, so unless you can reduce the number of classes you're taking per semester (this is possible in some places), then you just have to deal with the fact that you're going to need to allocate more time to independent study - previewing material and also reviewing it. With my clients, I look at each case separately to see how best to manage the weekly plan. Sometimes there is flexibility with scheduling (and work, for that matter); sometimes not. Once we know what it is we're working with, we put in place a plan. Remember that you're also more likely to feel tired because of the amount of "brain work" that you need to do in addition to simply attending classes. So remember to be kind to yourself and balance physical activity and relaxation with study too :)
Excel in Exams I was a slower student when I was in high school in the mid to late 90s. I thought it was because I was not working hard enough. I was tested relatively recently and the doctor said I had slow processing. Is this new? I never heard of a L.D. evaluation of slow processing when I was in my teens or early 20s.
+hdjksa52 Information processing has been a subtest of the IQ test for a while - but not timed. It is only in recent years that schools have started using assessment tools for performance prediction that include tests of information processing speed. Not all schools use those tools either, so it can be a bit hit and miss whether or not your difficulties are spotted. However, in my view, it is always good to be as specific as possible with diagnoses of learning disorders - no point in just having a giant umbrella to bung everything under because it means that we can't be specific with the strategies to use to fix or manage.
When a gifted kid can't give in to it's gift, whatever that may be, school isn't what he actually wants. The work needs to be a game. Like actual work. Like really working. It is this we parents and schools fail to see. The lives of our children are empty. And they know technology is changing so fast they should be out there and chase that. Instead we keep our children in the past. We should teach them skills.
It is always a good idea to teach skill clusters. This way, students have the option of applying them to many different settings, rather than feeling the pressure of sticking with one - which is fairly outdated in the career world these days. Thanks for your comment.
Hi Sharif. I do not know your situation - whether you are at school or college or working. If you are studying, please access the learning support that is available to students in all schools and colleges as a starting point. If you are working, then I would suggest that you start with making an appointment with an educational psychologist who will help you to understand your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to cognitive skills and who will also be able to help you better understand and manage your feelings of loneliness. You need to ask for help for sure - but from someone who will work with you face to face. If you use those as your starting points, you can then go from there and they will help you make a plan for what happens next. Good luck.
Hello everyone I 'm glad to have found all of you. It has always been strange for me; I feel highly sensitive to everything I do and see and school work is not easy. When doing a simple task I feel as though I can't understand it and I think of it in the wrong way go off to a completely diffirent answer. It's like overthinking and slow processing at the same time. I also find doing stuff extremely tiring (not in a lazy way) as if I could never do the simplest task. I am rarely ever able to Finnish school work that, and it makes me feel bad and stressed. It as if my brain is not practical at all. Looking around, I see every other kid seeming chill and finnishing everything and understand stuff fine when I havent even Finnished the first question. The thing that's makes me most happy is seeing other people in the comments saying stuff I can relate, it makes me feel less alone. I have had an IQ test and it came out pretty high but Im not even living up to my full potential. Metaphorically speaking, It's as though theres a fog in my brain messing with all the controls.
Hi Reel Deep and thanks for contributing. Yes, it sounds as though the slow processing is a challenge for you, but I also think that you might benefit from a little bit of structure in how you go about thinking about a question and then answering it. The more stressed you become, the more paralysed you feel. Depending on the subject, I would really encourage you to go speak to one of your trusted teachers and ask to go through the process of HOW to think about answering a question. It is different from how to actually come up with an answer. I am not sure if I am being clear, but if I am helping someone with an essay question, the first thing we do is to think about what the question is asking and what the parts might be that we want to consider in our answer. From there, we then think about points for and against etc. I have a video on essay-writing, so I am not going to rabbit on, but I hope it illustrates what I mean. If you are struggling to answer questions that have no 'structure' required, eg 'what is the definition of...?', then it suggests you are struggling more with actual content and recalling content than with answering questions. In which case, it would be helpful to dedicate more time to familiarising yourself with content. I hope that gives you something to go on... :)
I'll talk to my teachers about it next time I have the chance. Thank you very much for answering back and giving me some tips. Thanks to you I'm sure Ill get it sorted👍
I would like to share my experience. First of all, i'm really happy to find a name to the issue i've been having during my whole life since my childhood. I am a deep thinker but yes, i always struggled with processing instructions quick enough, things went worse in my adulthood and because of this, i got fired at some of my first jobs😥This affected me and made me have a lack of confidence thinking i wasn't "competitive" enough or that i was a looser. As i didn't have enough confidence on looking for a new job because of this same issue, this affected me econonically, fortunatelly, here in Mexico there is this option to be an "unformal worker" by selling merchandise on the streets and with people near by you. I refugeed myself in the past 5 years by being my own "boss" selling stuff for survival and having my small bussiness, always conditioned by this fear due to loosing another job because of slow processing information, i didn't want to make myself look like a "retard' in front of any boss no more. When the pandemic came, bussiness runned down, i lost my income and went back to my mother's house. After a year, i decided to apply for a home office job trying to overcome my fear of failing due to the same problem. Until now, i've been doing pretty well doing homme office and now i have more labor experiencie. But yes, this situation affected my early labor life and it is not because of " laziness" or dumbness that i didn't wanna get me a "real job" as you call it. Mental health is truly underrated and it can determine your stability and happiness level if you don't identify it and get treatment, i still need to cope with this by myself because until now, i could not name the problem that my mind had and people outside, really don't care. Hope y'all doing well. Greetings
You may not find out until you become an adult and try to do something by yourself....all your life you take extra time to learn stuff and most tests are usually a joke....until you become an adult and the professional board wants you to do everything in one hour or say you actually go on a trade and wonder why it takes you 1 month to complete something your competition does in one week and its been 10 years and the learning curve is not shrinking.....
I struggle with adhd and i find this to be one of my biggest problems. I know i am smart and i can understand what is being given to me. However it takes me longer to understand because my brain dosnt contain the knowledge it seems. Not cause i dont want to but because i cant even when im trying. And its always made me feel incredibly slow and hard at conecting dots when i know i should underatand how to connect the dots quicker
Hi and thank you for your comment. ADHD can be a pest when it comes to trying to focus and absorb material. It then takes so much longer to initially take in what is being presented to you. There are a number of techniques which can help, but as a general starting point, I always start with short bursts of information being presented. Aim to focus for five minutes and then play back what you understand. Even better if you can teach someone else - and know that you are going to teach them before you start focussing. It will give your brain more of an imperative to focus - which helps with the high distractibility of ADHD. There is actually a fair bit of help out there, so trial a few tips at a time and see how you go. Good luck!
Hi Please reply. My daughter has struggled with slow processing speed her entire life. She had an Ed Plan for grades 1-8, and then struggled a lot through high school and was given accommodations even though I was told that she did not qualify for an ed plan. She works SO hard for medium grades and did reasonably well through 2 years of community college. Now she is in a 4 year school and struggling like crazy and having severe anxiety. I paid a lot of money for her to have the neuro psych eval. When we received the report it showed the same slow processing speed she has had right along.The tester said throughout the report that her results might be invalid due to "low effort". My daughter is 21, said she did her best effort on this and what is worrying me the most is, her scores for the effort portion said they were fail and they were in the dementia category. Now is one of the times that a mom would want the tester to be RIGHT, because the alternative is terrifying. I asked the woman what would the motivation be to try and appear less smart/bright than a person is? My daughter is not trying to be labeled as disabled. And on many portions of the test she scored excellent but still failed all of the effort measures. I don't know why the tester doesn't want to do more, work more with my daughter, find out what is really going on. They just said come back in a year pay big money again and we can see if she passes the effort part. Please advise me I cannot find any information anywhere about processing speed and "low effort" result. thank you.
Hi Puddin Pie. It sounds as though there are a number of possible issues complicating your daughter's situation. I do think that the 'low effort' scores need to be further analysed, especially in view of the fact that sections of the test were done well. Items which are designed to measure effort are usually 'easy' questions that just about everyone should be able to achieve - hence a question being raised over effort if they are not done well. I am not able to comment on the testing that your daughter did with the neuropsych - the neuropsych should have been able to interpret those scores for you and I am not sure why this was not done. I am sorry that I am unable to help here because I was not the person to test her. However, I do think that there is an element that has not been considered here and that is her anxiety. Anxiety is very capable of influencing scores and performance and should also be considered when interpreting test scores. If I were you, I would look for greater understanding from the neuropsychologist in terms of what is happening - and further testing would definitely be recommended, given the unexpected results on the last assessment. However, the other part that I would recommend is related to treatment: I would thoroughly recommend that your daughter works regularly with a psychologist with a background in educational needs to look at: reducing anxiety, building confidence and maximising processing speed. Regardless of the unexpected results on the neuropsych testing, we know she has difficulties in these areas, so I would focus on systematically addressing them to help her.
