Coping with very verbal teachers?

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As in, teachers that give you assignments verbally?

I have a weird sort-of "distortion" sometimes that occurs every once and a while, but almost every single time I get a lab assignment in a certain class or socialize with others.

The meaning of words stringed together in a sentence can sometimes unfurl while it is being processed in my brain, or I can have difficulty sorting out the sentence into it's proper parts to have it have the correct meaning in the beginning.

I'm pretty sure it's not from drifting off into my imagination at least half of the time because it's happened while I was intensely interested in the subject. I compare it to kind of walking down a street and tripping on a fairly large rock. That rock is a particular, usually simple, sentence that my mind can't wrap around for a couple of seconds.

It's an annoying impairment when it comes to one of my teachers, who has only recently started to write charts and stuff pertaining to science labs. Plus, add the fact that by the time that I've gotten past that sentence, the particular teacher is on a new page in their lecture, and it goes from annoying to infuriating.

I'm also kind of ashamed of having to ask the teacher to wait on me because it makes me feel idiotic, since I'm the only person in the class who isn't moving quickly besides maybe one other person. I've gone to see her a few times, though, to get explanations for things I missed, which has kept me getting pretty good, average grades so far.

I'm trying to type down every single word the teacher says in fear of this happening, but are there other ways to cope? Do other people suffer from this too?

Extra Note: I don't have difficulty in other fields with verbal teachers such as history- no idea why.

Also- grammar/spelling errors probably abound since I checked only two-three times. Huzzah!

I've split your post into parts that I'm commenting on.. not that your post was gramatically incorrect or incoherent in any way. It was perfect.

That's a key piece of information there. You have issues with verbal assignments in science/lab classes but not in the humanities (history).

When you say 'labs' do you mean group assignments? Aka where you have to do something with at least one other person and at the same time keep track of what the teacher is saying/doing?

Or is it a solo type lab where you have to do the experiment while listening to the teacher give instructions?



I know this is easy to say but hard to do.. but really, don't be ashamed. Its your education and if you have to go up to the teacher and bonk her in the head to not go so fast...you do so. Its good you go to see her after class to catch up what you missed.

Have you tried asking her to not go so fast? I've known teachers to slow down a lot when a student tells them they just can't write that fast.



You could probably benefit from what I do in college now. I cannot write down things and keep track of what the teacher says. That means I either take notes like a robot and don't understand anything that's being said.. or I don't take notes and understand perfectly (but have no notes to review weeks later when the test is coming!).

My solution was to buy an Ipad and use an app that lets me take down notes and record audio. While the audio records I can take notes on the screen and timestamp them.. that way, I can listen to what the teacher says and when I think something important (or some teachers are so cool they tell you 'this will be on the test!') I write down some key words on the screen.

When I get home I can listen to what the teacher said and take notes on my paper notebook at my own pace (putting the date and time of the class on the top of the page for reference) & have those notes (and the audio recording!) available to me when its time to study for a class.

Its a nifty app.. lets you organize your notes in virtual notebooks and even has tools to let you draw stuff should you require to draw as part of your notes.

If you have an Ipod touch or an iphone you can use the app as well to jot keyword notes and record audio





(you can change the color and line spacing of the paper..you're not stuck with that eye stinging yellow XD )

Yes, actually I do have a similar problem. I have off the scale (to the right of the bell curve) sentence recall ability but this is only so when I discard the meaning of the words and reduce the problem to one simple sound memorization.

In this day and age, there is no reason you should struggle so much with it. You may qualify for note taker assistance in class, and you may also consider purchasing or having your parents purchase a device called the Live Scribe Smart Pen

http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/

The pen is used with a special notebook and has the ability to record what you write in the notebook, as well as the audio from the lecture in high quality. The audio can be played back by simply tapping the area on the page you wish to be played back. You can change the speed of the audio play back and also program in a time delay if you were lagging behind when writing.

You can watch your notes play back along with the audio by uploading the files to the LiveScribe desktop using the docking port, which comes with the pen and is also used to charge the pen.

Each LiveScribe notebook also comes with a printed calculator and pen controls that are utilized by tapping the pen on the proper printed buttons.

It's quite ingenious and well worth the money.

@ Dantac: Yep, group assignments. Although, she tells the entire class what to do and then leaves us to work on the lab.I'm not allowed to work by myself, which would actually probably bring my lab grades up by itself (they're currently the F grades in my B average).

