Your Most Effective Form of Communication

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Despite having a verbal IQ of 141, verbal speech is not always easy for me. I have to pause often in the middle of sentences for ten seconds or more at a time to find the word I'm looking for. I'm also told frequently that my speech is too "high-brow" for most people, and that they can't connect with me because they can't understand what I'm saying. I've been called a "dictionary mouth", which hurt my feelings at the time.

I'm far better at written communication, even in real time. The pressure of trying to type out something quickly on my ipad allows the simpler terms and "layman's speech" to come more instinctively and naturally than when I speak, because in spoken communication, the need to be exacting and precise is so ingrained that the fancy words pop into my head before the simple ones do.

In the upcoming summer, I'm going to be taking an ASL class with my sister, who's still in university. She's studying to be a school teacher, and thinks the skill will be useful. I want to learn it for the times when I go nonverbal or just don't feel like talking. It'll be much faster than typing, and from what I understand, the grammar and syntax rather preclude the possibility of using overly complex language. I know I'll have to teach some of it to those with whom I want to communicate for it to be effective, but I think it will be a useful skill to have.

What about you? Do you have forms of communication that work better for you than speaking? Do you use them frequently, or find yourself obligated to communicate "normally"?

Nowadays I generally prefer written communication to speaking. You can always refer back to it if you've forgotten something, so I also like getting written messages from family and friends whenever possible.

I'm slightly deaf and really have to focus as some people have a habit of speaking very softly or fast, and then I can't readily process both the visual and aural input in time before the next sentence.

Written communication but not in real time.
If you judge based on clarity then forums or emails. I really want to send long letters but my pen pal likes postcards instead.
If you judge based on success in spite of confusing people then poetry. I'm published fairly regularly in poetry magazines, longlisted for a national prize and have a collection out. However, most people say they don't 'get' my poems entirely in spite of liking them and those who do get them relate them to their own lives. Which I like because it allows me a degree of privacy.
I have articles published too and this is really easy for me. They publish my first drafts because I have something to say and don't tiptoe around things.
I also like academic writing.

I'm far better communicating in writing than through speech. I have a large vocabulary and do well with factual information, but sometimes I have embarrassing brain freezes in social situations. I also forget what I want to say when I'm nervous.

In my case, my way of expressing would be inconsistent.

Times written form is more effective and more prefered. Unless there are things I could never rely on words alone.
Times spoken and in-real time becoming my more preferred form of communication. Unless I don't feel like facing someone and I don't feel like socially 'accommodating' people.
Then sometimes, little verbalize terms as possible -- anything else goes with nonverbal descriptions shown and gestures. Unless nonverbal description isn't possible of course, in certain circumstances.

And then factor times if my order of conveying these may or may not make any sense to others. Each forms have it's own draw backs for me.



Though receptively, I'm more inclined to written form.
Spoken and in-real time has too many interferences, too many drawbacks on my part. Bad verbal memory, auditory processing, unreliable tone hearing, unreliable body languages, more unspoken nuisances, working and short term memory interferences...

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I suffer from tachyphemia so digital text is better for me. I still can't keep up with the stream of words in my head but I can go back when I'm done and correct it.