Proscessing questions and responding on the spot.

Post Reply New Topic

I find that I often can't articulate what I'm thinking, but it's especially hard under pressure. I now have a small lecture where the professor is very high energy and asks his students a lot of questions. I know so many of the answers! But in my mind they're only loosely formed, as in, I'll know the response and some of the key phrases are there in my mind but I can't string them together quickly. Once someone else answers it makes sense in my mind, but I understand the concept the same as before they answered.

If I'm forced to answer, I'm a mumbling stammering mess, and it's really humiliating.
I'm an acting major and we get evaluated on all aspects of our involvement in classes, and I'm just really worried that, paired with my extreme discomfort with making eye contact with this professor (also, he is very animated, it's terribly distracting to look at him and try to listen to his complex lectures at the same time) I'm going to be marked down for appearing disengaged and disinterested. What can I do? I don't want to talk to him directly about it, I don't have any diagnosis yet, so I get the feeling that telling him "I need to blank stare in order to focus on what you're saying, and follow lectures but am slow to form responses" would lead to him telling me to man up and just stop making excuses.

Similarly, in some acting exercises we are supposed to automatically say what we're feeling and thinking, and my professor doesn't believe me when I say I don't know what I'm feeling. I'll know I'm feeling something, but it's like my mind is blank when I go for a word to describe it. Don't know if these issues are related. Does anyone experience anything similar? I don't experience the answering issues in most classes, it's just that this class is especially hard to wrap my head around.

Not being able to name your feelings is called "alexithymia". It's somewhat common in people on the spectrum.

This semestre one of my teachers took me 0.5 points (out of ten) because he said I didn't participate in class. I went very well on the exams and deserved an A but he didn't give me
It's unfair because I can't articulate very well, specially if everyone in class is looking at me, and I don't know what I should say and when. I got very angry, I think everyone has different learning styles, if some students don't participate but pay attention and do well, so what?

I have this exact same problem of not being able to "think on my feet" ie, on the spot. It's agonizing because I just need time to form my response but mostly nobody gives anyone that time. It happened to me just an hour ago in the store when I was having to explain a refund I was due, and she said something unexpected and I'm "Uhh, duhh". I'm not unintelligent, I just find it unbelievably hard to gather my thoughts and express the response that IS THERE but just so down inside me that I can't just blurt it straight out like other people seem to be able to do.

So I feel for you; it's very frustrating. I have to feel very relaxed and comfortable, preferably around someone I know and like, before I can "think faster" and truly manage to produce the thoughts I want to express in a timely manner, and in fact I even become very articulate and fully able to express myself well, when relaxed enough.

I realize you say that you hesitate to go and speak to your professor because you're not yet diagnosed and also even if you were, you fear that he might dismiss your requests as making excuses. But, you really do have a reason (not just an excuse) as to why you process differently, and it's a legitimate reason why you need a different approach, even if it's not to be called upon in class in the style in which he does that.

I would say gather your thoughts, write some notes down on what you need to tell him, and then go speak to him privately outside of class, and explain what you've explained here, including the bit about worrying that it sounds like excuses and you are anxious for it not to be taken that way.

If he's a decent human being he should take all that onboard.

.

Yes, they're related. I often go momentarily mute under sudden pressure to socially interact.

The mental funnel in my brain's processing chip is too small for all the data to get through at once, so it comes to a complete halt, while the little icon spins and I stand there silent, looking like an idiot.

I cannot do those silly Free Association Tests, where the psychologist tosses out a word and you're supposed to respond with the first thing that comes into your head. I have a huge vocabulary, but I go completely blank (of course, it doesn't help that I feel like whatever answer I gave, it would be wrong and I'd get in trouble for it).


This is a situation in which an official diagnosis would come in handy. Your disability would have to be taken into account.