I think , i have the same problem. I think two things will help us to improve our slow processing speeds : 1. intermittent fasting (8 hours eating,16 hours fasting) 2.right brain activation exercises. search on youtube about that and do it for 6 months and the see the results.
Hi Bejan, I am not sure of the source of your research there, but I am aware anecdotally that fasting can help 'clear' the brain so help with processing by enabling it to better focus. I am unaware of any studies demonstrating success for slow processing speed. For right brain activation exercises, I am a fan of these, regardless. Greater right brain activation will encourage the development of identification of patterns and a different form of processing from the rather more reductionist left brain. Generally speaking, all brain activation exercises, for left or right, will encourage better processing for its respective paradigm.
I can see how fasting helps. I fast for 14 hours during Ramadan and although I still struggle at work and have to secretly record work meetings, I feel more calm and focused.
If you're struggling with slow processing speed it could be that you have a novel attention disorder that was previously lumped in with ADHD (as the inattentive type). Look up SCT and see if you identify. I personally have this (I would say quite severely) and have found that NRI (norapineaphrine reuptake inhibitor) medications are very helpful (though not perfect).
Wait could I really get extra time on exams if I applied? I was told slow processing wasn’t a serious thing you could get diagnosed for and it’s just a part of you so they don’t do that. I thought I was just gonna be screwed over forever and had to live with the naturally lower scores.
Love Yess I'm not a education socialigist or anything but I have extremely slow prossesing but I feel it's progressed and is now mild or maybe moderate, Watching and following through long films helped and reading books also eating more fish and getting better sleep, and these will benefit you to say the least, but actually getting rid of the problem I don't know 100% sure but I've always been told you'll always have it but it is possible for this problem to get better i know for sure cause I have, also regularly practice comprehensive instruction games or tasks and listening to people themselves helps improve, all of this should help you increase the speed your brains working memory passes information and restores it so you can react with it
I don't know, I would say: Exercising frequently? Learning and practicing music regularly maybe (it's good for the corpus callosum, and it increases the brain processing speed if a recall correctly)? Learn how to better use your working memory, through Dual N Back game for exemple? Eating things that increase working memory performance (green tea [EGCG], sage, rosemary, lavandula, blueberry, et caetera.)?
it makes me feel like i’ll never be able to have the job i want, either a dentist or optometrist or something in the health care field :/ what if i’m destined to be a nobody
It’s not fair... I’ll have to do extra work to keep up with everyone for the rest of my life. It’s like people can jump of the track and I have stay on it just to keep up.
You are right in some ways...but you are also missing that you will have characteristics and ways of doing things that are better than others too. 'Fairness' is a tricky concept and it means we are likely to be comparing ourselves to others - and all the variables outside of our control. Whilst there are definitely some actions that will take longer, you also have the ability to see elements that others, in their haste, may well miss. Rather than spending time on the things that are (understandably) frustrating and beyond your control, try re-focussing on the unique benefits that you can bring instead...of which there are many, if you give yourself time to reflect on them :)
thank you for this information. My daughter is 8 and entering 3rd grade. she was evaluated in the spring for learning disability. her comprehension scored high but her reading skill is kindergarten level. They diagnosed her with "slow processing speed" my question for you is should I tell her? Im not sure she will understand. would i just tell her that she needs more time then other kids? i appreciate your help!
Hi Jessica. Yes, at aged 8, it would be helpful for her to know what she needs in terms of extra time, but also that she is more than capable of learning, if she has that extra time. If she doesn't know, she may simply assume that she is 'thick' and therefore she may suffer a big old dent in her confidence and her motivation. If you explain that she needs a bit of extra time, but when she has that, she is more than capable of learning - and actually, because she will have processed it 'properly', she will then be better at remembering it... It will give her something positive out of a possible negative :)
Hi SupaBubba. That is a smart question. Although processing speed is one of the cognitive components assessed in an IQ test, it is one of many. Your IQ is assessed using a battery of tests, with the most accepted and validated battery (= set) being the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (of which there have been several revisions and in shorter as well as long form). There is also the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. A qualified psychologist, and preferably one who is practised in doing so, has permission to administer it. Now, there are tests being developed all of the time which aim to assess different cognitive functions, with the aim of making them less reliable on whether or not someone has learned to read (simply because someone has not learned to read has nothing to do with their cognitive function, but simply that they have not yet acquired that skill). So, your IQ, your intelligence quotient, is the aggregate score across a number of cognitive abilities, with speed of processing being just one, and one that is relatively arbitrary. I hope that helps! :)
I would always be top three in my class but always the last to finish 💔hate people walking into the class and be all like "damn Oreo bruh you still writing".Thats something that I can't seem to understand or overcome
I can understand your frustration, Modupi. My suggestion in those times is to have a few replies up your sleeve along the lines of embracing the writing time, such as 'Yeah, and it's all quality...' or referring to the fact that you spend quality time thinking before writing EG 'some of us actually do some thinking before getting into the writing' and playing it back to them. It's important that it's in your style and you feel comfortable saying it, but the key is to embrace the time that you take rather than feel the need to defend yourself... :)
Very good presentation with a lot of useful information. I was advised to get tested for Dyslexia (which I did this morning) because that condition is usually the main reason why students struggle with time during exams which I always do. However, my psychologist concluded that I am not Dyslexic. What I have instead is a condition relating to "Semantic Processing" which still means I'm entitled to apply for extra time. Is that the same as Slow Processing Speed, as shown in the video? Presentation slide at 7:21 encapsulates the essence of what I struggle with. What would be the correct 'medical' term to use when filling out an application for additional exam time?
+Orient Express I work with Miranda - please find her reply below: “Sorry for being slow to reply, Orient Express. Without looking at your assessment results, I am not sure whether Semantic Processing relates to your conceptual understanding of word/phrase meanings (in other words, you are prone to misinterpreting the meaning of words and phrases) or whether you are slow to process meaning - but not necessarily incorrect if you have enough time to do so. There is not a single formal term for this, but I advise students to write “significant difficulty with information processing” when applying for additional exam time. The application will usually need to be accompanied by additional evidence, such as a psychologist’s report anyway, so as long as you describe your difficulty along those lines, this will be fine.”
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This women is the only person that can discuss the inadequacies that I have and not make me feel
like it is a bad thing or makes me less of a person. Thank you miss!
I feel exactly the same
Making it feel like a bad thing is civilization's fault, not yours!
For me, processing information slowly not only affected me in my studies, it crippled my everyday living as I was growing up. As a kid, if I were to watch a movie, and someone asked me for a brief summary of what I JUST watched, I wouldn't be able to answer because, for some reason, information literally comes from one ear, and goes out the other. It's such an unfair trait of myself. It made me feel so stupid not being able to talk about something that was showed or explained to me.
Tracey Raymundo, you are not alone in your feelings. The good thing is, when the material comes in at a pace that allows you to process it - and your brain deems it worthy of being processed (I forget loads of things that my brain doesn't clearly deem important... :) ) - you will have no worries at all with retaining it, just so long as you have processed it sufficiently. If you also think in terms of overall stuff, rather than trying to remember the details immediately (for example, if you watch a documentary on seals, first recall that it was a doco and then that is was about the sea, then about animals, then about seals, then about the life of seals...does that make sense?). However, that is more a memory technique than a slow processing speed thing - though without having time to process, you will struggle to remember. I hope that helps :)
me 😢😢😢
Me too... Its horrible and my self esteem is so low....
@@excelinexams1056 does slow processing speed same with slow learner because i still cannot understand even after 10 time someone explain to me 😢
@@ardanormm7490 Hi , It sounds as though you have a tough time with learning. No, slow processing speed is not necessarily the same thing, although it can often mean that learning is slower. Being described as a slow learner can be for many more reasons than slow processing, so it's always important to get to the bottom of why you struggle to learn. I would definitely seek help on it as it will be useful for you to understand how you learn and so harness the skills you need to help you
I've always felt slower than other people in school and I really feel like this is it, people always see me as smart and knowledgeable but I've always finished test last and I feel extremely pressured to understand a question.
