verbal instructions

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I was just on the phone with a medicare lady going over precription drug coverage. she was throwing 1500 directions at me at once and I became overwhelmed and cried.

anyone else have this happen to them?

I can't cope with Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage even in written language and all the time in the world. My daughter does it for me. I'm sure I'd have cried too in that situation, since oral things tend to go in one ear and out the other. Those people need lessons in writing/speaking plain English.

Interesting that you mention this. I hadn't heard of it being a typical AS characteristic (but maybe I've just missed it), but it describes me as well. I don't follow spoken directions very well at all, including street directions. But then there are people who can't read maps, so I guess we all have our own burdens ...

If it's ever more than 2 or 3 things, I won't remember any of them.

I've learned over the years that I do fine with significantly more complex verbal instructions, if I hear them twice. That one repetition makes a world of difference for me. Sometimes I pretend I misheard something or missed something just to get that second iteration without being too awkward.

When people give me verbal instructions--my mind automatically goes into autopilot. I don't even try to understand what they say anymore because I'll just get frustrated. I just stare at them blankly and they usually say nevermind, haha!

I'm often too focused on sounding pleasant than remembering what's being said.

I lose the ability to understand what people are saying if I listen to their instructions and try to remember them. And I get overwhelmed. My father used to rapid fire instructions at me and I'd just approach meltdown from the pressure and confusion.

whew, good to know I am not the only one. it was sensory overload to the MAX.

I can only cope with simple instructions like "open the can and pour it into the bowl". Anything more than that, or if there are multiple people at once telling me to do different things, I shut down and I start getting upset. It actually says in my Disabled Students Allowance report that I need instructions written down for me otherwise I will either get upset or do completely the wrong thing, or both.

I agree, verbal instructions make me get lost so fast! Also, as another poster said, if more than one person is talking to me, my brain just freezes up entirely.

When someone is speaking and it is all new information to me, not something predictable As in "Hi, How are you today?" or whatnot, it is like the words they speak... are a flock of butterflies, and they fly around in the air in front of me, and I am just trying to catch all of them in a net, because I am about to lose all of the words, they will just fly away!

I try to remember the most important words, but I end up with a scattered pile of words and I forget the order, and I forget which ones had priority. For instance, a doctor was telling me how to treat a skin infection, and the only words I ended up with were "hot compress" and some numbers like 4, 30, etc. So I walked away wondering if I was supposed to do a hot compress (whatever that is) for 4 minutes or for 30 minutes? And of course, the doctor rattled it off at light speed and promptly disappeared. I prefer a doctor who is kind enough to write out the instructions.

But this happens to me all the time. It helps if the person speaking allows me to repeat back to them the key points, and if they help me keep instructions in proper order, do this first, followed by this, and end with this.

It is not easy!

I have a very hard time following verbal instructions.

I got hit with an insult when I couldn't follow directions for a minor task over the phone.

The problem for me with verbal instructions is not even so much that I have trouble remembering them (I do have a little, especially if I have to do it later because I get nervous about whether or not I'm remembering things right) as much that I need them to be specific to the extreme. I can remember instructions and then be there and just freeze completely because I don't know how exactly to do it. I really want to be shown how to do something.

I assume 1500 is an agsaduation right??? But I do fibnd a lot that I can't follow to many instructions. I sometimes struggle with even more than one.