iammaz wrote:
I find that looking away or closing my eyes lets me concentrate a bit better. Otherwise i get too focused on what i am looking at and stop processing words. attempting to do eye contact is the worst because im concentrating on getting that right, i miss the entire conversation.
I agree, turning my sight away helps. I know I have sensory problems. I can readily process sound, but sight is different. It seems like it comes slower. Like, I can watch a movie ten different times and always spot something I didn't see before. By that point, I already have the dialogue memorized.
And McCool, LOL, I do that. And most of the time, you're right. I'll laugh at jokes I didn't catch, but everyone else is laughing. I stopped using definitive responses awhile ago, because it was getting me in trouble. I'd say "sure" or "okay" in response, and my brain would throw the nonsensical event away. Then, the person would approach me again about it, and I'd be at a complete loss. People were getting mad at me. I limit it to just reactions based on their tone. "Seriously?" and "Whoa." And a noncommittal "wow", without much inflection.
It became a problem at work when I would be assigned a task. Sometimes I just honestly didn't process it, although I automatically acknowledged it. I was getting into problems because I would just wander off and go about my business. I was starting to appear forgetful, inattentive, and incompetent. Now, I make myself a reminder to get really involved in something, then go back and say something like, "Oh, I became so busy that I lost track. What was it you said before?" Then I pretend like I actually knew, but was just checking.