Is this a Learning difficulty?

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All through my life I've struggled with understanding instructions or complex information.

I remember being 7, just started primary school and our teacher split the class into 4 teams. I remember not knowing which team I was in even though everyone else did. She sat us all down one morning called out a group of names, then said which team those people were in. Pretty simple, no? Well I ended up confused, and being 7, was too scared to ask incase she said I wasn't listening and just ended up picking a team at random when I she told us to get into our teams on lesson. I either guessed right, or no one noticed.

Then yesterday, I had an interview at college. The tutor told me that the course I had applied for had changed and he proceeded to explain how... only, I didn't have a clue what he was saying. I heard every word, but I couldn't comprehend it. He only talked for about 2 minutes on it, so it wasn't like he went off on a long complicated rant about it. Luckily, my mum had come along with me for support and she filled me in later, although she had to explain it through 3 or 4 times before I got it and I still don't understand 100%

I remember a time aswell when I was on the phone to the bank trying to set up an account. The lady had to transfer me to a different department and when I got through to them, I ended up confused and the money I wanted to transfer never went through because I didn't understand what she'd said and ended up telling the guy the wrong information.

When I was in college 2 years ago as well, I was the only person in my class who didn't know what course I was doing or where it would lead me. I struggled with the enrolment, not knowing where to go or what to do next, yet no one else had a problem.

These are just a few examples that I hope highlight the problem I have. I don't quite know what exactly causes my difficulty just that it seems to happen when I'm told somewhat complex instructions or information.

As a kid, it wasn't as bad, probably because any information I had to deal with then was fairly simple, but now that I'm older and have responsibilities, I'm finding it hard to cope with and control things because I'm getting confused over things that everyone else understands.

If my mum hadn't of been there at the interview, I'd have had absolutely no idea what course I was doing or if it was even the right one. Last year, in a different college, I almost ended up enrolled on the wrong course entirely because I didn't understand the information they were giving me. It wasn't until the guy asked me what I wanted to do in uni, having almost finished the enrolment, that he realised it was the completely wrong course.

It's not a matter of asking for clarification - I've done this in the past and usually I still don't understand what they mean, so I just end up nodding and pretending to understand, not wanting to ask again for fear that I still won't understand and the person will lose patience with me.

It's getting worrysome not being able to understand things like this. It's not so bad right now because I still live at home and my mum comes most places with me due to my social phobia, but what when I move out? I'm probably going to end up not paying my bills due to not being able to understand the instructions for how to do it, or misunderstanding the person on the phone and doing the wrong thing.

I almost ended up in some random part of the country once. It was only because the doors were locked that I went and asked the staff where to go and realised I'd almost gotten on the wrong train.

I don't know what's wrong with me, the only thing I can think of is that I have some kind of learning disibility. I can't seem to comprehend information beyond simple things.

Does anyone have this problem or have any information on what it is? I can't live my life in a constant state of confusion over things. I think I've just been lucky so far that nothing has gone majorly wrong for me yet.

I'm like this too. I've just got to repeat information in my head that's given to me so it sticks, or I'll forget it. I have problems following verbal instruction. Either I don't hear the message correctly or I misunderstand it. I get too embarrassed to clarify it too.
It could be a poor short term memory or something else.

I've tried just repeating things in my head but it's just as bad because I end up concentrating so hard on repeating what's been said, that I can't listen to what else is being said, or I forget to.

It's a bit like listening to 4 conversations at once. You can either focus on one, but risk missing out on the other 3 conversations, or focus on them all and not understand anything.

I have very similar difficulties...

Me too.I tend to zone out and I need one and one than the teacher talking to the whole class and telling us how to do something. Kids assumed I didn't listen when I was in high school. I also have troubles understanding instructions. If they are simple, then I can understand it.

I am exactly the same. It is especially bad when someone solicits a response from you which requires more than yes/no, as my defensive response to such situations is to just agree. Then the other people wonder why I have just agreed when they wanted input of some form. I have to agree that one on one is best.

I have the same sort of problem, I think, definitely.;;; Like when the financial aid lady at my school is talking, I'm just like.... wow, what?

My theory is: When listening to what someone is saying, many people can quickly guess (by ruling out certain possibilities right away) what something most likely means, or at least what they THINK it means, and put the pieces together either then or later, but I can't narrow down from all the possible meanings exactly what a new term might mean quickly enough to keep up with whoever's talking, so I forget it all.

