How Processing Skills Impact Behavior and Attention
Jill Stowell
Founder of Stowell Learning Centers / 3-Time #1 Bestselling Author / Mission: Eliminate the Struggle of Learning Differences
Have you ever tried doing a DIY construction project? If so, you might have found that you didn’t really have the right tools for the job. So, you used a less effective tool and maybe cut some corners or used workarounds. If you’re like me, these projects end up taking much longer than expected and with an end product that doesn’t nearly reflect the effort you put in.
This is something that our struggling students experience all the time. They’re trying to perform socially or in school without the right tools - in this case certain critical processing skills that are needed for ease in learning and paying attention.
A homeschool mom shared with me that her teenage son was bright and willing, but getting increasingly frustrated and depressed over his struggles with schoolwork.?
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She said, “I feel like I’m asking him to dig a hole, but don’t know what kind of shovel to give him.”
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My husband is fond of saying, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” But the bottom line is that even though a hammer may be an excellent tool, it isn’t the right tool to do all jobs.
There are many underlying processing skills that are needed to learn comfortably and efficiently. These are a student’s learning tools.
If any of these underlying skills are underdeveloped or inefficient, it will stress the attention system, impact behavior, and cause learning to be harder than it should be.
Struggling learners tend to have a pattern of real strengths and weaknesses in their underlying skills, causing them to over-rely on their strengths.?
For example:
A student with a weak ability to think about the sound in words (phonemic awareness) may be dependent upon his memorized vocabulary for reading. Because he can’t sound out unfamiliar words, his reading may be inaccurate or slow because he has to reread over and over in order to figure out the words. This student may look like he has an attention or motivation problem because he avoids or gets distracted on reading tasks.
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A student with good verbal skills but weak ability to get information from their head to the paper, may chat with neighbors instead of doing their work, or put excessive energy into talking their way out of things.
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A student with weak language comprehension may rely on rote memory to write down everything the teacher says, or memorize her study guide exactly, so she ends up with very dense and unhelpful notes and poor test scores, because questions phrased differently than the study guide will seem like completely different information. The poor test scores may make the teacher think the student isn’t studying or paying attention, when in fact, the student put in a great deal of time. This is an underlying skills problem - not a problem with laziness or lack of effort or attention.
Having the right tools always makes the job easier. In the case of students, these are “mental tools” or processing skills.?
I have a colleague who is a neurologist, and he just laughs when I use the term "processing skills". He says, “processing is what the brain does - it encompasses everything!”?
We look at processing skills as a group of skills essential to learning that aren’t really taught, but assumed to be in place. These are skills like memory, attention, auditory, visual, and language processing, logic and reasoning, and processing speed. These skills impact each other and if any are weak or inefficient, it will cause the person to have to work harder or longer than expected.
Students who experience learning challenges, including dyslexia and other learning disabilities, usually have areas of inefficient processing which are interrupting expected academic development. In order to make real changes in their learning, we need to explore the underlying skills critical to academic and social success.?
Attention and memory are bottom line learning skills. They’re like the brain's receptionist for information. If a child can't focus long enough to let the information in, or if he doesn't have a way to hold on to it, there will be interference to all further learning.?
Memory and attention are highly dependent on each other. You may feel like you have a really good memory, but if your attention is drifting in and out, or if you’re confused about the information, you’ll have trouble remembering it.
Working memory, the ability to hold information in order to work with it or store it, along with attention focus, are key ingredients to processing speed.?
And of course the way the brain perceives and thinks about information that is heard or seen - what is called auditory and visual processing - impacts how clear and accurate the message that we’re receiving is. It’s really difficult to remember or pay attention to something that is unclear or confusing.
Tyler was a motivated high school junior, potential Ivy League football player, and solid AP (Advanced Placement) student. But he was SAT-Challenged!
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Jessica was also an excellent student in her junior year in high school, but her test anxiety was so great it could only be controlled with prescription medication.
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Cheryl is a 50-something baby-boomer with more and more of those embarrassing “senior moments” that leave her at a loss for names and having trouble finding the words she wants to say.
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Ryan is a 12-year old dyslexic learner, bright but struggling to read and write.
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As diverse as these four individuals seem, they can all be helped with cognitive processing skills training because these are the skills all brains need in order to function and learn at their highest potential.
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Recent brain research indicates that the brain can continue to grow and change throughout our lifetime.
The kinds of skills needed for
are learned cognitive abilities that can be improved with training.
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Tyler’s Story: Conquering the SAT
Tyler was a good student and a good football player. He was being looked at by scouts from Ivy League colleges. However, his SAT scores were nothing to brag about and he feared they would keep him out of the college he wanted to attend.?
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Tyler went to a colleague of mine in Addison, Texas for help. After completing a 12-week course in cognitive processing skills training, his SAT scores improved by 200 points!
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The SAT is as much about knowing how to think quickly, problem solve, evaluate, and apply knowledge as it is about knowing the material. The SAT time limits are the enemy of many test-takers. Students who do well on the SAT must be able to rapidly make good decisions so they can quickly spot and answer easier questions, leaving more time for the tougher ones.
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For Tyler, as with many other college-bound students, the stress and length of the test was enough to compromise his performance. After completing the program of processing skills training, Tyler had the speed and confidence to overcome these challenges.
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Jessica’s Story: Overcoming Test Anxiety
Jessica, a high school junior, was an A student in advanced placement (AP) classes. In spite of being a top performer, she had extreme test anxiety that had to be managed with a prescription medication. Her parents really wanted to get her off the medication, but Jessica was afraid to because she “didn’t want to screw up her classes.”?
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Jessica enrolled in an intensive processing skills training program over the summer to boost critical underlying skills for confident, efficient learning including auditory and visual processing, short and long term memory, processing speed, attention, logic and reasoning, visualization, and association. Many of the activities are done to the beat of a metronome, which enhances processing speed, internal organization, and quick decision-making. For Jessica, activities were worked on at such a fast pace that she couldn’t afford to split her mental energy with anxiousness.
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When Jessica went into AP Calculus the following September and began scoring higher than anyone else in her class on her tests, her classmates began calling her “The Brain.”?
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Jessica attributes her success to her intensive cognitive training. It showed her that she could perform without anxiety and gave her the skills to hold numbers and formulas in her head. She was amazed at how strong her ability to do mental math had become.
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Jessica’s parents were thrilled that Jessica developed skills that allowed her another kind of success: She was able to get off of her anxiety medication!
As the Boomer and Gen X generations age, awareness of brain health has dramatically increased.
Several outstanding books have been written by medical doctors who outline steps for maintaining mental sharpness and treating and preventing neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, stroke, and Parkinson’s. The steps consistently include:
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The brain is a powerful resource. At any age, we can stimulate our cognitive skills for more efficient thinking and functioning!
Our brain training or processing skills programs don’t look anything like school, which is really nice for our students. There are all different kinds of games, drills, and activities that improve attention, regulation, and cross-train a variety of processing skills.
Here are a few good resources for further information on brain health:
Jill Stowell, M.S.
Author: Take the Stone Out of the Shoe: A Must-Have Guide to Understanding, Supporting, and Correcting Dyslexia, Learning, and Attention Challenges
Founder/Executive Director Stowell Learning Centers where we help children and adults eliminate struggles associated with dyslexia and learning disabilities.?
Watch or listen to this episode of the LD Expert Podcast here: https://stowellcenter.com/2023/03/17/episode-55-how-processing-skills-impact-behavior-and-attention/