Bad short term/working memory are my main priorities when dealing with the cursed part of autism. It's the problem I haven't figured well yet, along with auditorial filtering (can't get to it yet) and verbal learning (no motivation).
I tried focus by strengthening the 'hold' on the memory. But it does not guarantee and it takes energy (depends how many you have to remember and how spontaneous).
It 'slips' if I did oral repetition. I don't know if it's true for anyone else. I even forget what I said.
And I have other factors that reduces my attention span -- namely, chronic sinusitis and allergic/idiopathic rhinitis. So, yes, breathing distracts me on daily basis.
Auditorial processing didn't helped with verbal instructions.
As far as I know, I've been
coping with it by external memory. (Lists, alarms, etc.) Main problem is that I forget to check it and forgotten that it exists. Or end up losing it.
I also find verbal learning is not my style at all. How do you prefer to learn? I either like to either actually learn by doing what I am trying to learn with some sort of guide, such as a visual set of instructions, or by reading.
I find with these methods I can learn things rather quickly, but when it comes to verbal learning I am not very good at all.