When it comes to her super-sonic speed in class, she slows down for about five seconds and then bursts off faster than before. It results in me having to raise my hand and ask her to slow down 10-20 times in the course of one class period, which usually results in the people around me getting kind of exasperated, I guess (I mean, I would if someone did that in art, so I assume that's what they do in science).

@ Chronos: I'm trying to avoid having to go for a note-taker assistance because I'm not sure how the school would handle something like that (they have near to or no experience with disabled students past physical disabilities, as far as I can tell). Thank you so much, though!

@ Both: Thank you guys so much for your suggestions! I have to go through several hoops in the administration of my school to see if audio-recording stuff is allowed (the teachers tend to get angry/annoyed if people start recording audio in class for notes because apparently it "creates a liability" or something). However, if that's the only way, I'll gladly do it (partially because I love fiddling with stuff like apps and I've kind of been interested in those pens.

Sounds like my entire experience from elementary to college . I did horrible at math and sciences always because I could not take notes and keep track of stuff...plus I suck at math to boot. In those classes the teachers would just breeze from one thing to another and there was no chance to tell them to stop or go back since X material had to be covered in that one class... and it was horrible because one thing leads to the other so if you lose track at one point, what comes after it makes no sense or you learn the wrong thing.

I honestly think you'd benefit greatly from using a recording+note-taking device.



They wont provide you with note-taker assistance unless you're missing all fingers or something.



You can however, talk to your parents and have them write (it HAS to be submitted in writing otherwise the school wont do anything about it) a request to allow you to use an Ipad or something similar to take notes and keep up with your schoolwork.

If you have a therapist assisting you with AS you can also get a written document from her/him backing up your need for a note-taking/recording device. Legally, if you can back up your claim that you need this for your education the school cannot refuse it (especially if its related to a diagnosed disability).

The only advice I can give you while dealing with the admin system is to do it all in writing and ask for replies in writing. I say this because this year lets say they allow you to use an Ipad.. but next year some teacher gets pissy about it and doesn't allow you to use it.. the paper-pushers in admin will likely not remember they gave you permission or take the easy way out and say you misunderstood their reply and will side with the teacher. So get their OK in writing from the highest admin official you can get





The livescribe pen Chronos suggests is not very good in my opinion. Here's why:

1-You need to buy specialized paper/notebooks for it to work. Its main features will not work on regular paper or any other surface. In fact, if you use it on anything other than its special paper all the pen will do is write like a regular pen and record audio thats it.

2-Nearly $200 price tag for one easy to lose pen..that requires constant battery recharging, constant change of ink (ink cartridge is 1/4th the size of a regular pen and each refill is $5) and requires special paper to work properly (at $5 per medium sized 50 page notebook).

For that price tag you can simply buy yourself an entry level Ipad/Ipod touch or notebook computer that will record audio and let you do a lot more than just take notes.

I'm going to have to get an audio recorder for college, I have the same problem.

Actually you can print the special paper for free. And if you can remember to charge a phone every day or two it should be easy to just charge the pen while you're at it. I'm getting one of those pens because I have dyspraxia and my hand freezes up every few seconds when I'm writing, and it gets worse the faster I try to write so you can imagine the difficulty with lectures. Frankly I'm ok with buying the ink cartridges and printing the paper, but then I guess that's how important it is to me to get it. I like the fact that I can look over my notes after class and point at the bits where I've not completed a note, and it'll play back to me what I was trying to take notes on at that exact point. I also like that it can turn handwriting into text on my computer and then I can edit it on my computer. As for being easy to lose? I'll be keeping it in my laptop bag, which is something I never let out of my sight!!

But if the pen doesn't suit, there's also a lovely application you can get if you have a laptop, called Audio Notetaker. It comes with its own dictaphone, and when it records it detects where there are little breaks in the person's speech, e.g. between phrases and sentences, and later when you load it up on your computer it basically makes the audio into little visible lines of sound, all divided up by those breaks between sentences etc. It's like writing in sound, if that makes any sense... Check out the demo videos at http://www.audionotetaker.com . If your lecturer uses slideshows you can ask him/her to email you copies of them and basically divide the audio lines into "paragraphs" or break them down into little phrases, and match them up with the slides, effectively recreating the presentation on your computer. It's a really lovely app, all you need to do for these audio recording devices is get permission to record lectures.

I haven't dealt too much with yet, but I'm guessing that I'll have to in college.
My plan is to use an audio recorder and always sit up in the front (as if I didn't already).
I know your pain of always asking the teacher to wait up though.