Speaking Too Broadly?

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Certain people in the college I go to seem to believe I speak too broadly! If they knew anything about Asperger's syndrome and knew I had been diagnosed with it, they would know one of the problems with AS is that people with it focus heavily on the details of something. I have learned to control my monologuing (i.e., too many details); I don't bore people with ten minutes speeches about what computer program I'm currently writing for one of my computer science classes (I've reduced it to two minutes ). I also try to use my sense for the absurd and the ironic to tell jokes, which all too often fall on deaf ears.

However, I guess, when I'm not talking about a pet interest, I'm not talking about anything important; and this may lead to the impression that I'm just filling the audio-space with verbose garbage.

Do any of you also get this problem?

I am trying to answer your question but I am a little confused as to what this 'big something' is I might be carrying.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick." It's a famous quote by Teddy Roosevelt, the President of the U.S.A. a hundred years ago.

I've become pretty good at catching myself over the years from going into long boring monolouges. I can stop myself for the most part now from doing so, despite a burning desire to continue on.

For me this once manifested itself during a book report I was giving back in april 1990. I spent about 5 minutes talking about what happened in one paragraph, going into extreme detail, making refrences to other parts of the book, getting the whole class to point of snickering loudly to each other and my teacher very impatient. Myself, well, I was oblivious to it all until my teacher interuppted me and told me to get on with the report.

I have the opposite problem. I have a tendency to start with the details, and fill in the rest later. So no, I do not speak "too broadly." This tendency does help me out when writing papers, but in conversation, it can make things a bit difficult (though I do not think I go into monologues any more than most people).

For example, to answer your message, I thought back on some of the more recent conversations I've had with friends of mine at school, and remembered how I explained things to people. I also thought about things my teachers have said about my writing. The isolated incidents come first, the generalizations are made after careful thought and consideration of them.

I don't know if I speak broadly, but I always need to provide an explanation about what I talking about. Anything has a reason in my brain, its prettly much how I retain knowledge. And If I am talking about or explaining things I need to go through the reasoning behind why I know this in order to begin to get my point across. It tends to annoy people who only want the quick and dirty explaination, or people who want an expedited answer. Most of the time these are one and the same.

But I do have a hard time coming up with finite details, which probably puts me in the realm of speaking broadly.

I find myself saying things twice. Re-phrasing myself I guess. Also giving examples and analogies. Think it it a learned response to a lifetime of people misinterpreting me! Also I find myself going to great lengths to explain the background detail of what I am talking about but then I get distracted by the details and lose track of the point I was actually trying to make. Like clicking on a link on a website, then another and forgetting where and why I started.

(Just re-read this and realised I am doing that re-phrasing thing even now )

Both NOT seeing connections and bein UNABLE to generalise, as well as OVERGENERALISING seem to be common on the spectrum, and sometimes both can be seen in the same person. Makes things interesting!

Unique I can so identify with everything you have said! I bore people with so many details, they eventually stop listening! I'm trying very hard to work on that!