Question about executive dysfunction

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God. And I always thought I just was a lazy stupid bum, you know?

I'm only suspected borderline AS, but yes. It got a bit better since I'm out of puberty (which ended when I was 24, I think)

The funny thing is that you can get away with not making homework when your grades are still about the best in class, that you can get away with not cleaning your rooms for years (my mom gave up when I still was in primary school) when you don't have friends over anyways. Until you have to make it on your own. )=

Last edited by zombiecide on 19 Sep 2009, 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There's a Student Version of the Control Journal. It looks like it's geared towards slightly younger kids, but probably is still helpful.
The FLY forum also has a FLYing Students section. I think the forums might be moving over to BigTent... I'm not sure. I haven't been using the forums yet.. I should probably start, though.
The whole timer thing is really helpful too. It helps you ignore that urge to put off doing something "until you can do it right." ...'cause then you never end up doing it at all. It's very big on not stressing over doing something right, but just doing it for 15 minutes. Doing something gets more done than getting too stressed to do anything.
A lot of the stuff can be applied to other things besides keeping your house clean.. and, of course, if your house/room/dorm is clean, you're more likely to know what and where your homework is!

OMG, I sound so flippin' brainwashed!
I sooo know my mother is gonna read this too.. and she'll be LAUGHING! She'll be laughing really hard, 'cause I always thought she was totally insane with the flylady thing.

Okay, it's 1:06 am, so it's legit to say I'll start right off tomorrow.

No! Set your timer for 15 minutes! Spend 15 minutes doing whatever it is you need to do! It's Saturday, getting to bed 15 minutes later won't kill you!

I dont think the flylady thing would work for me. Even if I had someone reminding me to do things my ingenious ability to slack off would take over...

I think the best answer for me is to try and do the most necessary, vital things, prioritise, ie hygiene is more important than things in order... caring for the dog and cat is more important than dusting...

One thing I think is amazingly invaluable for me is just having less stuff and having less complicated tasks... simplicity. I just dont have the attention span to devote to a complicated system.

Still is hard to do things but I am working on a system so I get more done....

One thing I find helpful if lack of motivation is the problem, is to just do silly little things. Ie, pick up a cup. Take it to the sink. Then feel happy because you have done some housework. Perhaps do some other little things. Do parts of tasks. If it gets too much go and do some other thing.

So what exactly is executive dysfunction? Forgive my ignorance, but I've never found any good information on the internet that explains what it is and how it effects people. Is executive dysfunction just being extremely disorganised, scatterbrained and unmotivated to do things, or is it a lot more complicated than that? I'm just wondering whether I have it or not, because I definitely don't just have straightforward AS.

Cheers.

Problem is that there are three kids sleeping (I'm an au pair) so I can't do anything that makes noise. And all the things that are really difficult for me include noise. I could try out with learning kanji, though, wanted to come up with a routine for that anyways.


zen_mistress, that with the cup is a really good approach, actually. I personally can keep up with my personal hygiene nowadays (unless I'm in a really bad phase/sick), can care for pets and keep commonly used space clean. But I can't keep my own things clean, plan, structure my own studying, fill in forms and all that stuff.

I've heard of flylady before and dismissed it because I don't have any problem with keeping commonly used space clean (since I cared for a sick grandma and knew she was going to clean stuff when I didn't do it before and she really shouldn't do it with her state of health), but if there's anything that will help me to un-learn this 'I'll do it when I feel better and actually think I can finish it with a good result' way of thinking I will try it out. It's probably more of a self-efficacy thing because I believe only 100% are good enough, whereas 80% still might be well above average ...

Last edited by zombiecide on 19 Sep 2009, 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Flylady made me feel very cranky and I eventually unsubscribed...I am somewhat in denial of the fact that 80-90% of my waking life should be spent simply cleaning up after myself and everybody else...

I should probably re-subscribe though...not that it was helpful..I felt defiant against everything the Flylady told me to do.
Though she did have some interesting points....

I have severe executive dysfunction, so does my partner...We run a giant performance and arts space. It is a constant struggle to keep the place from turning into a complete pigsty..It is my job to do most of the cleaning.
I will spend hours and hours cleaning and the place will still be a wreck.
rawwwrrrrr.........

