I'm not quite catching what people are saying?

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swbluto
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24 Apr 2011, 10:08 pm

So, I'm trying to understand what's happening in my real life conversations. I seem to possess much evidence suggesting that I'm neurotypical in the sense I'm not autistic (But not necessarily "typical" for an NT, I'm actually quite weird or strange), but I still seem to have significant difficulty understanding what other people are saying which I *believe* is what's fundamentally responsible for my communication difficulties that lead me to believe I might've been autistic in the first place.

Here are the symptoms / relevant-details:

-I have reading comprehension that usually tests in the 90th percentile.
-I think I can usually understand relatively complex conversational type of sentences that I read online.
-My speed in comprehending text on the screen from active chat channels seems slower than others; my online reading comprehension speed was tested at 187 WPM, where the average is around 200 WPM.
-I can hear sentences in real life and I can decode the words/sentences, but if the sentence is longer than 10 seconds from certain speakers, I'm usually left wondering... how is that related to what was said earlier? Wait, what was said earlier (It seems that I forgot what was said earlier)?

Looking at the possible disorders, I'm looking at "Central Auditory Processing Disorder" and "Receptive Language Disorder". Looking at the possible neurological factors that could be affecting this, I'm looking at phonological working memory, short-term auditory memory, "short-term semantic memory"(Or whatever the "real" memory type is called.) and... what other kinds of memory?

So, does anyone have a clue what might be going on?



purchase
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24 Apr 2011, 10:30 pm

Don't know, too scatterbrained to give this topic due attention, but I experience it too. It actually amazes me that other people so easily understand what I'm saying when I don't make a special effort to speak emphatically. Even then. The words are there and then they're gone, way too fast for me to process fully. Unless it's said in a musical easy-to-remember cadence.



SammichEater
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24 Apr 2011, 10:54 pm

It happens when I'm reading too. If a sentence is more than about 10 words long I either have to re read it several times and break it into chunks to get the meaning, or I just continue reading and skip over it.


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robertyknwt
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24 Apr 2011, 11:24 pm

swbluto wrote:
I still seem to have significant difficulty understanding what other people are saying


I totally resemble your remark. I read voraciously and very quickly. I comprehend writing very very well.

But when people speak to me, I very often don't "get" it.

At work, it's not so bad; if someone at work tells me something in person or on the phone that I have to do, I ask them to follow up with an email. I say it's "just to be sure I get the details right", but it's also to make up for the fact that very often, I didn't exactly understand what they asked me for.

In interpersonal relationships, it's a PITA. I spend a lot of time asking "Now, did you say A, or B? I'm not sure I heard you right."

I don't have a name for it, I don't know what it's caused by, and I don't know what to do about it, but at least I can say you're not alone.



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24 Apr 2011, 11:32 pm

Well now you have me thinking, I'm going to have to go off and research another disorder to add to my list of what's wrong with me lol. I think I might have some sort of auditory processing issue too. My hearing has been tested multiple times, but I didn't think that was the issue since the quietest sounds that no one else hears bug me. I sometimes have to ask people to repeat themselves several times before I just give up. I can hear the sounds they are making, but sometimes they just aren't sounding like words.



pascalflower
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24 Apr 2011, 11:35 pm

I have the exact same problem and that too is what turned me to look at Autism, but I don't think I have Autism. I've looked at the anxiety forums too, and I don't have that either.

I can hear the words and recognize them, but it's like the next part of getting the meaning from the words is too difficult and I'm too slow at that part. It's highly variable. Like the OP, my reading and overall language skills have always been extremely good, it's just when people are speaking to me, that there is problems.

For me, I've noticed that I'm much better if I have a good night's sleep, which is extremely rare for me. I think it may also have to do with my indoor allergies. I'm much better in a newly cleaned place, and worst in old heavy traffic places.

I'd like to know for sure what is the cause of this, so if anyone has any thoughts, please post them.



robertyknwt
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24 Apr 2011, 11:35 pm

Megz wrote:
I think I might have some sort of auditory processing issue too. My hearing has been tested multiple times, but I didn't think that was the issue since the quietest sounds that no one else hears bug me. I sometimes have to ask people to repeat themselves several times before I just give up. I can hear the sounds they are making, but sometimes they just aren't sounding like words.


I've been tested for auditory processing disorders, but nothing. A hair of loss from years of competitive rifle shooting, but nothing else an audiologist could diagnose.

So yeah, I wonder what kind of relationship there is between this and the autism spectrum....



Conspicuous
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25 Apr 2011, 3:29 am

I always thought I was just a little bit hard of hearing because I always had a bit of trouble hearing people the first time they said something. The weird thing was, when the repeated themselves, I usually cut them off because I got it just as they started repeating. When I read that aspies tend to have a bit slower auditory processing, I realized this for what it is: another aspie trait.

I also sometimes have trouble with longer sentences, but I'm still not sure if that's due to slower processing or just ADD.



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25 Apr 2011, 10:49 am

Along with the posters before me, I also relate to this sense of not really "getting" what people are trying to say. Usually I'll have to ask the person speaking to repeat what it is they've said so that I make sure I'm not missing important pieces of information.



Eternity29
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25 Apr 2011, 11:09 am

I can relate to this, too. I'm also a very good and fast reader. I've been reading for fun for as long as I can remember.

I learn things much better if I can read them from a book than if someone tells me. At work, I often have to ask people to repeat themselves, but I know that I'm not hard of hearing or anything, because I'm extremely sensitive to loud noises.



samuraiBSD
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25 Apr 2011, 12:40 pm

Yeah, that happens to me. I don't think it's bad enough to necessarily be an auditory processing disorder, and it's worse with some people than it is with others, but the experience is similar. One bad case in particular is the president of our LGBT Alliance. I went to a meeting at the request of my boyfriend and trying to comprehend her speech took a lot of effort, and as it turns out, I didn't even get most of it anyway.

Oh well...

Edited for spelling.



robertyknwt
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25 Apr 2011, 12:53 pm

Conspicuous wrote:
I always thought I was just a little bit hard of hearing because I always had a bit of trouble hearing people the first time they said something. The weird thing was, when the repeated themselves, I usually cut them off because I got it just as they started repeating.


THIS! In spades. I have to force myself not to ask someone to repeat themselves until at least a couple of seconds have gone by, to allow for this to happen.