Following directions

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I have trouble with following directions.

This is a simplified example but:
For instance, when someone tells me "open the door", I hear the person fine. Then, I realise that I only "got" part of the direction. Like only the "door" part (Do I open the door or leave it closed?), or only the "open" part (What do I open?). Sometimes, I figure it out, and everything is good. Sometimes, I get really confused and wonder if I had imagined the entire thing. I end up having to ask the person to repeat the direction. Of course, then the person thinks I wasn't listening the first time around.

This seems to happen regardless of background noise or noise level. I don't feel anxious or anything.

Can you relate to this?

Yes.
Does your mind rush ahead, thinking "oh, this is easy ..."
and then two seconds later is when you realize you forgot
what you just heard?

Although sometimes this is due to the other person talking way too fast.

Writing things down can help,
only sometimes they talk faster than you can write.

I guess. Sometimes it's like my mind heard it, but never processed it, and then let it go. None of the "oh this is easy..." thinking, generally speaking.

I relate but that could be due to my dyslexia & ADD.

Well yeah, I can relate to this.

I think so. I hate being told what to do. Whenever someone tells me to do something, this is what usually happens:

1. They tell me and I forget 2 seconds later. They have to repeat themselves, much to their and my annoyance.

2. They tell me and I start to do it. But I forget some of what the person told me, and I get off track.

3. They tell me and I have to repeat the instructions back. Either that or I repeatedly get hounded by the person to do what I'm told. It drives me insane!

4. I typically pretend I know what I'm doing, but I don't. And I have to ask for help, even though I hate that.

I typically prefer to be my own boss, but I know you have to be told what to do at least sometimes.

Do you know why this happens for you?

I'm not really sure. I just know that it's always been an issue for me.

I don't think I have a problem with hearing and processing directions. The problem I have is my mind can easily be distracted and the instruction just hide in my head. This also happens when I decide to do something myself but forget what I was doing by the time I've taken a few steps. I seem to constantly ask myself ( in my head ) what was I doing.

I think this is one of those things that gets easier if you can practice.

My husband is an aspie and I'm NT. We have a NT toddler and we generally have traditional gender roles. He does things like feed our son and give him a bath, or clean the house only if I'm sick (which is not uncommon).

During those times I have to give him exact instructions or he can't find the simplest things in our house. Such as, say, the no-more-tears soap that our son uses. I can't just assume that he knows where it is and say "Please give SocOfAutismJr a bath." I have to say, "Please give Jr a bath, and wash him using the no-more-tears soap, which is located on the top of the shelves over the toilet, in the left basket. Jr's towel is hanging behind the door on the right side."

These items NEVER move around, but I have noticed that he can't keep track of them. I've heard that it can be a "man thing" and it can be an "aspie thing." I don't know which is the truth, but I just try to be more specific when I give directions. No big deal.

I always have to have things repeated multiple times when receiving directions. I'm not sure why, but it takes me a while to catch on to things. I try to pay attention but it might be my anxiety that prevents me from getting things the first time, because new tasks make me nervous.

My dad's not autistic but he can't keep track of things, he keeps forgetting where he put things. I'm the opposite - I never lose or forget where I put anything, I notice when things are out of place without even thinking about it - I just seem to be keeping track of everything somehow, say something and I know where it is. This sort of thing is completely effortless and comes naturally.

However, this:



I can't for the life of me do that, I just can't absorb that information. Anything said in this sort of format hurts my brain to even try to process.

I'm the complete opposite of your husband in this way. Maybe it's gender related, or maybe it's one of those things autistic people are opposites with, I don't know.

Yes. I find it really difficult to process verbal instruction. It infuriated my mum when I was wee, who assumed I wasn't listening, but it isn't that.

I'm sort of the same but not to the same extent. If given instructions, I need to write them down. I need to be given a single instruction, I then write it down, then the next instruction, write it down and so on. If someone gives me more than one instruction or keep talking whilst I'm writing, things get forgotten and bad things generally follow.

So I guess this is the executive dysfunction aspect of autism or AS.