Garbled sensory perception and output
To me, the most salient aspect of Asperger's Syndrome now that I know what it is and have some experience observing it, is the fact that both sensory input I experience, and making my body produce output, are both garbled. In all the stuff I've read, I haven't seen this discussed in this way.
When I listen to someone speak, I get "dropouts" even if all other things are equal and I am concentrating and not distracted by background sensory overload. It's like someone switching a radio on and off sometimes. I have to ask people to repeat what they say, and after the second or third time I get enough of the words to form a mental picture. When someone wants to shake hands as a greeting, I have to look at my hand or I'll miss. I can sort of make eye contact, but doing so does not convey any meaningful information about the other person. I can't "read" what kind of mood the other person is in or anything. When I try to speak, I often know what I want to say, but hear myself saying something else and I wonder why I said what I said. One time, I actually did measure twice and made a mark and still drilled a hole in the wrong place. I double-checked something I was going to give someone - one slip for now, one for next month - and gave them the slip for next month instead of this month.
What I don't see is a lot of discussion about this garbled sense input/output in books and other resources about AS. Do other people not experience this? Are the experts missing something important? I don't engage in social interactions because I am so garbled doing them that there's not much point.
I know the senses themselves are fine. I can hear fine. I can move fine. It's like the part of the brain that accepts sense input and encodes it, and the part that takes what I want to do and translates it into motion, doesn't work properly. How does cognitive therapy, or role-playing therapy, or anything else like that help? Even if I practice what I am going to present at a meeting or something, it doesn't help me when I actually do it and things are garbled.
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I do all of this as well.
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“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
― George Washington
Absolutely, I have this issue. I find that it is at its worst if I am agitated in some way. I can hear the sounds, but my brain can't process what they actually mean.
I have a hard time speaking as well. I have all the words practiced in my head...but when I open my mouth, rarely do those words come out. I might stutter, or pause for an uncomfortable amount of time. I've even snorted, because I laugh at inappropriate times (like when I'm uncomfortable, or when someone is angry at me).
Eye contact is painful, when I make a point to attempt to "connect"...I usually become so preoccupied that I'll realize I've stopped talking, or forgotten what I was saying. Plus, once I look at a person, it takes me half a minute or so to actually see what they look like. So apparently I stare at people for inappropriate amounts of time.
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AQ Score: 44/50 Aspie Quiz: 175/200-Aspie 31/200-NT
Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
My avatar is Keith Giffen's Trencher character, from 1993. I couldn't think of any other username, so I borrowed it. Hard to compress ol' Gideon down to a 16kb GIF, that's for sure!
o ok, shoulda looked up the name i guess.
i must of either seen that in a video game or on a comic book...or possibly on tv? i really want to say i saw it on tv.
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“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
― George Washington
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