Is their anyway to improve my processing speed

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HerbivoreCat
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23 May 2013, 2:59 pm

I have mild aspergers syndrome and the only skills I have are being creative, over analysing (and I am never able to deduct enough of the results to produce any meaningful observation) and good memory.

I'm at high school (about to leave) and I'm in the second highest set for all my subjects (its not as good as it sound), but I can't process the information fast enough - so while people in my set are almost immediately understanding the information and making connections, I don't absorb it in time (so the connections aren't made and my overall intelligence is left unchanged because I haven't managed to interact with the information). My sister who is thirteen is in all top sets, and there are other kids in my set (and some below) who are much cleverer than me. A lot of high school seems to be based around memory, and that is one of the few skills I have.

I feel really stupid having Aspergers because I'm not even sure if I have a good "version". I don't get any of the perks some Aspies have (like Daniel Tammet or Albert Einstein), nor is my memory very good naturally (I found some useful techniques online). Honestly, is there anyway I could improve my intelligence, please don't tell me "Everyone is special, you just have to use what skills you've got to the best of your ability" because my skills aren't useful without the brain power to go with it. I'd prefer it if you didn't give me coping techniques either because I'd rather raise my processing speed than learn to cope with it being slow.
Sorry if I sounded like I was moaning.
Does anyone know how I can raise my processing speed?



Ann2011
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23 May 2013, 3:41 pm

HerbivoreCat wrote:
Honestly, is there anyway I could improve my intelligence, please don't tell me "Everyone is special, you just have to use what skills you've got to the best of your ability" because my skills aren't useful without the brain power to go with it. I'd prefer it if you didn't give me coping techniques either because I'd rather raise my processing speed than learn to cope with it being slow.

I don't think there is anyway to improve intelligence, but my processing speed has improved with medication. It's not for everyone though - there are side effects to be considered.



1000Knives
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23 May 2013, 4:08 pm

Take about 4g of fish oil or some other Omega 3 stuff a day. 1-2G of taurine. Multi B vitamins, and 500mg vitamin C (to support adrenal function.)

Other than that, stimulants. Best be drinking some coffee before school, or even better (for me) an energy drink if you can afford it. You'll eventually be addicted to caffeine, and won't be able to imagine functioning without it for all the perks it gives you in your processing speed. You can try some other herbal stimulants like the various ginsengs or schizandra. My favorite herbal stimulant is rhodiola rosea. It gives me incredible focus.

After herbal, you go to pharmaceutical grade. Ritalin, modafinil/adrafinil (adrafinil is the pro-drug of modafinil and isn't RX only/controlled substance like modafinil is, so you can just order it online) and then the various amphetamines which include Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts,) Dexedrine (d-amphetamine) desoxyn (methamphetamine, yes, the same kind sold on the street, most doctors will not prescribe this) and a pro-drug of Dexedrine called Vyanase. Also, you can buy ephedrine and it'll work somewhat like amphetamines, but you basically get the bad side effects with less bang. But no RX needed, just have to sign for it at a pharmacy.

I tried Ritalin and hated it, it give me 150/90 blood pressure and a 100 pulse. It actually made me dumber, too, because I have NVLD and am an extreme verbal thinker and it cut down my verbal thought processes and basically made me dumb. I've not tried any of the amphetamines, nor have I tried modafinil.

One last RX option is racetams, which are drugs used in Russia and much of the rest of the world as nootropics, basically "smart pills." They're usually given to people with senility or to people who've damaged their brains from alcoholism. They work to increase choline uptake, and some also work a bit as stimulants. None of the racetams are controlled in USA, and you can buy them freely, but they're not FDA approved either.

So those are your options. The problem is, they pretty much all do have a cost. Longterm stimulant use will in my opinion, lead to even worse "crashing" and (my opinion) adrenal fatigue. So if you need drugs to function, you're gonna have to be dependent upon them. So personally now, I'd like to perhaps try the racetams someday, but you have to somehow accept that if you wanna do stuff (safely) it will take more time for you. Unfortunately things like school, and work, aren't controlled by you and can't all be done to your own timetable. So for support, I think it's best to find activities you can do on your own timetables based upon your brain's limitations. The good thing is, you're probably taking in MORE information than most people which is why you're overanalyzing, so it's something, but the imbalance is hard to live life with. With that, use the strength of overanalyzation to your benefit somehow. This helps me in my fields I work/have hobbies in (athletics and mechanical things.)

Good luck.



The_Hemulen
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23 May 2013, 5:12 pm

My psychologist told me that processing speed is basically fixed, though other aspects of your IQ may be malleable. I find most formal teaching methods very difficult due to the kind of difficulties you mentioned. I can't process speech quickly enough or assimilate information quickly enough to have any idea what is going on in a lesson/lecture. The only way round it I have found is by teaching myself out of hours.

You could try getting more exercise. That is supposed to boost the production of new neurons in your brain. I'm not sure any of these 'brain training' exercises really work though. They seem to make you better at doing the specific brain training exercise, but the benefit doesn't necessarily translate to other things.

If there's a particular skill you want to be amazing at, just practice. Most people who are geniuses in their chosen field or world-class musicians or whatever got there because they really did put in way, way more time than other people. It's possible to get good at things even if you don't start off with a high level of natural ability. For example, I have dyspraxia and I have learned to play the piano to a very high level by putting in hours of practice each day, but I still bump into walls, spill my tea etc. I've become good at this one physical skill by putting time into it.



monsterland
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23 May 2013, 5:19 pm

I had issues with processing speed, and this required long cooldown periods even after mild social interaction, as my brain back-buffered a lot of information and was later catching up, creating new "IF-THEN" behavior patterns so that in a similar situation in the future I would do better.

That scene in "Napoleon Dynamite" was painfully familiar to me, where some guy runs up to him and shoves him into a wall, and he belatedly kicks the empty air where the guy used to be 5 seconds ago.

I dramatically improved my processing speed by practicing Aikido.

The reason for this was that Aikido stimulates the spontaneous-learning part of the brain that in many of us lies dormant. It is a powerful co-processor that is active in NTs all the time, and they use it to fluidly navigate rapidly changing currents of what's happening around them.

Mine was completely inactive, and I tried to process everything with the "main brain", which is a non-specialized thinking process, and it is slow and ineffective for processing fleeting minutia.

In short, look into traditional martial arts or partnered dancing. Anything where you have to do realtime adaptation to a situation that is slightly different in every moment.

You may be doing the same technique as yesterday, but today your practice partner is taller or shorter or thinner or heavier, and all the angles change. This forces you to turn on that spontaneous processor to adapt, otherwise the techniques don't work.

This approach worked for me. Now I can learn something faster, without having to inventory it and consciously repeat it, by just calling back "vague familiarities" helpfully served by the spontaneous coprocessor. And trusting them.



auntblabby
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23 May 2013, 5:30 pm

Strattera [atomoxetine generic] helped me feel more with-it.