Concentration and Aspergers

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I am constantly flitting between one activity and another. I struggle to read books all the way through and I get distracted by EVERYTHING!! ! Apparently I haven't got ADHD (I think I have) but it is part of my Tourettes. I have been told there is nothing anyone can do to help. It does my head in!

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

For me, another big factor was getting distracted by apparent faults in the material itself......every time I notice anything that's even slightly illogical or "not quite right," I get stuck on that detail and everything after it goes in one ear/eye and out of the other, until I've found out what that obscuse bit meant. An overlooked flaw seems to me like feet of clay for my understanding of the whole subject, though I'm sure (consciously) that whole chunks can usually be left out of a subject without fatally harming the entire project.

I don't know if this is an Aspie thing or not, but I can't seem to focus on anything that doesn't somehow map onto what I already know.

I can't concentrate on anything, even stuff I like.

I worked for a defense contractor (sonar applications) for eight years and I spent all my time writing computer programs. I had big trouble absorbing the "big picture." I didn't know the various US Navy departments, the type of work each one of them did and contracted out, the contracts my company had with them, who in my company was working on them, etc. That was always a big fog. So, I just said "define a task for a computer program and I will write it for you." I programmed pretty much alone, often at night. The company liked me.

I have a theory about this. Asperger people are like autistic people except that they have language and cognitive skills. I'm guessing that those skills come along with STUDYING the material long enough to make some sense of it. That is why Asperger people sometimes have slower processing speeds - I know I do - I'm busy putting everything in place. I'm thinking most people have this "nice clear picture" available when they are presented with a bunch of material. (While I'm holding on for dear life.) My language skills are very very good because, I suspect, I dwell on the words much longer than is typical, so I get the subtlties. The damn trouble is that ordinary concepts become larger than life because I have to study them long enough to absorb them. So, its a problem for me.