Were you behind in school or ahead?

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i just always hear that people with aspergers are so smart and often are ahead of their classmates. that was never the case for me i was way behind. Reading was a challange, math was near impossible, french class, writting and even speaking was all difficult for me. and even though i loved science i still had very low grades. were you ahead or behind?

I was ahead in some classes ( English, History, and Geography ) and behind in Math and the Sciences.

Hmm, for me this is an interesting one. In Primary School I would have said that I was quite far ahead. My parents told me that I used to say "I was bored" because "I learned nothing, it was all too easy". I used to be very good at maths, and in terms of English I was always quite far ahead.

As soon as high school started, I started dealing with depression and my grades slumped, and that's when I fell behind everyone else. In Year 11 I had a "motivation spike" if you'll call it that, out of nowhere. I just woke up and felt entirely, completely motivated to work on all of my goals, and received an Honours. Aside from that one year though, my attendance was poor and my grades were quite poor. And by quite poor I mean a couple of B's (not many), C's (mainly), and D's (a few). It was mainly my attendance that was a problem, in Year 12 I only had 65% attendance, but managed to pass with an average mark. I was lucky I think.

So, in between?

i chose "learned at peer level" but in honesty... i always just did well enough to pass. report cards showed that I was a C average student. again, just well enough to pass. when it came time to doing homework. it was always doing it at 11 at night, with Mum's help. any book reports...i would write them out, but my mom would stay up and type it out for me, leaving it out on the table for me to get in the morning.

i most likely would have fared way better in a specialized class. one that adhered to my pace and enthusiasm of learning. I don't think it was working for me and my motivation that each subject only got like 45 minutes of attention each day. And then having to switch gears in 5 minutes or less (like in high school) was always jarring. and in my high school, the way they rotated the schedule... like Class A B C D Lunch/E F G on Monday would be CLASS B C D E Lunch/F G A...and so on for the week...with half the students getting first lunch then class, and the other half getting class then lunch...for one semester. I mostly remember carrying the schedule all year round just to make sure I got to the class and hardly had time to pay attention in class.

the only special attention i got was when they would punish me for acting up. which was pretty much every day until the 6th grade when i finally seemed to "calm down", then on i was mostly a loner playing by myself at recess until the older grades when there was no real "recess"....there was also a small relapse in the early years of high school...which they recommended therapy that I only attended once or twice....

I was ahead in some subjects, behind in others, and on level with the rest in some. I was never quick in executing the tasks themselves though, even if they were easy for me.

I couldn't vote as none of them describes how I was at school.

I was ahead in some subjects - maths, science, English grammar and grammar of my first language. I was behind in history because I hated it.

I've always been ahead in school most of the time. I seem to be able to understand and remember things quickly.

Mostly ahead until I reached the age of 14 when all of the anxiety finally got the better of me and I went to pieces. I started walking out of school, failed all of the exams I took at 16 and dropped out of education.

Both... I have experienced the extremes on both ends of successfulness (blew everybody else at school out of the waters in performance) and as well as failure (straight-F's for two entire semesters).

it's varied. in primary school i was far ahead of everyone and i got high scores on tests while i was barely even trying, i was bored all the time. after that i was homeschooled for several years and i had no one to compare my performance with. then i was in high school for part of a year, my grades were pretty miserable, the only things that i had a high grade in were art and english as those were the only classes i cared about, i was absent for half of the days. i dropped out when i was hospitalized for depression, haven't been back since.

Interesting. The experiences here are very similar to my own. I too excelled during the early grades and was often the top of my class. Boredom was an issue at times, but I was usually motivated enough to get As.

With middle school (Grades 7 and 8 ) came my first episodes with depression and my academic performance took a bit of a hit, but I was still an A/B student.

High school was a bit mixed. Aced a few classes, struggled in a few others. Some classes I just didn't give a damn about and my grades were pretty average. I did end up graduating with honors though. I remember a Business Technology class I took that was so boring to me that I made up my own challenges for myself. Instead of using the Internet to research information about a 'dream car' I looked up similar statistics for an M1A1 Abrams tank and instead of using a prefab template to create a webpage, I embedded Flash and Java applets in mine.

College was more problematic. I started off ahead of my peers in my Major subject, but my prior perfectionism became a hindrance instead of a boon as things didn't 'come easily' for me as they did in high school.

One early class had a practical midterm where we had to build a program from scratch to solve some algorithm. When I wrote programs, I would spend a large part of my time visualizing the problem and how to code a solution to it before ever really sitting at a computer and 'brute forcing' different options. It took me longer to begin, but I usually finished projects at the same time as my peers. I didn't have to spend as much time fixing programming mistakes because I'd tried to plan for most exceptional cases ahead. Regardless, the timed nature of the test was difficult for me and I froze and didn't have ANYTHING written to submit when time was called. The midterm was also 40% of the final grade for the class so I met with my first real academic failure.

So situations like that coupled with failed relationships and familial problems at home led to Major Depression and my dropping out.