Chapzer same here dude
Same.
I’ve always been the last one to write down what teachers say, so every time they wait for me. But I don’t have enough time to grasp the concept they are talking.
Strange enough, I am often seen as a “smart student”, but I’m not good at exams because I always run out of time.
Same bruh
Same :>
Exactly the same
The first time I hear someone explaining my real struggle: avoiding group study, spending extra time updating notes, spending extra time on assignment, spending extra time preparing for exams, test anxiety, time pressure, panic, stupid mistakes,... imagine this struggle as an engineering student 😩
This is me. But I'm off it
Now imagine someone tell you, you are too slow or you are always making mistakes like you are not trying to overcome it😑
😥🥺😔😞☹️😕 me
This becomes a death sentence, with age. It means you are hated by the entire world. People believe you are lazy. You are are in a lifelong prison, with no possibility of Parole.
Kathy Urrely look up the story of the founder of kfc...it is never too late
Oh Kathy, sorry you feel that way. Wish you the best at everything you do.
But I haven't managed to process my death yet, so that's fine.
Honestly I relate to that last line in such a way that I started tearing up. That’s exactly what it feels like. Like your stuck forever in a world that moves way too fast with a brain that moves way too slow and theres no way to escape. All you can do is work harder than other people and it’s exhausting and you’re constantly running to keep up and you just fall farther and farther behind while they’re doing fine. It’s this constant state of being left behind and it fucking sucks.
I never understood this about myself, and never really understood why I couldn't understand the lesson/story/lecture... until I'd heard it a second time, but this resonates so much and I realise how helpful this knowledge would have been. Not too late though for my daughter who is very much like me in this way
For those of us struggling with this, I suggest looking into a disorder called Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT)! It's not an officially recognized condition, but it's believed to be related to the inattentive form of ADHD and is characterized by slow processing speed, frequent daydreaming, being easily confused, lethargy, etc. Some studies suggest that the ADHD drug Strattera may help and some people on the r/SCT subreddit report anecdotal benefits with stimulant medication. Hope this helps!
Thank you
I always knew i was a little slow in picking things up and found it difficult to finish exams or keep up with the rest of my class. I would wonder why it would take me hours on end to complete a piece of homework, whereas it would only take someone else a few minutes. Despite this, i put in a lot of hard work and always got good grades, and have always typically been good at English, so when my mum would complain that i was struggling or needed extra time in exams, the teachers would give me a basic test and declare me as fine. With my GCSES approaching i decided it was time i got real, outside testing, and low and behold, i was told i had a very high IQ which was masking my slow processing.I now have just completed my GCSES with my 25% extra time and am hoping for the best. The time helped massively and would really reccommend getting tested if you suspect you need extra time, as in most cases, you do!
I hate it when someone taking shit about about me and when I have something to say back, its too late and they're not listening anymore.
I agree, happens to me all the time.
A phrase " the lights are on but no one is in" has been said a few times.
i have been professionally diagnosed with slow cognitive processing skills since i was in grade 4, and it;s only gotten worse since i got older. im in year 10 now and it's been really hard for me to keep up. this is ecpecially bad for me since i also have a few mental disorders such as inattentive ADHD, depression, GAD ( Generalised Anxiety Disorder), SAD (Social Anxiety Disorder), and i'm on the autism spectrum slightly. my point is, with all my mental disorders, the cognitive processing tends to cause a lot of clashes wit people, since they don't understand why i'm not understanding, and i don't understand why they don't understand that i don't understand... (wow that was more confusing than intended lol) which leads to many confused teacher which just end up putting more pressure on me to work faster, but i can't... i'll stop rambling now, but it's just very hard for me. at least this video helped me to understand more about my cognitive processing skils.
Hi Emma, It sounds as though you have had a bit of a tough old time. I am glad that the video helped with understanding the cognitive side of things. Slow information processing speed is a recognised condition (at least here in the UK) and you may be able to access support at school from the Learning Support department. Once you have a clear understanding about what is going on for you, it is easier to communicate that to others. However, if you can access help from Learning Support then they can also go into bat for you with other teaching staff. :)
Exel in Exams thank you for your helpful advise, i am looking into contacting my school to sort out why certain things are happening with my learning, so hopefully they can do something about that. :)
Awkard potato omg I feel the same.lets be friends xD
@@SarcasticCupcake223 how’s it going now?
@@madinao635Thank you for asking. Since this comment, I had been put into the special education program at school, which kinda helped, because in certain classes there would be a teacher aid who would help me if I needed it. I still struggle to keep up though, but it hasn't gotten worse, so that's a good thing. I have also recently graduated, so that's cool.
I was always like that... At school most of the time I finished tests last or almost last but I scored better than average, in best 30% of student group. Being at uni I remember when I lived with 2 flatmates they passed their school exams (before going to uni) exceptionally well, super smart people, very fast thinkers and all. So we were reading the same papers, preparing for exam, they both read it 2 times while I was able to read it only once but I got the same grade as one of them and abit higher grade than the other. It was very hard for me at uni, half of the time I wasnt able to fully get the information professors told me, only being at home reading the info alone I got the understanding in me. Now at work I process new information in the same manner - slowly but when I understand it fully I can do it in normal speed. My work needs a lot of concentration which was very hard thing to do at first, I made lots of mistakes. But then I made a list of steps I need to take to do my job properly and it worked, it took a load of my brain. Also I dont like being in bigger group of people because my though processing is slower so it takes abit more time to come up with what to say about ideas or explanation to things (if I want to give a proper answer) so most of the time I just dont talk. Also most of the time it feels that all conversations in groups are just to not be in silence, nothing meaningful happens, noone shares personal information, just a fasade talk. I prefer one on one conversation better because I like to talk it deep and personal and to understand a person and then I can talk in my pace. It's very inconvenient when arguing. Also my short term memory is very low. I get confused easily. It sucks. Can you give me some advice?
Hi coldminded21 It sounds as though you are affected by slow processing speed in a social setting more than an academic one, these days. You have clearly worked out some strategies to help you succeed in your career as far as work is concerned, which is great. From a social perspective, there are a few things to bear in mind: first, when it comes to interacting with groups of people, there are plenty of people who prefer individual, in-depth conversations more than general chitchat. So, from the point of view of how you spend your chill time, you do not need to change anything - your preference for those sorts of conversations is your preference and how you choose to interact socially is entirely your preference. There is only something to address if you need group communication skills from a work perspective. If you need to 'perform' in group settings for work reasons, then there are strategies you can acquire, in just the same way as you did through school and for your technical side of work - selection of conversation 'tools' that you refine and apply to various situations. For responses to others, your preference to consider all elements and allow things to process at your own speed means that you are better off saying, 'Interesting point. I shall get back to you after I have considered it further.' There are plenty of skills you can use along those lines. Either way, I would say to you that you have no need to change if you do not wish to - the world is made up of people with breadth and depth of various preferences and that is what makes our world successful; we would not move forward so fast if we were all the same. However, should you wish to, then my advice would be to work with a psychologist/specialist communication coach on some specific communication strategies that are handy for group situations. I do that sort of training with senior management, especially with CEO's new to their job!
@@excelinexams1056 if you read something over and over hen studying and remember nothing is that slow processing speed.
This is me to a T! last year I achieved 3 high A grades in my English coursework and ended up with a C overall because I could only complete half of my test in time! It's something I've ALWAYS struggled with and been ridiculed by teachers for (even since primary school) and now work colleges. I'm currently practicing for my upcoming biology exams and I'm still finding that the main reasons that the marks I'm getting are so low is because I have to rush the whole paper in order to attempt to answer all questions within an hour. This has been a problem for as long as I can remember!! Thank you for this information! x
And no again: this is NOT about being distracted under stress (missing steps and such), it is about not getting it, not grasping the concept quickly.
Hi Meinung. thanks for your comment. When working with people who have slow processing speed, stress and anxiety as well as organisational and time management skills can all contribute to exacerbating the issue. Whilst slow processing speed alone is about grasping concepts, there are a lot of other factors that can exacerbate the issue - which is why it is important to work with each individual based on their own experiences. I hope that clarifies things for you.
I’m diagnosed with slow processing speed and my psychologist recommended me to do brain training games and puzzles to improve my processing speed.
Brain training games and puzzles will help across a number of cognitive processes, depending on the nature of the games and the nature of the tasks you need to process. Good advice regardless, though!
