Turning thought to text

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Hi all

At my recent assessment one topic that came up was my struggle to turn thoughts, plans, ideas and answers into text, be it written or typed.

I have always felt like i can never get my ideas across to people, but i am far better at this verbally than i am written. If my thoughts are 100% efficient i would rate my verbal explaination as maybe 90% and my written as 60% at best.

My mother has often told the story (i used to just sigh, now i'm interested) my english teacher told her of her looking forward to getting my first written work to mark as i was the most interesting and insightful in the class during discussions, only to have to check it was actually my work she was reading as it was so basic and low level.

This used to be put down to my hand writting which has always been awfull, but even as a proficient typer, while it's gotten a little easier as i can keep up with my thoughts, I still struggle to produce quality written work. I'm not even sure why or what areas i struggle in. I think the language is simpler, i struggle with the written structure, i struggle to know how much or little to explain things, either pitching too breif or writting far too much as i try to cover every possible thought.

The psycologist mentioned disgraphia (he used the proper term) but that seems to be mostly about hand written issues. We're going to discuss it more next meeting but he is very slow and waffles (ok he doesn't, but he's not efficient and precise so i struggle to concentrate over long spells) so i was hoping others here had similar issues and could give some insight so i go with some better understanding.

Thanks Feel free to ask for any extra info you might be curious about.

Hmm...most unusual. I find it easier to type than to actually explain by talking. Which is why I depend so much on technology.

Have you tried recording your verbal thoughts and then typing them verbatim?

My thoughts are all meant to be visual. They get transported into text quite easily, naturally.

My thoughts have always proved difficult to put into words, however, I find writing far easier than speaking. That being said, it takes many drafts for me to get out even simple ideas.

To the OP - I can perhaps relate to what you are describing. I am a non-verbal thinker and need to translate my thoughts into words, be they oral or written. While I wouldn't describe this task as onerous, it is not particularly pleasant and I generally don't feel that I accomplish it well.

When concentrating on translating my thoughts, I sometimes lose their thread, and this is what could be happening to you. Since written work is much less forgiving than oral expression, its translation requires greater concentration. Thus you might be more apt to lose the thread of your thoughts when writing. I don't notice as big a variation between oral and written expression as you have described, but I probably prefer oral because it succeeds with far less attention to the quality of translation/composition. Are you an abstract thinker, i.e., good at maths, by any chance?

Although my writing abilities are far greater than my speaking capabilities, I have an incredibly hard time trying to translate my thoughts and ideas into words that people can understand. It's almost as if my mind composes thoughts in a cryptic language, which I have to translate into English. It's very hard and frustrating.

Here's the thing- if you feel like you can't quite get your thoughts out the right way with words, it doesn't mean you're bad with them. In fact, it can mean the opposite: by trying so hard to convey as closely as possible your thought process, you're actually "flexing" your "word muscles" moreso than somebody who thinks they're doing a great job at it.

There is an interesting phenomenon which might be applicable here: those on the very high end of the IQ spectrum tend to underestimate just how bright they are. Judging by the articulation of some of the posters in this thread, that might very well be the case for some of you.

I type as fast as I talk, and I don't look at the keyboard (they taught me in high school). The last time I took a test it came out 102 wpm. It feels like my thoughts go straight from my brain to my fingertips. If my 'inner critic' or something like that got hold of it, I wouldn't be able to write at all. So I'm thinking: what if you type really fast?

I have that issue when it comes to drafting affidavits, statements of claim, and statements of defence in litigation..I have, however kind of gotten around that by typing what i am thinking by just typing as it is going through my head, then worrying about the grammar and structure after it is all typed out.

If some people have the same issue, they could get a tape recorder or a dictaphone, and say what they are thinking verbally, then once it is recorded, type it out, then fix any errors afterwards.Many law offices use dictaphones, and the legal assistant types what the lawyer says, or the legal assistant can say it, then type afterwards.

Thanks for the replies everyone. While i'm definitely not an attention seeker and usually don't care for others opinions (rarely do they make sence and often they're 5 steps behind my own), i think i have an obsession for replies to my forum posts The highlight of my day so far (I'm in the UK, it's 13.25 here) is seeing 12 replies to my post.. lol

Reading my post again i probably only described a narrow part of my verbal ability. I'm a good talker sometimes, such as when when dealing with specifics in a situation where i can interact with a person, challenge them, clarify and set out my position. Even then it's probably closer to 80% rather than 90%.