I'd return after a couple hospitalizations and complete a degree in Speech Communication. I had developed a special interest in Lutheran theology and was able to incorporate that into much of the course material: Propaganda of the German Reformation, rhetoric of St. Augustine and the early church, etc. As far as public speaking, it was easy to blab on about a special interest and I was mostly oblivious to my peers reaction. I got As in all my Speech Comm classed save one where I was bored and got a C.

Went to grad school for Speech Pathology and started at the top of my class, but then took a nosedive once I started clinical practicum. That's when I figured out that, for the most part, I can do academia, but I can't do people. I've had to withdraw from the program after the stress put me in the hospital again last year. If you'll permit more metaphor, stars burning brightly and all that...

Well, this post is about 10x longer than I had intended. Hope someone gleans something from it.

I learned at a normal level as everyone else around me, although I mostly had problems with math. The only science I've only ever been good at was biology.

I'm way ahead in mathematics, science and english. I am above average in history and social studies. I am okay in French class and I am terrible in drama and dance which I truly despise.

People in my class complain a lot about how we have to have special needs students in our classroom for gym and stuff (because that is the rules) but they fail to realize I feel the same way about them. People in my class get frustrated when trying to explain themselves to people with down syndrome and autism while I am autistic and get extremely frustrated explaining stuff to them, they just don't get it.

Mine is another "started well and sank" story, though luckily I hung on somehow. I would probably have abandoned ship, but discipline from the Big People was pretty fierce in my day, and I was afraid to throw in the towel.

First ("infants") school (5-7 years old), I was the absolute top dog from start to finish.

Second ("junior") school (8-11 years old), I generally did well but a few cracks began to show here and there, and at one point I dropped near to the bottom of the class, but I pulled out of the tailspin and went on to pass the 11-plus which got me a place at the "highest" school in the city.

Third ("grammar") school (12-18 years old), I floundered terribly for much of the time, but made a supreme effort to bone up in time for the 'O' levels (at 16 years old) by locking myself away and studying the textbooks for a couple of months, and passed nearly all of them with excellent or good grades, then floundered again, tried to bone up for the 'A' levels (at 18 years old), and scraped through those by the skin of my teeth.

Stress, fatigue, and boredom levels were inversely related to my performance. Being aware of the trend and anticipating even worse trouble ahead, I didn't attempt university, I just got a job. All this happened many years before I was diagnosed or even knew what autism was.

I was ahead but lazy. I liked school and liked learning but considered lessons to be all study I need.

I was always doing the minimum of what they expected from me and I didn't spent time studying at home except doing homeworks and reading my notes for a hour if I knew there is a big exam next day. I couldn't understand why people ale always surprised when I was saying I don't have any homework to do or I done it all within 15 mins - other kids my age were apparently studying for like 4h every day after school and they were complaining they have too much homework to do. It made me feel I am missing something - but I always had my homework done and I was never not prepared for a lesson. Even if there was unexpected test I was still getting a B or even A without studying at all - I simply remembered what was on previous lessons.

I remember people telling about me: "She is probably studying a lot, it shows in her grades." and me answering "I don't study at all. If I studied I would have straight A, but I hate cramming.". They never believed though.

It doesn't mean I didn't have any trouble at all though. I could never understand social studies, especially History of Poland and Knowledge about society/politics(in their case I was not even behind - I was simply stuck and unable to move any further then very basic level) and I failed in organizing, for example I never had right tools for Art lessons because I was forgetting to buy them in advance (I usually remembered I was supposed to bring something unusual when I was already preparing my backpack in the morning of that day, lol).

I also had trouble understanding (or listening to ) teacher's orders sometimes. I often failed to do something simply because I didn't understand what we are supposed to do or was too focused on something else to hear that teacher said anything. But I had my ways to copy with it, especially when I started sitting in the desk nearest to teachers desk and could see what he is doing - I may not be able to hear him ordering something but I could usually see him writing it down in our class register (my hearing is the first thing that shuts down when I am overwhelmed or my hyperfocus ticks but I can almost always see my surroundings). Reading upside down was not a problem.

I am not diagnosed so this may not count, but I do have a certain suspicion of being on the mild end of the spectrum.

Anyhow, until I was about 13 I was bullied a lot and the teachers only yelled at me because I got so angry (meltdowns?). I hated school and refused to do any work related to school. Some children would tell me how stupid I was. Luckily, we don't have grades at that age in my country. From the age of 14, however, we got grades and I think my father was quite worried about my future. He promised me a new computer if I did some effort at school. This (and a few other facts) really motivated me and I started working. I've easily excelled in math and science since. I also managed to get top grades or near top grades in many other courses but it required a lot more work. In some courses, such as languages and physical education I still did poorly no matter how much I worked. (I do mean that I have an acceptable written language though, but my story-writing skills are not good and my hand writing is quite difficult to read).

Today I am pursuing a PhD in science, so I started out poorly but got lucky in the end. I pity those of you who went the other way but hope you have found something meaningful to do anyway.