Aspies in Education

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Today I was reflecting on my own experiences throughout my years in education and I find that throughout my life, I have found it difficult to succeed in an educational set up for different reasons. I find it difficult to focus on any kind of assignment, unless I'm really interested in the subject and nobody is distracting me in the classroom. Working at home is where the Executive Function Disorder really kicks in, as I find it difficult to figure out how to approach doing a task and keeping things organized and timely. I've never dealt with the stress that comes along with it well either. if there is a strict deadline in place, it will stress me out thinking about it and I will instinctively avoid it until there is little time left to complete the task.

Even when I do have an idea on how to approach a task, I find it difficult to push myself to do it and stay focused for a considerable amount of time. All this, with a mix of not being offered any appropriate help has always made it feel like more of a struggle than it should be. I most likely won't return to higher education again, unless I'm in a position were I have to. I feel I have the intellect for it just not the mental capacity.

So my question to you all is, have you felt the same way during education? Or have you managed to get by without much of an issue, or got by with relevant help?

What you have just said sums up my ENTIRE school life and some of my college work too.
For me my brain is kind of like a blocked toilet...teachers fill it with crap but very little comes out the other end. It's like when I have so many assignments and deadlines and things to think about, I really can't do anything and my whole brain comes to a standstill.

I think they should start funding vocational schooling. Right now a lot of vocational subjects are only available at FE standard, so when you've finished school, but maybe if they introduced vocational studies earlier students like me who just can't do paperwork could achieve and feel good about something.

Even in college it was tough for me, as most of the course was theory based. I actually disclaimed my diagnosis, but was never offered any additional help. Probably through not knowing anything about it. I remember in school I had a class called "Social & Vocational Skill" but that was pretty basic stuff, organizing a trip, creating lists etc. Vocational education in general appeals to me more though, as I feel I learn more by actually doing something than writing a report about the subject. So I too would think it would be a great thing if this method of learning was further expanded upon. I see practical skills being more desired now along with experience in the subject as the amount of university graduates continue to rise. Which is why the amount of graduates working in supermarkets and such has also continued to rise (In the UK at least)

School has been a minefield for me, really. My low attendance (it's never been better than 60%) has helped me avoid most of the homework, day-to-day stresses and interaction problems - but as the reason for non-attendance was just parental neglect and not an agreed upon stratagy it's also been a large downer for my achievement, particularly for my early school years.

Until my last two years in secondary school (grades 10 and 11 for Americans) I was in bottom sets for everything. I had no problem with the academic difficulty of the work, I just wasn't there/didn't complete the homework/etc.

So, the expectations for me were pretty low going into GCSE. But, I did okay there, well enough to do A levels. I did very well at AS level, and I'm awaiting A level results.

I'm dreading University a bit because until comparatively recently in my education the expectations were low, and now I feel like I will be letting people down if I don't do well.

yes. I found it very difficult to push myself to study subjects I had absolutely no interest of.
Some classes were required for graduation for instance, I despised taking writing, chemistry, physics, and advanced math so much to the point I had to change from bachelor of science to bachelor of arts just so that I don't have to take them.

I have a bachelor's degree, but for my entire school career I was never able to organize my time well. Near the end, I just gave up on it and completely ignored all assignments until the last minute, which I wish I had done all along - I needed the pressure of an impending deadline (a VERY impending deadline) in order to even focus at all on the assignment. It worked out really well - I would spend only about 3-5 hours per 3000 words - I would write out anything the night before or the day it was due, and I ended with a 3.8 GPA. My professors often complimented my writing, as well. It saved a lot of time, I just needed to figure out that I needed to not fight the procrastination, but to let it run its course until the pressure was enough to force me to do the work.

As somebody who was awarded the "least likely to succeed" in my final years of highschool I think I scrubbed up alright in my 20s.
Many of us are late bloomers and we can not only upskill our competency in a profession of interest when the time is right, but we can also fine tune our intellectual pursuits.
I regret spending so much time in my 20s and early 30s pining after girls and drinking when there is a universe of interesting pursuits and unknown doors of knowledge to unlock.

That pretty well sums it up for me as well. As with most of the posters here I found it difficult in those subjects I wasn't interested in even to degree level.

Many times I don't know what exactly the question is asking me to do, even though it seems obvious to everyone else.

I also found it difficult to focus on subjects I didn't find remotely interesting, very difficult indeed.

I had a lot of problems with exams and homework especially cos I would read one question, look at my paper then read the 2nd half of another question and get them mixed up. So for example in maths where it has the written question and the equation underneath, I would read the written part for one question and the equation part from a different question altogether. So I would end up with it wrong. When I sat my A levels I requested pieces of card that I could cover the other questions with to prevent it from happening, because it was happening to me all the time. Although I am generally not great at exams anyway because of all the other stupid idiot mistakes I make.