CSimon - The physical task of typing is fine, i belive it's the transforming my thoughts into written comunication. Spoken language and written language are very different and writting my speach wouldn't result in properly structured sentances, which I'd then have to try to format and it would change the meaning of what i'm saying and would take just as long i think.

buryuntime - I'm really not sure how i think other than it is linear and single tasked. I've been on plenty of courses dealing with different types of thinkers (infact my wife is something of a specialist in this area). I don't see pictures, i don't talk in my head, i certainly don't smell or see colours! I just think. There's another thread here talking about thinking in the past tense, I'm not even sure what that means or if i do it. At times i find myself talking our my thoughts to myself but this is usually a ways to bring closure to something or ensure i know what my actions are. It's an organisation step not part of the thought process.
People often talk of "going away to think about it" I don't understand this. I may go away to seek further information, but i'm pretty happy making decisions straight away if i belive i have all the information. I don't think i *could* go and think about it, other than when it's possible to go back over the decission tree to verify the actions.

Hi Millie - Yes i have also been diagnosed with ADHD-PI. I have no hyperactivity issues but my attention is like most things with me at extremes. I can focus on one task for 8 hours while struggle to ever start another no matter how much i try to focus on it. Dyslexia was considered and rejected. I was also tested for dyslexia in my early school years due to my terrible hand writing and the fact i would miss out words or part of sentances. It was recognised then that the missing out words was due to my brain moving too fast for my writting. The hand writing was put down partly to be being a leftie and just something to work on.

Wildgrape - That first paragraph is exactly the same for me, i will use the term translating my thoughts into words from now on :0 That's what I'm doing and it loses something in the translation. I just find it easier and much more forgiving to translate to verbal words than written ones. I wonder if even when i know i need to put something together i still do the translation in real time, thus vocal allows for some error.
Not sure what an abstract thinking is and my reaction was "no", becuase when people mention abstract to me it usually comes across as vague, but yes i am good at maths (which is systematic and logical).

gramirez - I mentioned above i think that might be it, or part of it. I'm not sure if i think in english language or if i think in words, but i certainly don't think in english language words!

masterdieff - I know i'm not "bad", i'm just below my ability level in other areas. My poor written english still passed exams, it was just my worst grade by 2 levels. I agree some people don't realise how clever they are, especially those in self depreciating spirals or those with large strengths and weakeness who have not yet learnt to use their strengths to compensate for their weaknesses. I feel lucky to be extremely self aware. I know exactly what i can do, how i come across and where my strength and weaknesses lie, I'm also quite comfortable with it and happy to admit my weaknesses in a situation where my strengths are obvious.

Claradoon - I'm about 75wpm, so that shouldn't be an issue. In fact i'm often not typing becuase i'm trying to work out what to type. Now i think of it i can casually type like this fairly well (tho i still lose track at times), so maybe the difference is around pressure, requirement to be formally correct (structure/spelling/grammar) or possibly the requirement to use words i'm not especially comfortable with, almost like a social situation where you're faking it instead of acting naturally.

Tory - I think the dictaphone in those situations is used to spreak out a written letter. They don't "talk" into them, they say the written words, so you're still constructing a written document, just bypassing the physical part of it, which i don't hfind a problem. As mentioned above if i was to naturally speak into it, it would take so much editing to turn into written words it would be as bad as doing it that way from the start.

I think one of the problems is i am very specific and i see people misinterpreting things every day. When i read even one of my own sentances i can find like 5 ways to read it, so i know others can too. I try to judge the audience as to how they will read it but usually still think it's unclear, so i expand on it and clarify and before i know it a simple responce that could be 1 sentance is now 2 paragraphs with some bullit points.
I'm the same responding to a question, i often need to clarify exactly what they are asking for, what context they're asking in and what they plan to do with the end result. With out that information i don't feel able to answer the question without giving 20 variables and caveats.

Sorry for the long reply, i'm really enjoying the responses. I really only learn through infromation gathering and there's lots of information here for me to consider and think about for the rest of the day!

I believe I have the same problem. My guess is that I have trouble finding a succinct way of saying what I want to say. Use too many words and use examples that are too specific. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it almost right, the wording may be off. Sometimes I write it badly and its too obtuse, I feel like I would need to write pages to get across what I am trying to say but it isn't possible.

I guess my strengths are learning the rules and pieces of a puzzle and using them to get a result, this is not verbal thinking though so I have trouble expressing the thoughts.

Jingo8- I find I have similar difficulties with writing. The ideas are there but there is something that goes awry in the attempt to translate thought into written words. I find myself jotting key words or phrases as a way of trying to at least get the kernel of the thought out, and oftentimes I simply leave the rest unwritten for me to explain verbally or for others to make the effort to fill in the blanks on their own. The strange thing is that I have very strong verbal skills, grammar isn't a problem- I don't even think about it when I write, and my comprehension level is very high as well. For short messages like a brief response to a post, I simply allow myself enough time to draw out all the pieces to make sentences and after 20 min. or so, I have a coherent piece of writing. For longer work such as essays, the process breaks down as I can't link complex thought processes into written correlates, On the occasions that I am allowed enough time (days, sometimes weeks) and I can devote large quantities of mental energy (nearly all consuming) to a piece, then I may come up with something that adequately reflects my understanding. Sometimes I feel like a black hole, absorbing everything and reflecting very little.