is learning a struggle for you

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I know people on the higher end of the spectrium are known to sometimes be really smart, especially about certain things. I, however, also being a person on the higher end of the spectrium found learning to be a struggle. When I say learning I mean, studying and trying to learn things at school, keeping good grades, or understanding what is taught whether it's at school or at work. I've always struggle when I studied, it usually would take me longer then most people and I often had trouble understanding what the professor said at class if I didn't ask questions often. I find I struggle with short term memory, paying attention, and interpreting information. I feel like I'm a typical Asperger's/High Functioning autistic person with acute interests about certain things with a lot of knowlege about it that often blow people away, however I find when I comes to school academics, it's never that easy unless it can be explained a certain way. Do you find that to be the case with you too?

Absolutely. Remember even Eintstein did terrible in school.

That's actually a myth.


But I do really struggle even though "I'm smart enough". Especially during the first couple of months 95% of my thoughts are about social stuff instead of the academic content. The more comfortable I'm with the "people" side, the more I'm able to actually sit down and think about school stuff.

It's like doing two studies at once.

ADHD is a common comorbid with High Functioning Autism, so much so, that I'd go so far as to say it's one of the symptoms. We can hyperfocus on things that captivate us and absorb tremendous amounts of information like a steel trap.

But try to get us to pay attention to something we don't care about and it's like trying to teach a Horse to recite Shakespeare.

You know, I gave up going to lectures that weren't required early on in college and I don't go in med school either. If lectures were required, I wouldn't even listen, I would just read from the book and work on my own while it went on. I find that works best for me. Otherwise, I get very little and it is just a waste of time. But I pick things up fast as long as I am reading them and I save so much time compared to if I were trying to learn by listening to people talking to me.

Maybe you just need to find how you learn best still?

It IS a myth! Einstein did well at any school he went to. He failed the entrance exams to the polytechnic school, but that hardly excuses the rampant myth that he did terrible in school.

I stand corrected.

And he wasn't left handed either?!

Have you entertained the idea that you may have learning difficulties. Such as Dyslexia? I am not an expert but many things you say seem to tick boxes, such as finding it hard to retain information, interpreting and of course taking longer. If you are of school age then you may benefit from getting an assessment.

Whatever the case I would fully suggest looking at this book, it teaches other ways to learn things and interpret study materials:
The Study Skills Handbook (Palgrave Study Skills) by Stella Cottrell