Processing delays with AS?

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About a week or so ago I had one of those kind of embarrasing moments where someone mentioned something to me and I'm sure I looked at them kind of weird because I didn't understand what they were talking about. I went to pick up a pizza and the owner knows me and usually says hi. Well instead he said I didn't know what this lady was going to do. There was alot of noise and he was kind of talking from over the side of the counter so I couldn't really hear what he was saying very well and was concentrating anyway on trying to get the order. Doing two things at once I guess. I pretended like I understood - the "smile and nod stuff". However, later on when I got home I figured out what he must have been talking about - there was a lady in the parking lot who was backing out and stopped and seemed unsure of which way she wanted to go. I was walking and stopped expecting her to make her intended forward movement and then she started to back up and change direction so I had to move again. So I realized the pizza place HAS a big wondow to the lot and he must have seen that and then I could figure out what he said. So it wasn't really that I didn't hear him it was more like I didn't hear him because I didn't know the context of what he was talking about.

Walk in the rain,

It is unfortunate that ret*d means SLOW! I have to admit that I AM sometimes slow, but I'm not dumb. A lot of NTs are dumber and sometimes slower, so who is really to say what slow is?

I have actually noticed that it is getting worse, but primarily NOT because of me!

MORE people have odd accents.
MORE people mispronounce words so bad that they sound like OTHER words that may fit.
MORE people make mistakes with words.
MORE people mumble...

Because of this, it can take me a few seconds to decipher! That IS an odd feeling just suddenly realizing that they said something they never really DID say, but they TRIED to.

Steve

I find that happens to me-someone will speak to me, and there's a considerable delay before I figure out what was said, and then process it. For instance, I went to the bank the other day. One thing that always annoys me is when people speak to me where I'm not expecting it. Then I get startled, and distracted. So anyway, I entered, intent upon locating a teller who wasn't busy, when I realized that two women had greeted me, and smiled. By the time I processed I had been spoken to, and was expected to at least acknowledge this, I was halfway across the lobby. So I kinda said a hasty, "Hi!" After my transaction, I was back in my head, and on my way out. This time it didn't register until I reached the parking lot, that someone had said, "Bye. Have a nice day," and I hadn't answered them.

Before I heard of AS I thought alot of this stuff was that I wasn't paying attention. Now I see more and more that it is not the paying attention part but the processing of the information. Now of course I am embarrased about it and it is really no big deal but to me it kind of is. I've thought about it for a week (lol). And I do think the fact that HE changed his typical speech pattern confused me.

I also have difficulty with accents or people not speaking clearly. I had a very nice neighbor who was from India and it got to the point where I wanted to avoid her because there was like a 3 second delay between what she would say and what I could translate. So it was really stressful in any conversation for me to try and keep up - and her English was actually pretty good.

you said an interesting word.......context.
aspies are very good with words, and chosing the right words..but we are bad at context.
i too get confused and slow when confronted with an odd situation and i respond with well rehearsed lines that i think are apprpriate for the sitation...they often arent.words easy...context hard

I'm slow at thinking on my feet (processing infomation) in social situations. It takes me too long to figure out what the hell people are getting at. However, I have been in courtroom situations (being a lawyer) and in those situations I can think fast on my feet better than most. I think I work well under some kind of pressure. As a student, ideas used to come to me in the exam room more readily than they ever came to me at other times.

Or perhaps its just that courtroom situations and exams are highly structured situations where there is not really any question about social undertones and social expectations, literal meanings are what count.

Yes this kind of thing happens to me! But in the moment of processing I probably get the wrong end of the stick or say something bizarre and completely out of context. Random and out of context tis me!

Yes, I sometimes get a 'time lapse' for understanding what is being said to me, especially if I'm tired or trying to concentrate on something else. If I don't give the person I'm talking to my complete attention I get lost somewhere in hyperspace. I find myself more often just letting it pass by now, as if I've not heard what is being said (acting a bit deaf).

I often have moments where I do not understand what a person is trying to say until much later after I had had time to think properly about it. In most social situations a response is needed almost immediately and I think this is where things can get confusing.

In class if the teacher asks me a question there is a fairly long pause before I answer. It just seems to happen without my knowledge and I wondered why, then I figured out it is because I am almost subconsciously trying to work out what the exact question is that is being asked. Everyone in my class will have a short gap before answering which is when they have to think of an answer but I have to understand the question before I can even begin to think of the answer. I'm not talking about a complicated math’s question or anything, the other day my teacher was asking everyone in the class if they wanted to go to University. When he got to me he asked 'And what's Liz doing?' I had to take a moment to think what he actually wanted, was he asking the same question about University or did he literally want to know what I was doing then. It sounds silly but that is what went through my head.

It doesn't help when people "talk out of context".Some people process their thoughts out loud.They aren't really looking for a response but just saying their thoughts.It seems like that is what was happening.

My worse "jet lag" in thought and speech is when I am trying to remember a "name".Even my own.
Twice,I have been in my therapist office and the receptionist has asked my name....several seconds later....it comes to me.Same thing happens when I am trying to remember the name of co-worker,author,client,etc.I think the reason I interupt people is that I know I will forget what I was going to say if I dont.(and I do forget).As far as the speed I process others statements, it depends on what they are saying and if something else is distracting me.

It takes me a while to realise that someone has actually spoken to me and then another
delay while I try to recall what I heard.I think the problem is that subconsciously I'm never
expecting anyone to speak to me,so I'm not alert or switched on when it happens.

Yeah I get this as well.. when Im concentrating on something and someone speaks to me it kind of goes like this:

Lets see.. this wire goes here.. this part.. wait.. human voice.. recording in short term memory.. locating source of sound, source located, switching gears, starting up language interface, playing back recording, decyphering, generating response, responding.

Of course before I get to the responding part Ive been blankly staring at the person for a good 5-10 seconds.

Ive actually taken to adding an extra step in there where Ill talk out loud slowly repeating what they said right after hearing it (before I get to the end Im usually ready to respond) this at least doesnt leave them hanging in an uncomfortable (for them) silence and lets them know I heard them.

Yeah I often get the same thing, especially when my parents talk to me . Nearly every thread I read on this forum makes me MORE convinced that I have AS (albeit mildly).