Processing Speed

Common Difficulties:

• Slow in completing classwork or tests

• Incomplete homework or tests

• Lack of automaticity in rote information

• Slow decision making skills

• Difficulty responding to questions

Accommodations/Strategies:

• Prepare student with a question prior to calling on him/her

• Teach self-monitoring strategies

• Avoid timed tests/tasks

Common Difficulties:

• Difficulty working problems quickly on paper

• Slow mental math skills

• Lack of math fact fluency

Accommodations/Strategies:

• Use repetition

• Use measures of progress that are visual and work with student to increase speed

• Use computerized math programs that focus on increasing automaticity

Common Difficulties:

• Poor reading fluency

• Slow word retrieval and response time

• Slow rapid naming skills

Accommodations/Strategies:

• Model fluent reading by reading aloud

• Use choral reading

• Use repeated reading

• Use books on tape or immersive reader

• Preview reading materials

Common Difficulties:

• Struggles with organizing and completing written tasks in a timely manner

• Resistance to writing tasks

Accommodations/Strategies:

• Speech-to-text software and/or word processors

• Provide copies of notes or outlines

• Quality over quantity

• Use a timer for self-monitoring