Processing Speed: How Long It Takes to Do What You Already Know

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-12

What processing speed means

This page is about a child who knows the work and is slow. The answer is right when it comes.

How fast a child takes something in and responds is one skill. You may hear this called processing speed. On our pages, the name describes a skill. It is not a diagnosis, and not a type of child.

Processing speed is one of seven skills we describe on our processing pages. The seven are our own grouping. They are not a way to diagnose a child.

Our page on processing difficulties has more.

Right, but slow

Some children get the work right and take a long time to finish. That is a behavior. The behavior alone does not tell you why. Some take longer to take things in and respond. Some are still building the school skill. For them, the work is right, and it is hard work. Some know what to do and find it hard to start. This page cannot tell you the reason.

If schoolwork worries you, talk with the teacher.

Our page on a child who can't get started has more.

Is slow the same as lazy?

To us, slow does not look like laziness. Slow is a speed, not a motive. A child who is slow to the right answer did the same work as a faster child. In our experience, they have often worked harder to get there.

If timed work worries you, talk with the teacher.

What studies of groups show

One study compared four groups of children (Shanahan and colleagues, 2006). The children had reading trouble, ADHD, both, or neither. Children with reading trouble were slower on average than children with neither. So were children with ADHD. We could read only the study's summary.

One review looked at math trouble and reading trouble (Starling-Alves and colleagues, 2025). Trouble with attention, working memory, self-control and speed came with both.

These findings are about groups of children. They cannot tell you why one child is slow.

Our page on dyscalculia and its overlaps covers slow math.

Our page comparing learning difficulties has more.

Processing speed and reading

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) wrote a new definition in 2025. The definition describes trouble reading words or spelling, in accuracy, speed or both. Here, speed means how fast a child reads words or spells them. The definition does not name processing speed.

If reading is hard, reading improves with reading instruction, so keep it going.

Our page on reading slowly but accurately has more.

If a report names processing speed

You may see the words processing speed on a school or specialist report. It means how fast a child takes something in and responds.

In our view, a name on a report describes the work, not the child.

Ask whoever used the name two questions. What did you see that made you use it? And what would you change on Monday because of it?

Practice

In our view, reading, writing and math draw on other skills too. These include taking things in, holding them in mind, and speed.

Practice reaches the thing it is practice at. Suppose a program promises better reading or math from an exercise that is not reading or math. Check that claim. The exercise may still be worth doing for its own sake. Do it alongside reading or math teaching, not in place of it.

This page makes no claim for any program, game or exercise.

We hold no study that tests home practice for processing speed in children. That is a gap in what we hold, not a finding that it does not work.

What helps at home

Reduce the load. Give one step at a time. Write the steps down as well as saying them. None of that is cheating.

We hold no study that tests these home steps. That is a gap in what we hold, not a finding that they do not work.

If your child has lost a skill

Some children could do something and now cannot. That is different from a child who has not built the skill yet. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.