Autistically odd?

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I think I’m a bit odd in that I don’t do well with spoken or visual instructions. I need things written down so I can follow them and use them as and when needed.

I dont like memorizing directions either. Written is good. A picture is best for me usually (especially if its driving directions- a crude map is better than a recipe of turn right here and left there).

I don't remember spoken instructions as well as do if I have seen them in writing. (If I can take the written instructions with me, I don't have to remember them, of course, because I can refer to them again and again.)

With something visual like a diagram, I find that very helpful, but not if I only have one chance to look at it and then have to remember it after that. But if I can take it with me and can refer to it again and again, I think a diagram or map would be my preferred method for getting instructions. Even when I am asking someone for directions (though we rarely have to do that nowadays), I am mentally drawing a map from the directions I am hearing.

For me I just need to be shown how to do a thing visually and then I can do it. but written directions are more confusing, so like I for sure learn better if someone shows me in real time what to do But I would struggle with written only instructions, becuase I need to see the visual part for it to click.

Like show me how to do it and I will remember forever, give me math problems and a sheet of paper and I well if math skills are a requirement I'm out, I have the math skills of a fourth grader if even that. Still managed to graduate highschool in spite of that.

My issue lies with language comprehension itself.
Which is not only in line with my autism but also my most consistent of issues.
Doesn't matter if it's written of spoken; I have issues with processing the usage of language itself.

Also it doesn't seem to improve with practice.
I only seem get better with scripting through it -- that is, if I can remember how to say it or remember the context that is written or spoken.

And then whatever relates to auditory processing and short term memory.
While not consistent in my case, it's still fricking annoying. Days I can, days I couldn't -- I hate inconsistent executive functioning.


And observation tells me this isn't really unusual.
This is how it is in many classically autistic cases and a bit worse and complicated than that depending on the individual.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
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Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

^^^ I have total aphantasia including probably spatial aphantasia.

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... Aphantasia

I don't do well with spoken instructions either, if they're at all complicated. They go too fast for me and I soon forget a lot of what I've heard.

Visual instructions - Diagrams drawn by other people rarely make much sense to me.

I suppose I'd be fine if everybody was very patient with me. I could then keep stopping them and getting them to clarify what they meant until it all made sense.

I remember once a colleague gave me instructions to get to her house. It just sounded like 'left then right then left then left then right then right.'

I said 'what?'

Then another colleague said, 'I'll draw you a map.' Which always works. I'm good at maps.

@firemonkey

Nothing odd with that. The person giving them might be saying them too fast to digest or assuming you have background knowledge / familiarity with technical terms that you don't i.e. it could be a weakness in their way of communicating/training. Whilst they may be less likely to skip a step if they're having to think more step-by-step as they're writing instructions.

At work that's one of the beauties of MS Teams / other meeting software allowing meetings to be recorded so that you don't have to instantly memorise/understand everything spoken when it's a topic that's new to you - you can refer to it again and have the option to note down the bits you find most key from it.

To add some context.Last night I was practising putting compression leg wraps on(lymphoedema) , and even with verbal instructions when the support worker gave them to me and my daughter numbering things I couldn't get it right. I got really agitated and ended up crying with frustration and self disgust.

My daughter came in this morning.. She is very level headed,just like her mum was. She said it’s not worth getting anxious and stressed over. That I tend to go into a spiral of feeling depressed,useless, and no good if I struggle to do something. It’s due to the effects of bullying and a mental health system dominated by those who think ‘good at x,also good at y’ ‘bad at x,also bad at y’. Not living up to such expectations resulted in years and years of being treated in a hypercritical , very negative, and very far from supportive way.

She said there’s no shame in not being able to do something. If I can’t do it It’ll take 5 minutes or so for her or one of my granddaughters to come in and do it.

She's written down instructions for me.

I haven't heard of Aphantasia before.

I have great memory but poor imagination. If I haven't been somewhere or done something or met someone it's very rare what I imagine will be accurate. Same with reading a book and trying to visualize what the author is describing.

Once I have seen or experienced it then I can usually vividly recall it.

With people, even if I can recall their appearance, it usually takes me awhile to get their name to stick in my mind and it's hard for me to describe a person's appearance from memory unless it's something unusual.

Please let me know if this is an autistic thing:

I'm incapable of learning from YouTube videos how to create dynamic thumbnails and text insertions for YouTube videos that I'd like to make. Doing a search for this on YT is overwhelming. I've tried a few, and only moments in, I'm already lost. So I've decided to pay someone to come to my house and teach me the old-fashioned way: in person, telling me go here, then go here, then do this, etc., while I control the mouse.

Many YouTubers, though, are autistic, so I wonder how THEY learned.

The other VERY IMPORTANT THING is.

Humans have different learning styles. This is hard-wired into our brains and we cannot change it. I worked in education for 10 years so I know this is true and I used the knowledge with my students, giving them different resources to learn with according to their style.

Some of us are visual learners- images, maps, diagrams.

Some of us are auditory learners- listening and speaking.

Some of us learn via reading and writing- copious note takers and/or avid readers.

Some of us are kinaesthetic learners- hands-on, they learn best through figuring things out by physically doing the task.

None of these ways is better or worse than any other. So anyone worrying that they can't take in information in a certain way- don't! You're normal, you just learn better in a certain way.

I'm generally a visual/reading&writing learner. I used to get angry with myself for not understanding spoken information and being able to follow it, but when I found out the information about learning styles, I realised I was just normal.

https://teach.com/what/teachers-know/learning-styles/

You're not odd, just different. It is heartwarming to realize that I am not odd, either. I am self-diagnosed autistic. When I mentioned that to my family, one said "there is no such thing", another said "no you're not." New hearing aids help with volume, but not auditory perception. I have always asked people to speak slowly (or say it three times until I understand). I, too, am a copious note taker. Shorthand really helped me in college. Written directions are helpful. Actual maps are even better. I have just finished reading "Thinking in Pictures" by Temple Grandin. She confirmed by her research much of what I had thought - such as hearing comprehension different from each ear. I also have dyslexia, math inability (try taking chemistry quantitative analysis with that! - changed majors), and cannot remember faces/names. A study by Marquette University showed that about 10% of population have this. At a restaurant two weeks ago, I asked the waitress her name - Brenda. At the same restaurant the other day, and was waited on by someone who appeared to be familiar. I asked "are you Brenda?" She was and said she remembered me, too, and the story I told her on an earlier visit. (her kindness earned her a good tip) Still learning.