IMO if you struggle with brain fog you should take dissociation disorder (e.g. depersonalization-derealization disorder) into account as well as anxiety disorders...
Thanks. I've had this problem for a long time. I have high functioning autism. But sometimes i've felt that there was something else that was slowing me down and i couldn't figure out what.
I was given an IEP for an "extremely slow processing speed" at school but tested a very high intelligence. Thank you for further explaining this to me... Last year they took away my IEP, yet I'm still struggling, I don't know what to do.
People always tell me this and they I keep asking more questions because I do not understand. They say things like are you blind , your slow, someone even told me I don’t know if you’re acting stupid to be funny or you actually are. It makes me feel sad. When I was in school I did not talk to no one I kind of kept to myself. In school it seemed like all the other kids picked up something right away and I never even got to fully understand it. I failed twice because I did not have anough credits then I went to alternative school where you get pass just to show up so I did graduate
I feel you. I’ve had the same problem!
Keep working hard
You are the only one who i feel 100% comfortable watching this video about a slow processing speed.
You Described exactly my problem,It’s setting me back in my life. Every feels two times harder to do.
What a brilliant talk, wish more people understood this.. thank you
I got diagnosed last year and I have 25% extra time for my GCSE's next year, really helpful to understand what I've been told about what it is
i learned to cope with this in every day situations by memorizing like a parrot what is going on and what is being said and then my brain takes it in slowly and this helps alot but in school and uni I'm completely crippled, the lectures are always way too fast, and when i watch a recorded lesson that's 20 minutes for example it takes me an hour to finish it and understand it. i used to think im just stupid but then i realized I'm smart but just a little slow and that's okay, and as long as i know I'm slow i can figure out ways to live with that, great video and also great comment section
R. thank you for your thoughtful comment and for joining in our little community conversations. I think you will find that you are not alone in your feelings and I am delighted that you have had the realisation you did - which is correct! We all carry within us unique ways in which we contribute to society; it's a shame that our education systems still often favour a single approach to learning that is time dependent. Keep doing what you're doing and your path will become clear for how you find your purpose - which is by far the most important part of the education strategy.
This was a really great explanation & advice. Thank You!
I get so suicidal thinking about how slow I am. I feel like I am so slow and dumb and it doesn't really help that all my life (I'm 26) people have always told me how slow and "awkward" I am. My family always makes jokes about it, and when I was a child growing my paternal grandmother and my father would constantly call me an "idiot" a "retard" "worthless" "stupid" an "animal" "not normal" and would often compare me to other children around me and mention how much dumber and slower I was than them. Now they think I am still living at home and am worthless for that and that I won't amount to anything but I swear if I could do better I would have a job and not lose it. I don't know what to do. I feel so meaningless and like all I do in this world is take up space and not provide anything productive or good to society. I feel so alone... I don't want to keep living like this anymore. It hurts so much... I just want out.
Thank you for writing. It sounds as though you are living in a difficult situation. I don't know the details and I am not sure whether you feel that you are slow due to processing speed or due to low confidence or due to other reasons. However, the fact that you are feeling suicidal means that you need help and quickly. I am not sure which country you are writing from, but in the UK you can access the Samaritans telephone help line. There are other help lines available too and in other countries. I would start with calling them and talking things through. Once you have done that, it can start to make things a little clearer regarding what needs to happen next. You are valuable. You will contribute positively in ways that you may not even be aware of. Everyone can live a life with meaning and positive contribution, no matter their challenges - physical or mental. However, when you feel so low, it is almost impossible to see how and you need help to do so. Make those calls and start making moves forward. You are not alone and there are people waiting there to help you and who will help you to believe in yourself as well.
you are amazing and talented,perhaps in ways you haven’t thought about yet.please call Samaritans.i hope everything works out for you,sending you lots of love🤍🤍🤍
😢😥♥️♥️♥️❤️
Be brave.
I have processing speed disorder, and if i can add 1 more thing find the skill you are good at. Me i am good at computers, and in my Information Technology degree i got a 3.6 gpa overall.
hi please reply, I struggle to comprehend instructions at the same rate as others kids my age, it effects my pace of course in school and out of school as well, once I process the information I get it realy well and I'm clever at it then but I can't think fast and contribute normally in daily life because my processing is extremely slow, it then knocks my confidence and stops me from doing things, and makes me worry more cause of frustration, and everyone thinks I'm not very clever which I'm concerned will effect my future jobs and stuff, is there any possible way to increase the speed of how you process an instruction, it will solve all problems and help others.
Hi Tony and thanks for your question. Unfortunately, you describe a very common phenomenon: confidence being whacked because of processing speed being slower. In a nutshell, you will improve your rate of processing if you are able to focus in an environment with very few distractions (focus/attentional skills definitely improve with practice), but your fundamental rate of processing is still going to be slower than those who are able to process speedily. Sort of like being right or left handed - you can improve your use of your non dominant hand, but it is very difficult to improve it to the point of similar levels of performance. However...and this is important for confidence...if you can accept that your method of processing is DIFFERENT not BAD then things will help: you will be less likely to panic and more likely to expect others to give you the time that you need. The more you know a subject, the better you will be, but tbh, I work with senior execs too and there is definitely an argument to say that it can often be advantageous to have someone who is slower to process things in the head job - or at least one rung down. This is because those who are slower to process are usually far more thorough (as long as they are not feeling pressured to cut corners) and considered in their responses. There is room in a team for many differences in approach - it just doesn't often appear obvious when you're in the classroom. Being the best you can be, rather than comparing with others, is key here - and then you will be an asset to any business that you join in the future.
I can relate to you
I definitely have this problem. Slow Processing Speed.
Camino Catina thank you so much I will try it and hope to God it works
I just don't like the idea of knowing that I process information slowly and coping with it..There has to be a way we can train our brains to think quickly and fluently because the outcomes with slow processing effected me in every aspect of life tbh
Same. I know this is an old comment, but I am looking to get some testing done by a naturopath doctor. Conventional doctors will just say that you are stuck with it. I've read that some people may have this condition due to heavy metal toxicity, mold or trauma (birth or physical). There's nothing to lose by investigating and doing your own research
Perfect explanation. Recently diagnosed as an adult, this is perfect process for me to use at work.
I didn’t know I had this until my A-levels, luckily though for my AS mocks my teachers noticed I was misinterpreting the question and running out of time, so I was tested and they realised I have slow processing speed and a working memory that isnt as good as other people’s. The extra time really helps though ^^
You have good teachers to have picked it up so systematically, Rhiannon. Happy days! Now you know, you can make the small tweaks and give yourself the extra time - and remember that it doesn't need to hold you back from what you want to achieve... :)
Excel in Exams can you please explain the correlation between slow processing speed and working memory? I have short term memory issues I’ve only recognized the last few years of my late 20’s and have always struggled with slower processing speed but didn’t recognize it until after I had my daughter 4 years ago. I started going to college and couldn’t keep up in some of the exams, took a test and found out I had learning disability. But, I notice I struggle with short term memory loss as well.
Thank you for this informative talk. This really describes me. I am 61 and today I have learnt about slow processing speed for the first time. I am bright, but am a slow learner. When at school, exams never did me justice. For example I failed most of my O levels, to the surprise of my teachers. I find it difficult to do certain tasks quickly. For example, when I do a task like cleaning a classroom, I struggle to do it as fast as others doing the same task. As I look back over my life, I think I would have benefitted greatly if I had been coached in the ability to do tasks quickly be they academic or practical.
At the age of 16, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. I never liked reading because I was painfully slow at it and my mind would wander even though I read the words. More recently, I have discovered that I may be slightly on the autistic spectrum, but I have no diagnosis. Professor Tony Attwood has said many autistic people are dyslexic.Now I come across slow processing speed.
My question is this. Is there a relationship between being on the autism spectrum and having a slow processing speed or are they quite separate? I'm a bit confused. On one hand I am definitely a slow learner and I have some mild autistic traits. However my son who is also on the autism spectrum is a fast learner.
Hugo thank you for your interesting point. To be honest, I do not do enough work with clients on the spectrum to comment with any sort of reliability. However, what I can say is that students with slow processing speed do not often show autistic characteristics, in my experience. When I have had the odd autistic client in the past, some have shown slower processing - but only in certain areas; they are capable of processing some things with considerable alacrity! For example, two of my former clients who were diagnosed on the spectrum were particularly strong with Maths and showed no processing speed difficulties at all here. Yet, in social circumstances, it would often take them a while to work out what was going on - true to form for many spectrum challenges. Although I am far from expert on the link between autism and processing speed, my gut feel is to treat the two as separate.
