being called on in class (lol)

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So uhm, I'm taking a course which is class-discussion intensive. It seems the prof especially likes to call on me because although I know the material very well, I often times am like a deer in headlights. If a question on a topic isn't asked in a certain way, then I fail to recognize the question even, and am asking more questions than answering. I don't know if this is a trait, but in retrospect it's something that I've been challenged with forever. Perhaps it has to do with verbal communication/connection. I also find it interesting that my parents said I didn't like to be touched or held as a very young child/toddler Lol. It's slightly intriguing to run into characteristics that one may have just shrugged one's shoulders at in the past, but are now finding their connection to something called asd.

Maybe the prof believes that is good practice for you, or maybe s/he is actually drawing from your array of questions.

Does the professor know you are ASD?

I always used to hate that at school. Often it was just their lazy way of punishing the kids who weren't paying attention - making them look silly in front of their peers. Usually accompanied by some smart-arsed comment about being asleep or ret*d. Much easier than the teacher taking the blame for failing to interest the kids enough. Pity nobody could be bothered to look a little deeper - of course I couldn't answer the questions, there was too much distraction and the material wasn't being explained clearly enough. Once you've lost the plot in a lesson, the only thing left to do is to survive without being noticed, and hope to find out later what it was all about. Unless you have the social confidence to nag the teacher into giving a proper explanation - and back in the day, I think that would have just got you into more trouble.

The stress was so bad that, even when I plucked up the courage to ask a question, I'd be too uptight to listen to the answer, though it was usually enough to convince the teachers that I'd been listening. They should only ask kids questions when they're sure that they're reasonably confortable with that.

I hated being called on in class. I never wanted to give my opinion on anything in fear of kids laughing at my answer even if it was the right one. My class participation portion of my grade was always poor. I loved sitting up front in the classroom, but every time the teacher called on me, I would always look up at the ceiling and pretend to think of my answer because I just couldn't give my answer in front of anyone.

I always hated being called on in class. I think some teachers did think it was for your own good. They thought that the least social kid should be participating more, and that it would probably help them in the long run. When I was in school a lot less was known about autism, let alone Aspergers, so I don't fault the teachers for not realizing to what degree I was unable to socialize. Some teachers on the other hand do use it as a way to punish the kid they think isn't paying enough attention to them. When you have ASD it can be very harmful to be called out in class, and purposely made a fool.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Noone knows I may be an aspy, other than friends I've mentioned it to. I don't have a formal diagnosis, other than acing every aspy test online Lol. I guess I should do some things in order to prepare better for being called on. I did mention it to the prof afterwards that I'm a bit rusty on the more elementary material, but if he wanted to ask me about, say, abstract algebra then I'd have all the answers he wanted. He replied then I could definitely help him in that area Lol. Anyway, I've always not liked public speaking either, but do quite well explaining math concepts and questions on a chalkboard, because then it is about math and not exactly formal speaking.