Can Video Games Improve Processing Speed in Children?

Yuliya Kokosha / Envato Elements

Slow processing speed impacts children in a variety of ways. Slow processing speed often has a dramatic impact on school performance and the capacity to keep up with peers. It can negatively impact self-esteem. Because it is so frequently misidentified, it can also cause children to develop oppositional tendencies with parents and teachers. Slow processing speed frequently presents itself as children’s difficulty completing schoolwork in a timely fashion, slow-moving behavior, or, conversely, haphazardly rushing through tasks. Longer homework assignments, particularly those that involve writing, are the genesis of frustration and oppositionalism.

The impact of slow processing speed on children has often been underestimated. Slow processing speed is poorly understood or misidentified by parents, educators, and, perhaps most importantly, children. Its impact on academic and social-emotional functioning needs to be better recognized. For example, many family conflicts around activities, such as homework completion or getting ready for school in the morning, are due to unrecognized slow processing speed. Children’s frustration and lack of awareness of their slow processing speed can impact motivation, self-esteem, sustained effort, and school performance. Resignation about keeping up with homework assignments and the demands for taking notes or finishing tests on time is common. Long-term effects of slow processing speed issues in childhood have been linked to depression and psychological distress in adulthood.

Other issues may exacerbate the struggles of children with slow processing speed, including anxiety about their performance, a sense of isolation from others, and trouble keeping up with the pace of peer interactions. Children with slow processing speed also tend to have difficulty with a variety of executive functioning skills, including problems with task initiation, planning, task persistence, and time management.

In a world where speed and efficiency are so highly valued, using video games and other emerging technologies as a tool to help children with slow processing speed is valuable. Studies of neuroplasticity suggest that modest improvements in processing speed are possible. Some of the more promising interventions to improve processing speed in children involve video games and other screen-based technologies. Thus far, the most compelling research has focused on older adults. In a series of studies conducted across six major universities, Posit Science reports that its brain training program, BrainHQ, increased the speed of verbal and visual processing in older adults. The organization reports that the results generalized beyond tasks measured in the study and that improvement continued to be observed in five- and ten-year follow-ups. Other research indicates how action video games can improve processing speed. One recent study suggested that video games that target visual perception functions associated with visual-motor integration can enhance the speed of processing.

However, a prescription of endless video game play to improve slow processing speed is not recommended. The available data suggests that modest improvements in slow processing speed can be achieved through targeted video gameplay. The application of other cognitive training techniques, along with appropriate accommodations, is a far better course of action.

Processing speed is a cognitive process where technology combined with targeted training would seem to make an ideal pair. If we were to look at a physical comparison to processing speed, we might look no further than a running track, where advances in technology, training, equipment, and assessment have all contributed to faster times across many events. These technologies have resulted in world records, but more importantly, they have also made track athletes of all skill levels faster. Similarly to the track, there are limits as to how much improvement in processing speed any person can make as a result of their use of training and technology.

IrinaG1504 / Envato Elements

Traditional interventions for children with slow processing speed and ADHD involve the use of accommodations and alternative teaching strategies. For the most part, educators do not make any effort to improve the speed of processing. Instead, these children frequently have 504 plans developed that include additional time to complete tasks, reduction in the amount of expected work, receiving instruction in smaller chunks, scribing or note-taking, and a focus on quality rather than quantity of work.

Until recently, these were the primary interventions to help children with slow processing speed. This approach was based on the aforementioned assumption that processing-speed capacities were fixed, rather than malleable. The science of neuroplasticity, along with the availability of neurotechnologies and productivity tools, has altered this perspective. Psychologists have also begun to examine how other types of interventions and techniques can improve slow processing speed in children with ADHD, including exercise, direct teaching of executive-functioning skills, and complementary skill development.

It’s time to get moving faster on developing new interventions for kids with slow processing speed. While using video games might be the preferred intervention for many kids, the application of common technologies, such as audiobooks for slow readers, dictation apps for slow writers, and apps for time management, can also improve slow processing speed. There is no reason that we should not use both appropriate accommodations and available technologies to support these kids.