Thank you. It was good and helpful to hear your view point.
I get extra time in exams but still rarely finish fully and I’m scared it’s gonna bring my grades down a lot
I have been diagnosed with processing speed disorder and 4 other disorders this video made me feel like i was learning about myself 💕
Oooh this is the problem i have had for hole my life.i just haven't given this problem a name.thank you for this video soo much
Thank you for this video, I have been struggling for a long time and this was really helpful!
I myself am exactly like you described, high IQ but I really struggle with written work. I have been diagnosed with dyslexia but my reading is perfectly fine but the problem is always that I can't seem to actually absorb the information. Like a lot of dyslexic students, my marks are usually really good or really poor, unlike most I can't study just the right amount to pass so its all or nothing for me.
Like many students I am constantly suffering from the imposter syndrome. I am at a good university studying a hard STEM subject but it is a constant battle and I would love to hear what advice you have. I know that I am capable of so much more as teachers have always felt that I am bright and when I get something eventually, I'm really good at it.
Thanks!
Hi I have dyslexia like you but my reading is perfectly fine, I have the exact symptoms as you. I have been trying to get a degree for 5 years now but it seems impossible for me but I keep going. I have been so depressed and frustrated, my family doesn't understand what I am going thru. How did you make out with your studying?
youtu.be/addme/vSXwDv6mxi4IKnaK25OS-sfzM4qBDA
Thank you so much for this video, i struggled with this all my life, and I'm applying for uni soon, hoping to give my best n be able to cope with the lessons
I have 2.5 slower reaction time than other people in my age group
I'M X10
I don't have problem in exams or classes.
However, homework and new situations are a whole other matter.
I don't know...I process homework slowly, read it slowly, write slowly. It takes a lot of time for me to build phrases. So I end up missing the deadline or being cornered into giving something subpar (because anything is better than zero).
Also, while doing homework I get distracted: think of a random thing and then start brainstorming with myself about it instead of doing homework; daydreaming. I conter it by listenning to music but it is a distraction by itself and cause me to be slow. Somewhat focused but slow.
New situations. like my first job this month. Situations where I have to remember/pay attention to a lot of things all at once. News things. I hear it and then I forget. I start something and then get distracted.
I feel overwhoelmed. Like somebody trying to carry too many things at once. Some things slips through your fingers and you can't-
And then I forget those things were in my hands in the first place. And when people lecture me, I now remember but it's too late and I feel powerless...
I am a slow person and do everything slowly. I am also tired most of the time. (Comes from sleeping late, but sometimes I wonder if it's more than that)
Not tired to a point of being sleepy. But I can't be dynamic. Like just the mere Idea of keeping it up tires me. And when I do it out of necessity I am exausted few minutes later.
I just have low energy.
My forgetfullness, slowness and lack of energy. My coworkers told me to work on that.
The teachers tell me to fake it. But I can't and I don't know what to do.
Those problems caused me to fail college.
Technically I can meet the demands. But the deadlines are too much for me. Too much all at once and too fast. It's been 5 years in University. And I haven't got past year 1 or 2 in anything. No diploma.
This is an excellent and informative video. I definitely agree with you how people with slow processing speed benefit from extra time on tests. When a person with slow processing speed doesn't have extra time on tests, the test is not going to accurately reflect how well they know and understand the material. When people with slow processing speed get extra time on tests, the test is going to accurately reflect how well they know and understand the material.
It's definitely not unfair for people with certain kinds of disabilities to get extra time on tests. It's only unfair for people to get extra time on tests if the purpose of the test is to see how fast you can accomplish something like a swimming test to be a lifeguard where in order to pass the test, you need to swim from one side of the pool to the other side is 3 minutes or less or a running test for a particular job where in order to pass, you need to be able to run a mile in 15 minutes or less in order to pass the test. The purpose of taking a Math test, a Science test, an Accounting test, a Psychology test, a History test, etc in school or college is to see how well you know and understand the material; not to see how fast you can finish the test. The reason why there's time limits on certain kinds of tests where the purpose of the test is to see how well you know and understand the material is to keep students from taking advantage of unlimited time and to help prevent students from cheating.
Certain kinds of disabilities such as slow processing speed issues, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD, anxiety issues, dyslexia, etc can cause people to take longer to finish. When people with those kinds of disabilities don't receive extra time on tests, the test doesn't reflect how well they know and understand the material, but when they get extra time on tests, their test score accurately reflects how well they know and understand the material.
Having a processing disorder doesn't affect a person's intelligence. Many people with processing disorders are very intelligent. Keep up the great work with your videos. I wish you the best.
Thanks for the video! I have always been a mid range student for most subjects and better than average for English/Creative arts/Drama.
However, my maths skills, language learning (especially grammar) and ability to listen and absorb instruction quickly has always been a problem for me.
As a child who went through primary school in the mid eighties, I feel I never put down the solid basic foundation of numeracy which I should have.
Possibly because back then the educational world did not have such a nuanced understanding of things such as "slow processing speed". Most just defined this as "Thick" or "Not a very academic pupil" etc.
I am bright, but I learn very slowly. Once I have learnt something it usually sticks well.
Can I ask as an adult, where I would go about having a processing speed test done for me? Are there any online tests available which are considered good?
I am currently trying to re-teach myself maths, and a better understanding of my inherent learning strengths and weaknesses would be most beneficial.
Many thanks,
Rich
Hi Richard. I apologise for being slow to reply. I have just discovered a flaw in notifications... The best play to go as an adult for testing processing speed would be to an educational psychologist who will administer the correct tests. To be honest, I couldn't recommend any online tests that have integrity, of which I am aware. Happy to stand corrected if one exists!
You can download one from www.hmhco.com/hmh-assessments/clinical-and-special-needs-assessment/wj-iv . But you should go to an educational psychologist too, they can help you interpret it. You can buy the books that are associated with the test to gain further clarification. Also read books related to cognitive neuroscience, maybe at first one for laymen, then to those that are meant for professionals if you find yourself needing more information and fine tuning.
Oh my goodness, I could have written this post. I have all the same skills and detriments.
I am 24 years old man and this whole slow processing thing has affected my confidence and even my life choices till now. Whatever thing I chose, i find it extremely hard to decide if I'll be able to do that or not, simply because i always believe i would lag behind in whatever i will do. As a result I've made terrible mistakes and poor choices till now that has left me unemployed till now...
Thank you! This video, the information you shared and the way you are talking about this means a lot to me!!! And I am sure this is very valuable for other people in your audience. Thank you so much!!
I am a law student and I've been struggling with managing the time and the stress behind fast paced exams. Thank you for saying that this processing speed doesn't make people with this processing speed stupid. This is very valuable especially in a place where a lot of people get picked on because they are "slow". Nowadays it seems you MUST adjust yourself to work as fast as a computer... But we ARE human.
That's such a pleasure, Helen. I'm really glad it was helpful to you :)
I have this.. when I'm presenting, I will(probably) stutter. In social studies we were talking about how now people work more "lazy" than before. I shot my hand up and spoke about this and my experience (I have trouble going up stairs and having gigantism is no help), I also can't process what people want me to do.. I had this for my entire life. People say hurtful words like: " HURRY UP! " "slowpoke" "GO FASTER" it's really painfull..
To those with slow processing speed, what are you doing career wise?
I so desperately want to be successful (from a societal standpoint as well as my own!) And I try oh, so hard ... but I'm in university studying nearly 20 hours a day... it's so unsustainable and I'm terrified of burning completely out...
I’m only year 9 at the moment, but I am very eager to teach aerospace (if that’s the correct term) as an elective subject to high school students. However I’m not sure if this is available yet or if it can be introduced as a subject to study in high school.
I have thought of becoming a commercial pilot prior to this but that is not possible at all. My slow processing speed of things and frequent inability to speak out loud coherent sentences without stuttering will also interfere. Teamwork skills are very bad too (I’m very shy, anxious, a bunch of other stuff).
I am looking into why I am thinking slower and even having problems understanding words or hearing what people are saying. Like knowing that they are talking and not understanding the words that they are saying or being able to put that into a sentence to make sense of it. I'm in my early 30s.
I can hear the tv so I don't think it's like a hearing problem completely.
Hi. Looking into slow information processing would certainly be worthwhile doing. There can be a number of reasons as to why you are experiencing these things - from auditory processing difficulties to anxiety, but slow processing speed may also be a significant factor. It would be worth consulting a neuropsychologist for help.
