Is anyone else like this? It's been bugging me for a while..

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You know, I've always had trouble putting my thoughts into words. I can't hold a conversation, I struggle to get my thoughts across, and just have a lot of difficulty with verbal communication in general.

I've heard before that having trouble with conversations is a common thing amongst us people on the spectrum. Up until recently, I just sort of figured that what I was experiencing was a common aspie problem. Today, however, I noticed something.

It all started this afternoon when my dad was picking me up from school. My dad and I always have the most interesting discussions in the car, usually about whatever topic happens to come to mind first. The one thing I love about having conversations with my family is that the whole thing doesn't need to be a "give and take". It [i]doesn't[i/] have to make sense. It can be fun, spontaneous, and random.

And boy, do I mean random. Like, as soon as I stepped inside the car today, my dad just suddenly asked me, "Hey, Liv, do you more of a visual or a verbal thinker?"

This is where I kind of paused for a second. I really wasn't sure. It's

Now that I think about it, I think one of the reasons I might have so much difficulty communicating is because, well, I rarely think in words. My thoughts are more like an odd assortment of sounds, scents and images all arranged in a sentence. I guess you could say it's like hieroglyphics with all five senses. Yeah...

For instance, let's say I'm thinking, "Oh, crap. I should remind my sister to sort the laundry." Well, instead of that sentence it might look something like this in my mind:

*image of dirty clothes* *image of my sister* *smell of laundry* Sort dirty laundry.

The hard part, though, is having to "translate" this jumble in my head into words, because this is the stage where it usually goes bonkers.

Let's say that, after thinking of this, I might stroll up to my sister's room, knock on the door, and tell her "Dirty laundry pile." FAIL.

So, uh, is there anyone else here who thinks in a similar(ish) way? Or am I totally alone on this? I also apologize if this post sounds rant-y and hard to follow, I just needed somewhere to ventt.

Visual thinking is actually supposed to be very common in autistics. Have you heard of Temple Grandin? She was diagnosed with classic autism as a child, but is now a professor. She claims that she thinks in pictures and that visual thinking helped her become successful.

My thinking is extremely verbal, to the point where I want to not hear myself think. I will tell myself to shut up, but I just keep on thinking.

I used to register the world in pictures without a lot of words. I gradually started to think in words. Now, mostly I think in words except when I get upset or emotional it becomes pictures again and it's really hard to put words together at that point. Because I'm not thinking in words.

As Aspendos said, this isn't uncommon at all in people with ASD. It takes longer to learn the language of words and is similar for me to trying to learn a foreign language. Difficult, but with practice you make progress. Takes a lot of practice, though.

I definately am very visual in my thinking, and also have sounds and music. But there is also formless feelings and thoughts, especially when it comes to experiencing emotions. I know I use words, or at least 'hear' myself or others saying things, when playing back memories or imagining possible conversations. I have never really tried to sit down and describe/figure out the process like you did above. For one I think it would be hard to do so without influencing the process. I do get the feeling like it is complicated and taking place on different levels, sometimes simulataneously.