How do we learn?

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What are we good at, what are we not? Rote memory being one I know of.

I'm still figuring this out. I just realized I have been using my natural talent with classes I was interested in. Now I'm in Organic Chemistry and I have no idea how to study for this chaotic class. I can't catch up with notes in-class, and no homework is ever assigned.

I'm naturally good at subjects I'm intrested in, and the more I read around the topic, the more I learn. I think that people with Aspergers have the need to understand what they love, which drives them to learn. If I don't understand something I learn, I get really frustrated.

It's sort of a vague question, and everyone here learns a bit differently. I suppose I can tell you what works for me.

I've always had a problem learning when other people explain things to me. I think it's a mild auditory processing thing. I can also replicate melodies and number sequences with considerable ease; it's a bit of a tape-recorder thing, and I don't think one can equate that ability with the act of processing.

I can also process music, but I can't process verbal speech that well. I assign very little value in going to lectures, just because I might as well be an extra light fixture in the room. I get no benefit from them, other than to clarify exam dates and assignment deadlines. I can only learn through the textbook. The best way for me to learn is through equation derivations and diagrams, but not necessarily the text itself, although this can be helpful. Basically I'm 100% self-taught and I consider this a huge asset in a university environment.

unfortunately that often causes problems in formal education environment.

Exactly what I'm looking for Rabidmonkey. I am trying to find what works for different Aspies and what works for all Asies. Find what works and do more of it kind of attitude.

This.

I like biology and chemistry because my professors want me to ask deeper questions (and understanding their answers sometimes helps me to make more sense of - or at the very least gain more enthusiasm for - the current material) - whereas in physics or math asking questions just seems to make things unnecessarily difficult, messy and/or impossibly complicated and ,accordingly, just gets me more deeply lost.

I'm a very, very visual learner. I draw pictures of everything that I don't understand until I do understand it/memorize it. I fill up 100s of pages in note books studying. As I get older I'm realizing that I really do have some in common with temple grandin - I do tend to think of everything in pictures - at least the things that I feel I understand well have a very clear mind-picture to go along with them. I also understand what she means by the mind-file-cabinet thing.


So, basically, I learn by asking tons of questions or when I self-teach I draw things out until I understand them.

Same! I love physics and maths...but sometimes when I understand the physics and want to know the maths behind it, it gets complicated and I get disheartened. My dad is a physicist, so if I ever have any problems, I just go to him.
It's cool the way you draw things to understand them...I sort of try to work it out in my head by visualising the concept...maybe I'll try the same thing you do.

I think the self-teaching thing is really common for aspies. It helps tremendously in college. Thankfully I had lots of prior practice by information hoarding.

I think the self-teaching thing is really common for aspies. It helps tremendously in college. Thankfully I had lots of prior practice by information hoarding.

How I learned in college:

Go to lecture. Sit there quietly, try to keep myself from having a melt-down due to all of the chewing/paper crinkling/coughing/sniffling sounds going on around me.
Mindlessly copy diagrams/write notes without really processing anything.

Go back to dorm. Turn on fan for white noise and put in earplugs. Read chapter in book and teach myself the material.

Kudos to you for actually having the will power to go to lectures. I stopped wasting my time, so now I only go if attendance is part of the grade. The professor could be speaking backwards for all I know. I don't have meltdowns, but I get really "twitchy."

That is what I am starting to do. I am so happy to know I am not having the same problem.

How I learn is doing something. Also, seeing the practical applications for knowledge helps as well.

Rote never worked for me.

I need to gather data /lecture, reading, etc/ and then sort a pattern.

Particularly bad with names, dates, which do not fit into patterns easily

Wikipedia + unemployment

I took a Chemistry class. I actually do want to learn it. But somehow I can't understand most of the lectures, and the textbook is hard. I have a system of study that would work, even with this subject. But it takes too long to do homework or prepare for tests.