It might be anxiety related. I don't want to label myself as someone with a learning disorder, but I have been a slower test taker. Occasionally, I am rather sharp minded. I guess it varies. If I do notice what I noticed earlier again, I may need to get some help. It was obvious when I was in class last week that I was having problems. Maybe I haven't realized how much it is a problem until recently.
Research auditory processing disorder. You can have perfect hearing and still have APD.
I have High Functioning Autism and I have a different processing speed.
This video is so extremely spot on for me! I got diagnosed with slow processing speed after doing neuropsychological tests because I found myself reading extremely slowly and unable to finish my tests on time. At this point I was 22 and this research started because I had suffered from a rare disease in my head. The researchers said there is a high chance something happened in my brain that caused me to have slow processing speed.
Now, that's all nice that I got that diagnosis and that I got extra time for my tests, but I got no instructions for how to deal with it or to live with it. I only thought of looking into it a bit more three years later, at 25, while I find myself having the greatest difficulty keeping up in university. Besides the fact that I am still not used to working a bit slower than the others around me, it is making me very anxious. I am trying to find sources that explain this concept in more depth and sources that give tools to work with it, but I seem to only be finding sources that are based on and meant for children. Are there any sources on slow processing speed that you know of, and recommend, for adults?
Hi Chinchinni. The best advice that I can give you would be to access your Student Support centre at university. I have found that they are super-helpful with the clients with whom I have worked and will offer structured support as well as other, more practical, help. Their advice is also tailored for university study - for students of that age range. I have found that there is not a great deal of information readily available for truly useful help, so tend to use my own strategies with my students which are based on neuropsychology, performance psychology and positive psychology. These are then tailored to each person, depending on their situation. If I were you, start with Student Support and see what they offer and whether or not they could recommend you to an Educational Psychologist if not.
I will look into it. Thank you so much!
RUclips is a great resource.
Study preparation and metacognition will improve your study and essay writing abilities.
Consider watching videos from Thomas Frank, Jordan B. Peterson, Marty Lobdell and Scott Brueckner
This is in school what about at the job and your later life?
I'm programmer and I'm unable to finish my projects on time. I've learned everything I could but i still can't compete with my coworkers to finish the projects in a reasonable time. I make it like 3x or 4x slower what the average programmer would do. How can I solve that, It seems like everything is moving to fast for me. I've already changed like 6 companies in 4 years. I really love programming but I can't make myself helpful at work.
Would really like to see a response to this question as well.
Hi Lone Wolf. This is a problem typical for slow processing students as well. If we worked together, I would take it from two angles: look at improving your work rate (there are lots of elements here which contribute to completion speeds) but also to work with your manager/work, so that they understand your needs and create an environment where you can feel good at producing - also reducing your anxiety around it.
I struggle with this sometimes.. But it gets better when I go home and study the things i'm learning in my job. I'm trying to get it all down, and being told one time is not enough. Also I learn better by doing than reading, so when I read I have to highlight key points, or instructions, and write things out that I learned. I write down responses I could have if a customer asks certain questions and I already thought it out.
I know how you feel. I struggled with this in school and it's now affecting my performance in the workplace. There are slower jobs that exist out there though-- my slowness didn't significantly impact my last job. Perhaps doing freelance work instead of a full-time job might work for you? I'd also do some research into Sluggish Cognitive Tempo disorder - a condition related to ADHD which involves slow processing speed. Some individuals with this benefit from ADHD drugs. Hope this helps!
Very good video , was like having deja vu in a way.
It is a serious problem. Some students get frustrated when they realise that they are slow.
Yes for me it really frustrated i even dont like my self
i know i have adhd and and receptive and expressive processing disorder. I'm really slow. I take adhd meds. I'm failing inschool already especially in biology. What is my next step? What should i tell my teachers. I heard something about recording classes and reading ahead of time. Please share with me stragedies and what helped you.
Can you make a video of how to plan during your exam, i really don’t have any time knowledge. As if I trie to forget it, to not get stressed, is that possible? Thank you for the great advies you have given me!!
Hi,I’m think I’m having this problem;I don’t think there’s a problem with my intellectual,in fact I often get high marks on more information based subjects. In exams I often sit there for 15 odd minutes not writing at all just simply trying to work out what questions are asking of me and trying to plan my answers. I’m not sure how to get help in this or get help and with my GCSEs coming up I think I need to deal with this problem.I can remember dates and numbers easily but I can’t write for extended periods of time or even work for extended periods of time.I’ve always felt smart but dumb at the same time and have a hard time believing in my self.Glad to know I’m not alone though,you explained this beautifully,love the video!❤️❤️
Excellent video. Do you have any advice for adults with slow processing speed in working environments. I was always like the student who you described. I got tested for low processing speed (35%ile) last year when I was a student. But now that I am in a fast paced working environment, I feel lost and confused. The amount and quality of information that is being thrown at me makes me paranoid and anxious. Too combat this, I secretly record my meetings and play them back whenever I am lost (which is almost always). I often make mistakes in my work and am generally nervous because of this. How can I improve my situation? Should I ask a psychiatrist for ADHD medication?
Hi Ankit G. You sound as though you are the typical old profile for a low processing speed brain. In my experience, ADHD meds do not help unless you have high distractability as well - what you actually need is time to process. Once processed, you will likely be one of the most reliable people for making a decision as you will have taken the time and properly thought things through. However, this does not help you current situation. My advice is this: identify the best senior person to speak to whom you feel will be flexible and could support you; explain to them the way that you prefer to receive and process information, maybe giving examples of certain tasks; then ask them whether there is any flexibility in the workplace to make a few small changes which will help you to be a better employee (and them to be a better employer!). To be completely honest, if your workplace is too inflexible, then I would recommend looking for another employer. However, in fairness to your workplace, if they do not know that you are struggling, they cannot do anything to help. Most switched-on employers want to keep good employees, so will make an effort accommodate changes. But don't leave things too long - if you continue in your current situation, you will start doubting your own capacity to do the work (which isn't the case; you just need longer to process and then your responses will be strong and reliable) and then you will have a long way to climb out of that particular pit... Good luck.
Interestingly, she mentions that they often have a high IQ, but the truth is that IQ tests actually include cognitive efficiency/processing speed in their numbers, so it's likely that someone with slow speed is actually showing an average IQ (though not real). What happens is that these numbers will bring down the full-scale IQ. What you want to look for is the "gap". For example, my nephew has a verbal index of 135 (98th percentile), but his slow processing speed (in 18th percentile), brings down his overall full-scaled IQ to average. So he's superior if you take out cognitive speed, and average if you leave it in. These IQ tests need to be restructured.
You are correct. Full scale IQ is rarely a helpful measure and, to be honest, one that most psychologists rarely use in a practical sense, even though they will usually report it. Verbal IQ and perceptual IQ are far more useful measures and also provide the 'gap' information. Furthermore, performance on individual subtests is even better to understand as it provides the detail on how that particular brain likes to work.
I am suffering from the problem of slow processing speed,slow absorption of instructions,doing silly mistakes.
But,I can think out of the box and give solutions,average in academics,believe in perfection.
Plz suggest treatment to overcome this problem or atleast improve myself
i have adhd and expressive and receptive language processing disorder. I have similiar issues. I have never been treated besides adhd meds. Please let me know what's been working for you. Have you tried recording your classes. I don't know but im really struggling.
I was diagnosed with slow processing speed. What about learning in the class room? if you have a class schedule of 4 classes and holding down work, you're slow processing will _really_ hold you back.
+hdjksa52 You describe a common problem. Normal class scheduling rarely takes into account the needs of students with slow processing speed. It means that you need to be super-organised: it is what it is, so unless you can reduce the number of classes you're taking per semester (this is possible in some places), then you just have to deal with the fact that you're going to need to allocate more time to independent study - previewing material and also reviewing it. With my clients, I look at each case separately to see how best to manage the weekly plan. Sometimes there is flexibility with scheduling (and work, for that matter); sometimes not. Once we know what it is we're working with, we put in place a plan. Remember that you're also more likely to feel tired because of the amount of "brain work" that you need to do in addition to simply attending classes. So remember to be kind to yourself and balance physical activity and relaxation with study too :)
Excel in Exams
I was a slower student when I was in high school in the mid to late 90s. I thought it was because I was not working hard enough. I was tested relatively recently and the doctor said I had slow processing. Is this new? I never heard of a L.D. evaluation of slow processing when I was in my teens or early 20s.
