Watch this video [1:39] for Polly’s insight into how difficult behavior can be the result of a student being frustrated and overwhelmed due to a cognitive disability.

If I have a cognitive processing speed of 60, and let’s say normal processing speed is about 100, how fast is information coming into my brain and going out?

Not fast enough for what’s coming at me in the classroom.

How often is a child with cognitive challenges going to raise her hand and say, “This is beyond my processing ability, and if you could break it down and give me some visual models, I might not have a tantrum right now.”

That’s right. Never.

WE are going to have to be the ones to figure that out. A cognitive disability is going to impact a student’s behavior! We have to remember that, and we often miss it.

Think about it – we give a student reading remediation. We give her math remediation, we give her all kinds of academic and curriculum-based stuff, but we forget that a cognitive disability is going to have a direct impact on the way she handle situations.

Click on my video above for more.