Understanding instructions?

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Does anyone else not understand instructions, either written or vocal? I have just had an appointment with my GP and she gave me a piece of paper and was telling me about this place upstairs that's open on Thursdays I am not sure if I am meant to go up there or not.

Sometimes, if it's more than one-step instructions, I have to have them repeated to me.

I have this problem all the time. I wish people were more specific and just told me exactly what I need to do cause I can't fill in the blanks on my own. I can't stand vocal instructions and I do okay with written, but sometimes I have to rewrite it in my own way to make sense of it.

Maybe you are supposed to decide whether to go. Ask yourself whether going would be helpful.

I'm terrible with instructions...and directions :0/

The first robotics engineers were chagrined to learn how many details went into "pick up the part." Human instructions are never that thorough, but there are some instructions that start off with a requirement for previous experience, like a University course prerequisite. When you need an extra detailed instruction, you have to be quick to ask about the gaps you see. If you have several questions it is probably a good idea to apologize for your overactive imagination, rookie status, or some such condition. (See, I didn't list them all.)

Vocalized instructions are the hardest for me to understand, but even most written instructions often confuse me. I don't know if it's my social interaction issues or what, but instructions often seem to be missing pertinent information, or have steps that are just plain ambiguous, where it could mean two different things that may be nearly, or even totally , opposite. All you can do is ask, sometimes.

I'm much better with written instructions than verbal; struggled on a recent fieldwork-orientated trip due to this thing. By merit of the trip's nature we were involved in a lot of physical activity outside, obviously making it hard not for instructions to be delivered verbally. It was very frustrating and made me feel stupid, too. It's almost as though some part of the mind is deliberately blanking important information out of sheer impertinence.

That might be an auditory processing disorder, where the brain will take in a small packet of spoken information, and then sort of "sign out" of the conversation to translate it. Problem is, the person giving the directions doesn't know your brain keeps taking intermittent breaks from listening (and you may not be aware of it as it's happening either), and keeps talking, so you end up getting bits and pieces, or only certain steps, of the instructions.

I constantly got in trouble over this until I was old enough to write down instructions -- then I drove people crazy by insisting they slow down so I could get it down, but at least I'd get it all down.

I usually have to evaluate the possible choices and based on past experience what is the probability that a certain course of action is correct. Sometimes I get it wrong, never really now going in what to expect, which people would just say plainly you do this exactly.

A situation like that may be deliberately left ambiguous. If the GP is actually promoting services for a friend, they may count on their endorsement being taken as professional advice. These days, we are awash in confusing commercial ploys. A friend had to get professional help over all the "lottery winner" announcements he was getting in the mail.

If the task is more than two steps, I hafta right it down, and maybe scribble some pictures too.

Same with driving directions. Prefer maps to memorizing "turn left, then turn right".

What you've said makes a lot of sense, maybe I should start carrying a mini notebook and pen just for this reason, then at least I'll have peace of mind knowing I've got all the steps of instructions ready to know rather than the usual frankenstein's conglomeration! Looks like I'll be reading up on audio processing disorders for the remainder of tonight.

Yeah, I can't get driving directions or anything more than two steps. I'm in a biology lab this semester where half the instructions are given verbally and I'm totally lost the whole time. I also tried to take an aerial arts class last month that was a total disaster because the instructor would give huge strings of verbal directions at once and by the time she finished, I couldn't remember step one. Everyone else in the class had no trouble whatsoever and I would just stand there lost and unable to do anything.

Yes, I have always struggled with this. Multi-step verbal directions are the worst for me. Writing them down does help if they're fairly simple. But complicated directions are hard either way. I also particularly struggle with directions when I'm actually having to set up or create something with my hands. Hearing OR reading the directions doesn't help me in those cases. I have to just physically do it while someone walks me through it all, and then I'll probably have to do it about five more times with help before I'll get it and remember how to do it on my own. I remember it being a total nightmare when I had to take a home economics class in middle school and we had to sew tote bags. The teacher provided us with written directions and showed us what we were supposed to do, but only once, so I never knew what to do when I tried to do it on my own. Also, when I worked at a grocery store, I sometimes had to use one of those big floor care machines. When I first started working there, they had someone train me and show me how to set it up (it does require several steps). The next time I was scheduled for floor care, they expected me to remember it all and I was totally on my own. I already knew I wasn't going to have a clue what to do, but I thought I'd at least try. I probably didn't even get past the first step. Then when I told the customer service rep who was in charge that night, he just looked at me like I was dumb and said, "you don't remember how to do it?" No, I don't, and I can't understand how you people just get stuff like this so easily and so quickly!

Idk if it's not "understanding" but I have to have things demonstrated to me and said to me over and over again for me to feel umm sure Idk the word in doing it. Like for example directions. I can't take them nor process them. You have to go that way with me multiple times before I can do it on my own.