+hdjksa52 Information processing has been a subtest of the IQ test for a while - but not timed. It is only in recent years that schools have started using assessment tools for performance prediction that include tests of information processing speed. Not all schools use those tools either, so it can be a bit hit and miss whether or not your difficulties are spotted. However, in my view, it is always good to be as specific as possible with diagnoses of learning disorders - no point in just having a giant umbrella to bung everything under because it means that we can't be specific with the strategies to use to fix or manage.
When a gifted kid can't give in to it's gift, whatever that may be, school isn't what he actually wants. The work needs to be a game. Like actual work. Like really working. It is this we parents and schools fail to see. The lives of our children are empty. And they know technology is changing so fast they should be out there and chase that. Instead we keep our children in the past. We should teach them skills.
It is always a good idea to teach skill clusters. This way, students have the option of applying them to many different settings, rather than feeling the pressure of sticking with one - which is fairly outdated in the career world these days. Thanks for your comment.
dear educator, thank you for explaining the way i learn in the way i do. thank you for your suggestions. k.
You are my hero, thank you for understanding people like me and raising awareness. Wish there was more awareness in Australia.
I am slow . people think me a lazy person and i feel very loneliness.my memory is very short .plz help me
Hi Sharif. I do not know your situation - whether you are at school or college or working. If you are studying, please access the learning support that is available to students in all schools and colleges as a starting point. If you are working, then I would suggest that you start with making an appointment with an educational psychologist who will help you to understand your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to cognitive skills and who will also be able to help you better understand and manage your feelings of loneliness. You need to ask for help for sure - but from someone who will work with you face to face. If you use those as your starting points, you can then go from there and they will help you make a plan for what happens next. Good luck.
Hello everyone I 'm glad to have found all of you. It has always been strange for me; I feel highly sensitive to everything I do and see and school work is not easy. When doing a simple task I feel as though I can't understand it and I think of it in the wrong way go off to a completely diffirent answer. It's like overthinking and slow processing at the same time. I also find doing stuff extremely tiring (not in a lazy way) as if I could never do the simplest task. I am rarely ever able to Finnish school work that, and it makes me feel bad and stressed. It as if my brain is not practical at all. Looking around, I see every other kid seeming chill and finnishing everything and understand stuff fine when I havent even Finnished the first question. The thing that's makes me most happy is seeing other people in the comments saying stuff I can relate, it makes me feel less alone. I have had an IQ test and it came out pretty high but Im not even living up to my full potential. Metaphorically speaking, It's as though theres a fog in my brain messing with all the controls.
That's the same here and I have slow processing
Hi Reel Deep and thanks for contributing. Yes, it sounds as though the slow processing is a challenge for you, but I also think that you might benefit from a little bit of structure in how you go about thinking about a question and then answering it. The more stressed you become, the more paralysed you feel. Depending on the subject, I would really encourage you to go speak to one of your trusted teachers and ask to go through the process of HOW to think about answering a question. It is different from how to actually come up with an answer. I am not sure if I am being clear, but if I am helping someone with an essay question, the first thing we do is to think about what the question is asking and what the parts might be that we want to consider in our answer. From there, we then think about points for and against etc. I have a video on essay-writing, so I am not going to rabbit on, but I hope it illustrates what I mean. If you are struggling to answer questions that have no 'structure' required, eg 'what is the definition of...?', then it suggests you are struggling more with actual content and recalling content than with answering questions. In which case, it would be helpful to dedicate more time to familiarising yourself with content. I hope that gives you something to go on... :)
I'll talk to my teachers about it next time I have the chance. Thank you very much for answering back and giving me some tips. Thanks to you I'm sure Ill get it sorted👍
@@mothwhisperer1593 do you not get extra time already
@@marantamil459 I consulted my school learning centre so I do luckily
This is great! Thank you very much!
I would like to share my experience.
First of all, i'm really happy to find a name to the issue i've been having during my whole life since my childhood. I am a deep thinker but yes, i always struggled with processing instructions quick enough, things went worse in my adulthood and because of this, i got fired at some of my first jobs😥This affected me and made me have a lack of confidence thinking i wasn't "competitive" enough or that i was a looser.
As i didn't have enough confidence on looking for a new job because of this same issue, this affected me econonically, fortunatelly, here in Mexico there is this option to be an "unformal worker" by selling merchandise on the streets and with people near by you. I refugeed myself in the past 5 years by being my own "boss" selling stuff for survival and having my small bussiness, always conditioned by this fear due to loosing another job because of slow processing information, i didn't want to make myself look like a "retard' in front of any boss no more.
When the pandemic came, bussiness runned down, i lost my income and went back to my mother's house. After a year, i decided to apply for a home office job trying to overcome my fear of failing due to the same problem.
Until now, i've been doing pretty well doing homme office and now i have more labor experiencie. But yes, this situation affected my early labor life and it is not because of " laziness" or dumbness that i didn't wanna get me a "real job" as you call it. Mental health is truly underrated and it can determine your stability and happiness level if you don't identify it and get treatment, i still need to cope with this by myself because until now, i could not name the problem that my mind had and people outside, really don't care.
Hope y'all doing well. Greetings
Please do some some video because it is helping me a lot!
You may not find out until you become an adult and try to do something by yourself....all your life you take extra time to learn stuff and most tests are usually a joke....until you become an adult and the professional board wants you to do everything in one hour or say you actually go on a trade and wonder why it takes you 1 month to complete something your competition does in one week and its been 10 years and the learning curve is not shrinking.....
Exactly, you are totally right
I struggle with adhd and i find this to be one of my biggest problems. I know i am smart and i can understand what is being given to me. However it takes me longer to understand because my brain dosnt contain the knowledge it seems. Not cause i dont want to but because i cant even when im trying. And its always made me feel incredibly slow and hard at conecting dots when i know i should underatand how to connect the dots quicker
Hi and thank you for your comment. ADHD can be a pest when it comes to trying to focus and absorb material. It then takes so much longer to initially take in what is being presented to you. There are a number of techniques which can help, but as a general starting point, I always start with short bursts of information being presented. Aim to focus for five minutes and then play back what you understand. Even better if you can teach someone else - and know that you are going to teach them before you start focussing. It will give your brain more of an imperative to focus - which helps with the high distractibility of ADHD. There is actually a fair bit of help out there, so trial a few tips at a time and see how you go. Good luck!
Sooooo distracted by the candle in the bookcase!!!!!!!!
+Mira Narro Sorry, Mira!
Need to buy myself a cpu before my mother board explodes🤣
Oooh my God . We need more help from you.
Hi Please reply.
My daughter has struggled with slow processing speed her entire life. She had an Ed Plan for grades 1-8, and then struggled a lot through high school and was given accommodations even though I was told that she did not qualify for an ed plan. She works SO hard for medium grades and did reasonably well through 2 years of community college. Now she is in a 4 year school and struggling like crazy and having severe anxiety. I paid a lot of money for her to have the neuro psych eval. When we received the report it showed the same slow processing speed she has had right along.The tester said throughout the report that her results might be invalid due to "low effort". My daughter is 21, said she did her best effort on this and what is worrying me the most is, her scores for the effort portion said they were fail and they were in the dementia category. Now is one of the times that a mom would want the tester to be RIGHT, because the alternative is terrifying. I asked the woman what would the motivation be to try and appear less smart/bright than a person is? My daughter is not trying to be labeled as disabled. And on many portions of the test she scored excellent but still failed all of the effort measures. I don't know why the tester doesn't want to do more, work more with my daughter, find out what is really going on. They just said come back in a year pay big money again and we can see if she passes the effort part. Please advise me I cannot find any information anywhere about processing speed and "low effort" result. thank you.
Hi Puddin Pie. It sounds as though there are a number of possible issues complicating your daughter's situation. I do think that the 'low effort' scores need to be further analysed, especially in view of the fact that sections of the test were done well. Items which are designed to measure effort are usually 'easy' questions that just about everyone should be able to achieve - hence a question being raised over effort if they are not done well. I am not able to comment on the testing that your daughter did with the neuropsych - the neuropsych should have been able to interpret those scores for you and I am not sure why this was not done. I am sorry that I am unable to help here because I was not the person to test her. However, I do think that there is an element that has not been considered here and that is her anxiety. Anxiety is very capable of influencing scores and performance and should also be considered when interpreting test scores. If I were you, I would look for greater understanding from the neuropsychologist in terms of what is happening - and further testing would definitely be recommended, given the unexpected results on the last assessment. However, the other part that I would recommend is related to treatment: I would thoroughly recommend that your daughter works regularly with a psychologist with a background in educational needs to look at: reducing anxiety, building confidence and maximising processing speed. Regardless of the unexpected results on the neuropsych testing, we know she has difficulties in these areas, so I would focus on systematically addressing them to help her.
