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Careers for People with Slow Processing Speed

7/31/2022

(on most lists are Therapists, Historians, Auditors, Interior Designers, etc.)

After Food and Housing, EMPLOYMENT is one of the most significant SOCIAL DETERMINANTS of HEALTH.

Conjecture

My experience and observation is that:

Slower processing speed is often MASKING the fact the person is:

processing MORE INFORMATION, and
integrating MORE INFORMATION

SLOW PROCESSORS tend to be GREAT (not perfect) at "INTEGRATION" or "ATTENTION to DETAIL" whether they are:

Therapists
Historians
Interior Designers
Actors
Filmmakers
Farmers and Ranchers
Microbiologists
Software Developers
Engineers
Etc.

In an AGE of INFORMATION OVERLOAD -- we need the RAMPED UP INTEGRATION SKILLS or "ATTENTION TO DETAIL" of those SLOW PROCESSORS --- ironically so we don't fall behind.

Additionally, the SPECIAL ABILITIES of SLOW PROCESSORS come with some SPECIAL NEEDS to avoid BURNOUT or BREAKDOWN as a result of:

idiosyncratic processing

We need:

Educators
Career Counselors and
Mental Health Professionals

To address the Employment Needs of this population -- which is probably at least 1/5 of the population--- about the same percentage of those with some type of mental health concern.

Further, SLOW PROCESSING is often a consequence of Neuro-Developmental Differences such as:

Dyslexia
ADHD, and
Autism

People with Neuro-Developmental Differences & IQs above 70 --- HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS, TOO.

Further, I would submit that if the SPECIAL NEEDS of people with NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES are not addressed: PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS as well as other HEALTH ISSUES are a PREDICTABLE CONSEQUENCE.

Employment Index

Added 12/14/2023

Best Jobs for Adults with Slow Processing Speed (2024)

Twice Exceptionality

7/20/2022

Conjecture

"Differential Diagnoses" based on DSM Categories don't often make a lot of sense given:
- Research finding Blurred Categories and
- Large incidence of Co-Morbidities

With respect to "Giftedness" and "Twice Exceptionality"--- that appears BLURRED
- Further, there is a seemingly large percentage of "gifted" people who get a LATE DIAGNOSIS in adulthood of a Neuro-Developmental Disorder such as ADHD or Autism---
  - Often after a Burnout or
  - More concerning a Breakdown

"Giftedness/Twice Exceptionality" is recognized to include many of the same aspects of Neuro-Developmental Disorders:
- Ramped up Sensory Processing
- Intense Emotions
- Greater vulnerability to Psychiatric Disorders.

Further, most of the great examples of "Gifted" people in history appear to have had some form of Neuro-Developmental Disorder.

Twice Exceptional Students: Gifts and Talents, the Performing Arts, and Juvenile Delinquency (2020)

Abstract

Current models of cognition and behavioral diagnosis emphasize categorical classification over continuous considerations of function and promote the "differential diagnosis" of various conditions according to observational criteria.

However, an overemphasis on a purely behavioral, categorical approach to understanding human function fails to address the comorbidity of different disorders and does not include a consideration of overlapping levels of function, from "pathological" through "normal," to "gifted" or exceptional.

The frequent co-occurrence of "gifted" and "pathological" function is thus difficult to understand from a corticocentric and purely behavioral and observational point of view.

This article reviews "giftedness" in relation to the diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, coexistence of which is termed "twice exceptional."

It additionally considers problems in assessing these functions using current neuropsychological tests and methodologies that are presumably based upon a corticocentric model of cognition.

This is a long video --- BUT I think this connection between "ANXIETY" and Twice Exceptional Children is extremely important and might be related to Epigenetic Changes.

TruDiagnostics:

Epigenetics and Anxiety – The Relationship Between Genes and Stress-Related Disorders (2020)

ADHD and giftedness: a neurocognitive consideration of twice exceptionality (2012)

Translational Medicine Friday

We're riffing off NPR's Science Friday to create Translational Medicine Friday.

We'll be collecting Research Article recommendations for Clinicians with regard to Cognitive Disability.

There is much in the RESEARCH JOURNALS and we'll just be SKIMMING THE SURFACE.

The POINT is to INCREASE FUNDING for TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH at the Federal Level for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the Nation's Research & Teaching Hospitals and possible collaborations with Medicare and Medicaid providers.

Translational Medicine Friday

Careers for People with Slow Processing Speed

Twice Exceptionality

Translational Medicine Friday

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