Can't Seem to Focus

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Hey all. Kind of new here (if I remember correctly, this is my first post). I have only known I have asperger's for a short period of time.

I have a question. In my High School days, in grade 10, I seemed to do fine. I was very quiet and more withdrawn than the other kids, but I managed. However, when grade 11 hit, I just kind of dropped everything and gave up. I withdrew almost completely, quit going to school, and just worked at a dead-end job doing nothing else for a while. I've tried correspondance schooling, and for a while I was doing good, but then again I began failing in that as well. I'd rather waste my time researching things that interest me online than doing homework.

Does anyone have any good methods for forcing yourself to do homework? One of the local colleges offers high school completion classroom courses, would you all recommend this for someone like me as opposed to correspondance? Has anyone else ever had the same problem as me?

I have a very hard time dedicating any effort to a subject which is not of interest to me. Like you I got by in school for a while, and then just lost all desire in it. Though I seem to do this with many things, not just school.


I am interested to see what methods people have for dealing with this!

Well at least I know I'm not alone in that regard. I thought maybe I was just stupid or something! My family doesn't understand why I've seemed to lose all interests in school, and I never really told them anything because I didn't know myself (I probably still won't tell them anything )

The only good year I had in school was grade 1. After that, I just barely managed to pass each year. Couldn't motivate myself to apply myself to any subject that didn't interest me.

After high school I couldn't see myself going to college given my history of Academic Failure. I worked as a gas station attendant until age 27.

At age 25 I began to gain some insight into myself and my behaviours thanks to Self-Help books of the Cognitive -Behaviour Therapy ilk.

I took a one year course in Power Engineering and graduated as top student in my class. I think the fact that the course was highly structured was a big help. In the 17 years since, I've worked mostly as a Power Engineer and though the work itself is not that rewarding, it pays a middle-class wage and there is lots of down time during which I can pursue my interests. Also, I've almost always been a member of a Trade Union which is probably a good thing for an Aspie.

About 7 years ago I discovered computers and they have become my present obsession. I got an A+ certification and have a part-time business fixing PCs.

"About 7 years ago I discovered computers and they have become my present obsession. I got an A+ certification and have a part-time business fixing PCs."

I was thinking of getting A+ Certified as well, a long time ago, but I just never got around to doing it...

Have you been able to make a profit running your business?

For me, my best years in school were grades 6-9. I was living on a farm during those years, with only dial-up internet access that I could barely use and my closest "friend" lived 5 miles away! I didn't have much else to do but homework.

In the years before that, I didn't have very many friends, but I prefered reading books that interested me, and ignored homework....I also wasn't very attentive in school (typical aspie problems, I even had someone work with me to teach me how to read, seperate from the other students).

In grade 10, I moved back into town. I fell into the crowd of goth and punk kids (basically, we were a bunch of outcasts that banded together), and soon found myself drinking a lot and smoking a lot of pot. In Grade 11, I quit all of that, as the drug use was causing problems at home, and distanced myself from those kids. I slowly began to withdraw at that point, and now I'm, once again, a loner. I think the only reason I managed to fit in in grade 10 was because we were all stoned.

But anyways, I'm getting off-topic. My point is, is that after I began to find myself withdrawing in grade 11 was when my school began to suffer. I don't think getting high-speed internet helped me all that much either.