Public Speaking

Post Reply New Topic

So, I am having a lot of problems right now. I wanted to get a general education degree to go with Graphic Design. A requirement of the general education degree is taking at least one class for public speaking. So far it's been fine, I've not had as many issues as I thought I was going to. She gives us around 2 weeks in between our speeches so I've had just enough time to recuperate to delve into the next speech.

However, yesterday I just got done with a longer speech, 4-6 minutes, along with a presentation and outline prepared for that class. It went well, really. But I am really exhausted after it. And today my graphics design instructor just went over a 6-8 minute presentation with 20 slides about an artist we don't know, that we need to present this Monday... I thought it was due the following Monday, especially because she'd waited so long to talk about it in class. I am feeling extremely stressed, and I don't really know what to do.

I am not diagnosed yet, so I don't have a way to contact a counselor and figure this out. I contemplated messaging her about it, but I had a really shaky start to the term and I don't want to make a bad impression. I've been doing just fine in the class since, and I seen to be on good terms with this Instructor. I feel as though asking for "special treatment" would put me back on shaky grounds and I am going to have this instructor all year... I plan to get a professional diagnosis soon... but I keep running into road blocks with my health insurance. I was just told about somewhere I could go for free, but there's no way I could get that done and then get in touch with the counselors at my college before Monday to figure this out. Though this definitely hastens my will to get it over with.

Anyways, I am not really sure if there is anything I can do besides just deal with it, but I really needed to vent. I just had a bit of a fight/break-down with family over it, because they don't really understand the concept of me needing to recuperate between these kinds of things. This term has been really rough overall. Heavier school/social work load compared to last terms, and on top of it I've been working extremely hard on losing weight. I've been overweight since puberty. It's all just starting to take it's toll as more things add up.

For future occasions how about saying something like this: "I'm in the process of working with my insurance company to receive an evaluation for perhaps being on the Aspergers-Autism Spectrum. And if I'm not full spectrum, maybe I'm spectrum-lite [quick smile]. Anyway, this speech due on Monday adds a lot to an already heavy workload. If I could have somewhat more time, I'd really appreciate it." ? ?

Notice that you're asking, not telling. And a brief, matter-of-fact action statement or action request at the end probably helps. And maybe it really is about 50-50 with some teachers saying no and others saying yes.

PS I hope Monday turned out kind of okay no matter how it played out.

Well I survived, in any case. Yeah... I would have said something along those lines but I was just so worried about seeming like i was asking for special treatment, because I had an experience like that in High School. A teacher didn't believe me and a friend when we both came up saying we were really worried about giving a speech in front of 30 other people, and were wondering if we could both give private speeches.

At this time I was so bad at speeches that I would generally just break down. I ended up skipping the speech altogether and took a c for the class. And it was the last straw for my friend, who moved upstate and ended up going to a more private school.

Could you see a doc like a GP & try asking for a med to take as needed for when you have to give a speech. A beta-blocker like Inderal/Propranolol or a benzodiazepine like Klonopin/Clonazepam might help you handle the anxiety & stress better.

Yeah, not very flexible teaching on the part of this teacher. I mean, Wow!

I really don't like the idea that we're going to make someone do something and that's going to somehow be good for the person. There has to be a better way. Maybe encourage the person to make one medium step in a direction they feel comfortable with. Okay, I'll give an example and it might be somewhat fanciful. I've thought about what Autism Spectrum groups may look like in the future. For one thing, psychologists and other good-hearted professionals can help out, but they don't get to run the show. We as persons on the spectrum run the show. And let's say, a social worker is attended a every-two-weeks lunch. Now, we're on good terms with the restaurant because we tip middle-of-the-road. The restaurant knows that it's an autism group. Maybe a little bit uncomfortable for the non-autistic persons because they might publicly be viewed as spectrum. The challenge, Ask a psychologist or social worker, jsuat consider briefly stimming in public. Don't actually have to do it. But just consider it. Shades of walking a mile in other person's shoes.