Aspies For Freedom

Well, one thing I've never been, is focused...at least not at school, home, work, or socializing. I had a heck of a time in school, and always dip from 'A's and 'B's to 'D's and 'F's. It was more the perception that I was bright (which mostly arised from advanced math and writing skills), that teachers usually overlooked the fact that I rarely finished anything.

In some other posts, I have detailed how things like speech and language issues and very obvious signs of being autistic have been overlooked through to ages 18 and 10 respectively, because of this reputation, and since I was quiet, never talking to other students in class (or anywhere), I was considered a good, shy little girl, and it was assumed because of this plus my reputation for brightness that I must be paying attention and understanding most things, even though this occurred very infrequently.

I can't concentrate on things like books or people talking for more than a few minutes, and have difficulty either understanding or summarizing things I've read in books very often, but since for some reason I score highly in reading comprehension tests, even when I don't remember what the story is about at all, it's taken for granted that I must be understanding (and, indeed, actually reading) when I try looking at a book. I've always loved to read, and have advanced vocabulary, but have always had trouble keeping attention to it.

Also, nearly every semester, I almost fail all my classes, but then somehow the grades get brought up by the semester. It doesn't matter how much I know on the subject, or how well I do in it; homework is something I either can't manage, or I can't find it. Fortunately for me, I'm better at testing than at homework, because tests usually demand less concentration than homework, though I wish I could have pacing breaks during exams.

Since I was starting going to school, the teachers would talk to my parents about how I would never focus, and rarely went along with what the class was doing, and so my dad would often come to school when I was in kindergarten and first grade and sit by my desk and keep my attention on the tasks and keep me focused, as I always got distracted and lost.

I had a terrible time keeping up academically in first grade, as well as most of high school because there's so much homework, so much to keep track of, and if I'm not prompted on each step I get distracted and end up sitting there not remembering what the heck I'm supposed to do, because I got distracted for over an hour staring at the ceiling, feeling a fabric, or looking or thinking about something.

Yeah, especially in elementary school, there were a heck of a lot of allowances made, though no one really tried to identify the problems or help me with it, because they heard the glowing recommendations of the last teachers and would think "oh, she couldn't possibly need help if she obviously succeeded in that environment". It's kind of like how my autism-related issues have been largely ignored, just because I have this reputation of being bright. And what frustrates me most, is how it's not until they did IQ testing indicating otherwise to them that they actually looked at my concerns! I mean, the same difficulties can exist REGARDLESS of what your IQ score is! Seriously, that psychologist needed some MAJOR paradigm shifts.

Well, one thing I've never been, is focused...at least not at school, home, work, or socializing. I had a heck of a time in school, and always dip from 'A's and 'B's to 'D's and 'F's. It was more the perception that I was bright (which mostly arised from advanced math and writing skills), that teachers usually overlooked the fact that I rarely finished anything.

In some other posts, I have detailed how things like speech and language issues and very obvious signs of being autistic have been overlooked through to ages 18 and 10 respectively, because of this reputation, and since I was quiet, never talking to other students in class (or anywhere), I was considered a good, shy little girl, and it was assumed because of this plus my reputation for brightness that I must be paying attention and understanding most things, even though this occurred very infrequently.

I can't concentrate on things like books or people talking for more than a few minutes, and have difficulty either understanding or summarizing things I've read in books very often, but since for some reason I score highly in reading comprehension tests, even when I don't remember what the story is about at all, it's taken for granted that I must be understanding (and, indeed, actually reading) when I try looking at a book. I've always loved to read, and have advanced vocabulary, but have always had trouble keeping attention to it.

Also, nearly every semester, I almost fail all my classes, but then somehow the grades get brought up by the semester. It doesn't matter how much I know on the subject, or how well I do in it; homework is something I either can't manage, or I can't find it. Fortunately for me, I'm better at testing than at homework, because tests usually demand less concentration than homework, though I wish I could have pacing breaks during exams.

Since I was starting going to school, the teachers would talk to my parents about how I would never focus, and rarely went along with what the class was doing, and so my dad would often come to school when I was in kindergarten and first grade and sit by my desk and keep my attention on the tasks and keep me focused, as I always got distracted and lost.

I had a terrible time keeping up academically in first grade, as well as most of high school because there's so much homework, so much to keep track of, and if I'm not prompted on each step I get distracted and end up sitting there not remembering what the heck I'm supposed to do, because I got distracted for over an hour staring at the ceiling, feeling a fabric, or looking or thinking about something.

Yeah, especially in elementary school, there were a heck of a lot of allowances made, though no one really tried to identify the problems or help me with it, because they heard the glowing recommendations of the last teachers and would think "oh, she couldn't possibly need help if she obviously succeeded in that environment". It's kind of like how my autism-related issues have been largely ignored, just because I have this reputation of being bright. And what frustrates me most, is how it's not until they did IQ testing indicating otherwise to them that they actually looked at my concerns! I mean, the same difficulties can exist REGARDLESS of what your IQ score is! Seriously, that psychologist needed some MAJOR paradigm shifts.