Slow Processing Speed – Inattention is associated with slow visuospatial processing speed, a function of the posterior attention system. This system is responsible for visual focus from one stimulus to the next during visual search or selecting one stimulus from an array. In PET scan data from normal subjects, when attention is shifted from location to location, the major focus of increased blood flow is in the left and right superior parietal lobes.

Slow processing speed impacts a child or teen’s ability to perform well at school or with homework. Children and teens with slow processing speed, even though very fast at doing other tasks, tend to be slow readers and writers. As a result, they avoid reading and writing because these activities are much slower and much harder for them. Their attention drifts more and they daydream and appear distracted. Children and teens with slow processing speed may or may not have other weaknesses coupled with right hemisphere functioning (weakness in visuospatial skills, spatial memory, math issues).

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