Excel in Exams / Thank you for taking the time out to reply. It's a hard situation because a second opinion isn't an option financially.
We are addressing the anxiety as you suggested.
Puddin Pie hopefully she's beautiful, so someone can love her, or talented.
Thanks for this video
I think , i have the same problem. I think two things will help us to improve our slow processing speeds :
1. intermittent fasting (8 hours eating,16 hours fasting)
2.right brain activation exercises.
search on youtube about that and do it for 6 months and the see the results.
Hi Bejan, I am not sure of the source of your research there, but I am aware anecdotally that fasting can help 'clear' the brain so help with processing by enabling it to better focus. I am unaware of any studies demonstrating success for slow processing speed. For right brain activation exercises, I am a fan of these, regardless. Greater right brain activation will encourage the development of identification of patterns and a different form of processing from the rather more reductionist left brain. Generally speaking, all brain activation exercises, for left or right, will encourage better processing for its respective paradigm.
What works even better is the keto diet
I can see how fasting helps. I fast for 14 hours during Ramadan and although I still struggle at work and have to secretly record work meetings, I feel more calm and focused.
I have this for sure.
If you're struggling with slow processing speed it could be that you have a novel attention disorder that was previously lumped in with ADHD (as the inattentive type). Look up SCT and see if you identify. I personally have this (I would say quite severely) and have found that NRI (norapineaphrine reuptake inhibitor) medications are very helpful (though not perfect).
AttaxiaFFXI what does SCT stand for
I am very smart, but I am extremly slow and this is such a handicap
I am diagnosed with Slow Processing but I really feel like I have disgraphia
Wait could I really get extra time on exams if I applied? I was told slow processing wasn’t a serious thing you could get diagnosed for and it’s just a part of you so they don’t do that. I thought I was just gonna be screwed over forever and had to live with the naturally lower scores.
I can't tell if I have a slower processing speed
Same, I have a feeling I just get really anxious in exams and also I start thinking about other thoughts I have, reducing the work I do.
Sounds just like my exam
For an adult with this, who's struggling to hold a job due to it. What job or career do you recommend?
Is there any treatment for processing speed quicker ?
Love Yess I'm not a education socialigist or anything but I have extremely slow prossesing but I feel it's progressed and is now mild or maybe moderate, Watching and following through long films helped and reading books also eating more fish and getting better sleep, and these will benefit you to say the least, but actually getting rid of the problem I don't know 100% sure but I've always been told you'll always have it but it is possible for this problem to get better i know for sure cause I have, also regularly practice comprehensive instruction games or tasks and listening to people themselves helps improve, all of this should help you increase the speed your brains working memory passes information and restores it so you can react with it
I don't know, I would say:
Exercising frequently?
Learning and practicing music regularly maybe (it's good for the corpus callosum, and it increases the brain processing speed if a recall correctly)?
Learn how to better use your working memory, through Dual N Back game for exemple?
Eating things that increase working memory performance (green tea [EGCG], sage, rosemary, lavandula, blueberry, et caetera.)?
Check out Neurofeedback and Biofeedback.
i like that question?
Try the Arrowsmith program, word and tracing. It is a slow process but has given incredible results. Research it yourself.
It's like my brain's been dunked into golden syrup. P.S. What a brilliantly worded video. Thanks very much for this!
it makes me feel like i’ll never be able to have the job i want, either a dentist or optometrist or something in the health care field :/ what if i’m destined to be a nobody
Can a person have slow processing speed but yet be highly intelligent.
Highly attractive woman my heart goes out for you Thank you for sharing your brilliance
It’s not fair... I’ll have to do extra work to keep up with everyone for the rest of my life. It’s like people can jump of the track and I have stay on it just to keep up.
You are right in some ways...but you are also missing that you will have characteristics and ways of doing things that are better than others too. 'Fairness' is a tricky concept and it means we are likely to be comparing ourselves to others - and all the variables outside of our control. Whilst there are definitely some actions that will take longer, you also have the ability to see elements that others, in their haste, may well miss. Rather than spending time on the things that are (understandably) frustrating and beyond your control, try re-focussing on the unique benefits that you can bring instead...of which there are many, if you give yourself time to reflect on them :)
very nice
My whole life people have told me i seem asleep
I know that feeling...
Dang
People told me that I’m very quiet and not there lmao
I already knew why but it would make me laugh
thank you for this information. My daughter is 8 and entering 3rd grade. she was evaluated in the spring for learning disability. her comprehension scored high but her reading skill is kindergarten level. They diagnosed her with "slow processing speed" my question for you is should I tell her? Im not sure she will understand. would i just tell her that she needs more time then other kids? i appreciate your help!
Hi Jessica. Yes, at aged 8, it would be helpful for her to know what she needs in terms of extra time, but also that she is more than capable of learning, if she has that extra time. If she doesn't know, she may simply assume that she is 'thick' and therefore she may suffer a big old dent in her confidence and her motivation. If you explain that she needs a bit of extra time, but when she has that, she is more than capable of learning - and actually, because she will have processed it 'properly', she will then be better at remembering it... It will give her something positive out of a possible negative :)
This whole comment section is a discussion.
By the way no fights in my section.
I am confused... how can you have a high IQ but a low processing speed? Isn’t IQ the ability to quickly process information? How is that different?
Hi SupaBubba. That is a smart question. Although processing speed is one of the cognitive components assessed in an IQ test, it is one of many. Your IQ is assessed using a battery of tests, with the most accepted and validated battery (= set) being the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (of which there have been several revisions and in shorter as well as long form). There is also the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. A qualified psychologist, and preferably one who is practised in doing so, has permission to administer it. Now, there are tests being developed all of the time which aim to assess different cognitive functions, with the aim of making them less reliable on whether or not someone has learned to read (simply because someone has not learned to read has nothing to do with their cognitive function, but simply that they have not yet acquired that skill). So, your IQ, your intelligence quotient, is the aggregate score across a number of cognitive abilities, with speed of processing being just one, and one that is relatively arbitrary. I hope that helps! :)
I would always be top three in my class but always the last to finish 💔hate people walking into the class and be all like "damn Oreo bruh you still writing".Thats something that I can't seem to understand or overcome
I can understand your frustration, Modupi. My suggestion in those times is to have a few replies up your sleeve along the lines of embracing the writing time, such as 'Yeah, and it's all quality...' or referring to the fact that you spend quality time thinking before writing EG 'some of us actually do some thinking before getting into the writing' and playing it back to them. It's important that it's in your style and you feel comfortable saying it, but the key is to embrace the time that you take rather than feel the need to defend yourself... :)
Does it have a cure?
Very good presentation with a lot of useful information. I was advised to get tested for Dyslexia (which I did this morning) because that condition is usually the main reason why students struggle with time during exams which I always do. However, my psychologist concluded that I am not Dyslexic. What I have instead is a condition relating to "Semantic Processing" which still means I'm entitled to apply for extra time. Is that the same as Slow Processing Speed, as shown in the video? Presentation slide at 7:21 encapsulates the essence of what I struggle with. What would be the correct 'medical' term to use when filling out an application for additional exam time?
+Orient Express I work with Miranda - please find her reply below:
“Sorry for being slow to reply, Orient Express. Without looking at your assessment results, I am not sure whether Semantic Processing relates to your conceptual understanding of word/phrase meanings (in other words, you are prone to misinterpreting the meaning of words and phrases) or whether you are slow to process meaning - but not necessarily incorrect if you have enough time to do so. There is not a single formal term for this, but I advise students to write “significant difficulty with information processing” when applying for additional exam time. The application will usually need to be accompanied by additional evidence, such as a psychologist’s report anyway, so as long as you describe your difficulty along those lines, this will be fine.”
HOW ABOUT MEDICATION?
My lecturer literally said.. he couldn't give me the notes.
Am just slow even in making simple decisions
I wish I knew about this when I was in school, I have always felt intelligent and dumb at the same time.
That's a common old feeling, mywoodencubes. I'm just glad you know it now and can make use of that knowledge in the days to come
Thats what i fell like