I think I'm getting better at it though. You kind of just have to stay focused and pick out words or phrases that sound important, and then break them down because usually they're made up of recognizable words that have been made to sound all fancy or official. But I'm still not very good.


But part of it is also to do with just making random miscalculations or accidentally skipping steps in thought processes. D:
Like I was doing a new recipe and the temp I set on the oven was off by 200 degrees (Fahrenheit) because I just wasn't paying attention to the right things.;;;
That kind of thing is harder because you can completely miss it until much later when the trouble it's caused is already well underway, LOL.

I used to have exactly these same problems. Even now I like to write things down and clarify because I have difficulty following a set of instructions.

I have exactly the same problem. People giving instructions seem to be vague and rambling to me, constantly backtracking and straying off-topic, yet everyone else around me seems to instantly understand immediately what to do from what they have said. At work, I am constantly being left tasks to do with what seems to me like only half of the information I need, yet the instructor when they return seems astonished that I could not work out what to do.

I also have a very poor memory, and need to write down what I have to do or I will have forgotten in literally minutes.

I have this problem, and it seems no matter how hard I try to focus and listen, I still don't fully understand.

Exactly! I do wish people wouldn't waffle when talking to me... I'm horrible with directions so I flatly refuse to go anywhere I don't know. People don't get it- if I get lost, I can possibly ask for directions, but I can't follow them and end up more confused! Going and asking again does not help.
It's just me and I can't change, only work around it. Give me a list or written instructions, every time. Or just tell me once, and plainly, not all jumbled in with other stuff.

I have this trouble a lot of the time with spoken speech. When people speak, it's as though their words don't get into my head correctly, and even when I think they're in there, if I try to recall what they've said later, there are huge gaps in my memory. If people are long-winded or have large pauses in their speech, it makes it worse, as it's hard to simultaneously hold my attention on what they're saying and process it so that it stays in my head. My father is particularly problematic in this regard: he repeats himself, and stops in the middle of the sentence for a good 10 seconds, and never gets to the point, then when I'm struggling to take in what he's saying, he misinterprets my expression as impatience and gets angry.
This problem happens a lot with instructions, not so much when people are giving me information. I get around it by having instructions in writing wherever possible.

I completely understand alot of what you are saying, and I can definately relate. What you are describing is semantic-pragmatic disorder issues. Some say its HFA, others say it falls between HFA and AS, I am more prone to say its the ladder. It often gets labeled as PDD-NOS by psych workers in the US (the SPD diagnosis only comes if a neurologist or speech pathologist diagnosis it). It is a language processing issue, but it is autism. Your grouping example is great because I frequently made that mistake. Instructions can be difficult for me, even simple ones.

This comes out in communication with me as well.

Its not like I am like this all the time, but sometimes I don't know what I am doing and get easily confused.

From what it sounds like this is how the asd manifests with you.

I noticed you were diagnosed with AS. The funny thing is there is overlap with SPD and AS...which means one can have SPD and AS. It really is strange because SPD overlaps with AS, NLD and HFA in various ways, if you think of the spectrum as interconnecting circles, think of spd as the one that ties the other three together. It is known to be a form of autism, its just one that does not always show up.

Btw, I got in the habit of copying teachers instructions after class from thier written notes. Also many people just accept I will forget things and get confused.

sounds like it could be part of executive dysfunction [a common experience with autism,as,adhd etc].

Some of it may just be not knowing the "rules" or architecture of a system. Lack of familiarity with background information and context that some others might already know. The confusion seems to be about knowledge of systems. You couldn't put somebody who had never seen a basketball game on the court and expect him to be an effective player. Some times we can equip ourselves in advance by reading the playbook. In college, that's why they publish those thick college handbooks and tell you in orientation to read them asap. Then, when some bureaucrat or professor starts babbling technogook, you might be able to pick up on a few points and be able to ask enough relevant questions to get a grasp of it.

Exactly the same.
it is why i am a solo practitioner.
It is why i cannot be in groups (well...one of the reasons.)

Verbal instructions are gibberish to me. chattering gobbledygook...talking heads...blah blah blah...overload.

I must work out my own way, or, I must be shown how to do something visually.
step by step written instructions are also difficult, but possible.