So how is it that some Aspies are extremely ordered? Or is that just for a special interest?

Hence the emphasis on decluttering! You're supposed to get rid of stuff you don't use and don't need. And not feeling guilty about getting rid of something you never used anyways.
And making it convenient. Like, doing something that takes a minute right when you're there to do it, so it only takes a minute, rather than having to think about it, then go to do it, and then do it. Like, you give something really messy a few scrubs here and there when you're there. If the shower is dirty, then you can have a scrubber there and scrub a bit. Then you don't actually have to do anything inconvenient, and it still gets clean!

*checks e-mail, expecting a "see, I told you so!" message from her mother*

That's what I'm trying to do. I just sewed on a button and it occurs to me I should get rid of all those pieces of velcro that I decided years ago I was going to keep because maybe I might need them some day. It's therapeutic, I tell ya.

It's better to search for executive functions/executive system and go from there.
Basically the executive system is a theorized system with its main function being in the sphere of decision-making, error-correction, responding to new or potentially dangerous situations, and inhibition of habitual responses/self-discipline.
It also should be responsible to decide where your attention has to lie and what information has to stay in your working memory and what is irrelevant.
Now, there is some evidence that this could very well exist, and a lot of people arguing for and against it in more or less scientific ways. (Some people do not like the explanation that a scatterbrained person might not have any character deficit, but a slightly lopsided brain development. Don't ask me why. Some people like to believe that Obama is the antichrist, too.)

And executive dysfunction would be handicapping in one or usually more of those areas, meaning that in many of the complex tasks we have to deal with in everyday life, some parts are quite a challenge for people with this syndrome.
This could express in things like the person not being able to work continuously on a project (you know, not doing anything for weeks even though you know you have to start, and then when it's five to twelve you go full speed), for example. Or to not be able to organize one's own workplace despite trying to/saying s/he wants to. Coming too late frequently, forgetting things that are needed or need to be done, being paralyzed in unknown situations etc.
Written mostly out of my faulty memory, so don't stone me if I got something completely wrong.


Aimless, my life is a mess but my CD collection is in perfect order - that kind of thing?

Last edited by zombiecide on 20 Sep 2009, 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

zombiecide wrote:

I don't know. That's what I'm trying to figure out and why I asked originally whether executive dysfunction was always or sometimes part of AS. I'm wondering how someone with a strict routine manages to establish that routine in the first place if executive dysfunction is present. I don't walk around with brilliant thoughts like Einstein, but I do have my head in the clouds a lot of the time and consequently forget really obvious things. It's ironic that I feel so much better in a clean ordered place but I have such a hard time giving myself that. Part of my problem is undue attachments to objects. For the record nothing I have is in perfect order.

It's hard to say. I find it extremely hard to come up with a routine, but once it's established, it is almost painful if I'm not able to follow it. I used to have the odd habit to put all kitchen knives into the 'right' order even when there were dirty dishes in the sink and it would be much more logical to clean those. But the dishes were movable objects to me, whereas the knives belonged to a certain place in a certain order.
It also is relatively easy to come up with an order for a CD collection (in my case name of band/artist, release order, oh, and all CDs and booklets in their respective cases) because the items to order are pretty uniform and there isn't a lot you have to consider.
I also have trouble establishing triggers for certain routines, like to hang your key on a keyboard once you closed the front door. (That is a fairly easy one, but ones like 'remove the power chord once you toasted your sandwiches in the sandwich toaster' are more difficult, or 'when you put the washing machine to wash remember to take out the laundry later and don't let it rot inside the mashine' ._.;; )

Last edited by zombiecide on 19 Sep 2009, 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks!




Yes I agree with the decluttering idea. But I looked at the website years ago, it just doesnt gel with my way of thinking, though I am sure it helps others.

I cant describe it but I think my problems are different from many AS people, my organisational problems are more ADD and dyspraxia. I used to work as a secretary, and having a routine actually made me feel terrible and wired and unable to relax in the hours outside work. I got loads done, but at the cost of my mental health.

I think the extreme ordered-ness comes from the maintenance of strict routines. The reason they freak out if the routines are interrupted is that the routines are all that keeps it that way. Without all the routines, it'd be the same chaos the unordered aspies have.