Do you script what you are going to say?

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I write down stuff before I say it when I call people on the phone. Also in public... but I voted on poll for just on phone because I thought it meant to write down on paper

Yes, I'm always practicing conversations in my head if I know I'm going to be in one.

Yes, I go over what I'm going to say in my head, and write it down if I think I'll forget it i.e if I'm speaking to someone on the phone, or going to the doctor's etc. I also have imaginary conversations with people in my head, although they never turn out the way I imagine they will. That does occasionally give me an idea of something to say in a conversation though.

For appointments or anything official I will script it a considerable time beforehand. I will work out possible questions from the person and what answer want to give.

For spur of the moment interactions, my mind is going nineteen to the dozen (whatever that means) to calculate my next move, this is really exhausting.

I do that too, frequently. I often will imagine the whole scenario and picture the surroundings and everything. You're right about it not turning out how you imagined it though!

I do this, although I actually have to speak the conversational bits. It is very different from actually conversing with another person since I am mapping it all out and not actually dealing with another person.

And when it doesn't go as planned, you say it anyway. Already eqquiped with what to say (it's like cheating)

I end up really annoying people in these scenarios, I'm trying to avoid them. But if I don't say it, then it's like I'm lying to myself (for not expressing how I feel) So I often spring these 'random' feelings onto people I know. We always seem to make up, but I keep doing it

at times.
i have several shorter scripted conversations that i can call upon when needed (for example, interacting with a store cashier), and most of the methods of disclosing my aspergers i have used on myself; going into discussion with myself to prepare the script for real-life use; it wont be perfect, but at least i have a general flow of the conversation in that case

The problem with mapping it all out is that you may encounter problems if in the actual conversation the other person says something you did not expect. I have tried imagining various different scenarios branching out for one conversation, but it just difficult to remember for me.

But I don't need to speak the conversation out loud, nor do I need to write it down. I haven't been using it so much lately.

I agree. Unexpected turns can leave me unable to properly participate. Or I get stuck trying to buy time and agree with things I do not agree with, or disagree with things I do agree with. Or I end up saying irrelevant things.



Speaking out loud is because I can't think in words, so if I want to work through words I need to be able to speak or write them. This is one of the reasons I have trouble with conversations.

And I used to think I was the only one that did this!

Yup - rehearse ... and review.

I don't understand how i could script what i would say since how would i know what type of scenario of talking was
going to happen?

If i were to script something, i'd have to script something for every occasion and then likely i'd forget them all anyway
So it's useless for me.

No, because when I do try that, it always blows up in my face. Always

When something really interests me, and I read about it, I will have conversations about it in my head over and over again, as if rehearsing how to talk about it. I don't do it out loud, but I will mouth the words or whisper. Fortunately, usually the only people I get to talk about things with are my daughter and grand kids, and they quickly shut me up.

The only people I don't do this with are my children, grandchildren and brother - most of whom are aspies too. The people I do it most with are people with whom I'm intensely emotionally invovled - the ones whose rejection I fear most. And I don't only practise what I'm going to say, but the tone I want to use, how soft or loud etc... I used to be spontaneous but people then labelled me "weird" "not normal" "mad" and I was a joke to them - they felt licensed to say whatever they wanted to me however hurtful or rude. Partly I have joined Wrong Planet, I think, to try and heal some of the emotional scarring from being treated like that for many years. Tomorrow I have to see a medical specialist and because I don't know what he will ask I can't script it much at all and I am very anxious about it, I've been treated badly by doctors in the past though I think that would have been the same most times even if I had been NT. When people ask me "what do you think" I hardly ever dare to really say what I think, unless I don't want to have anything more to do with them. Mostly I say as little as possible anyway, it's easier and doesn't attract so much emotional abuse.