Diagnostic testing to identify struggles

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If I drop a screw, even on carpet, I will hear it and know exactly where it went. Even in the dark. But I can’t hear my wife speaking if the television is on.

That's me all over. :/

 

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There's a positive suggestion for you @vergil96, a little speech therapy might be really helpful to you but I don't suggest going to a pathologist. Seek out your local amateur acting group, they can teach you how to project your voice, how to control your breathing, and a few acting skills. You might make a few friends while you're doing it.

And now that I've suggested it it's just given me the idea that it wouldn't hurt me to do the same, I need some way to start getting out and socialising again. I've actually had no friends since I moved to this state, 3.5 years ago.

 

[AspieChris]

I had speech therapy of a sort when I was 7 years old too. Some excerpts from my book:
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My grade 1 teacher told Mum that I had severe learning difficulties and would probably need to go to a special school. Mum thought my grade 1 teacher must have been the one with difficulties, I passed the exams with straight "A"s all the way down the page.
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My grade 2 teacher told Mum that I was dyslexic and that I would probably never learn to read and write, Mum burst out laughing and the teacher got really cross and told Mum that she wasn't taking her child's education seriously. Mum laughed so hard she nearly wet herself. Once again I passed the exams with straight "A"s all the way down the page.
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My grade 3 teacher was one of those truly brilliant teachers that stand out from the crowd, Mrs McFetridge. She was a very strict and stern old lady with her hair done up in a bun but she was also scrupulously fair and very intelligent. I loved her and was terrified of her at the same time. She arranged a meeting with Mum early in the year to discuss my problems. She told Mum that my last two teachers had just been silly young girls that didn't know one end of a baby from the other, she said I had no learning difficulty, in fact quite the opposite, I was bored because I learned too quickly and easily.

She said the problem I had was with reading out loud and she thought I might be "tongue-tied", a situation caused by too short an amount of loose skin under the tongue restricting movement and therefore speech. She told Mum that this could be easily corrected by deliberate exercise and recommended that Mum take me to visit an old friend of hers, a Catholic Priest.

No, that's not headed where you think, my Mum was very good at pretending to be a lot more naive than she was but she wasn't going to leave her little boy alone with a priest. The priest was a very old and very large man and seemed very happy all the time, I liked him. He gave me lessons in public speaking, or more accurately, how to deliver a sermon without the benefit of a microphone, how to make your voice very loud without yelling and how to read at that volume with perfect diction so that even people at the back of the church can hear every word clearly.

Mrs McFetridge also encouraged me by getting me to read stories to the rest of the class. My parents soon regretted my taking those lessons. So did many other people over the years and there's been quite a few girlfriends that will tell you I'm very good at delivering a sermon.

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And the book is a personal thing. I wrote my entire life story, an autobiography, as a way of trying to make sense of my life in a way that would also make sense to others. Some of you might find this helpful too, exorcise a few old ghosts.

How in the world did you even get a suggestion that you were Autistic that long ago!?! In the USA, nobody had even heard the term ‘Autism’ until the movie “Rainman” in 1988. And even after the movie, everyone thought they understood Autism because they saw Dustin Hoffman counting cards and having a meltdown from missing his favorite T.V. show. I didn’t even know what Asperger’s was until my wife found it on the internet in 2008.

Obviously, the school system here sucks. They’re just trying to crank out as many college degrees as possible, with zero concern for a child’s mental health. Even most GP’s don’t know what Autism really is. I should have been born in Australia.

 

[Human Avatar]

This is true for me too, I have better hearing than most dogs. Literally. When I was living in the bush I relied on my trained hunting hound Ruby to feed me, but my sight and hearing were far better than hers.

Have you ever had a hearing test and mess with nurse and say keep going ? they are shocked most of the time. On my hikes I can hear every detail of the forest. One thing I learned are those damn squirrels and chipmunks are louder then a herd of deer running through the woods.

 

[Outdated]

Have you ever had a hearing test and mess with nurse and say keep going ? they are shocked most of the time.

When I was 16 I applied for a military cadetship and they put me in a huge soundproof tank to test my hearing. I was the first one to ever score 100%.

 

[Human Avatar]

When I was 16 I applied for a military cadetship and they put me in a huge soundproof tank to test my hearing. I was the first one to ever score 100%.

Wow

 

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How in the world did you even get a suggestion that you were Autistic that long ago!?! In the USA, nobody had even heard the term ‘Autism’ until the movie “Rainman” in 1988.

We never heard the word Autism before The Rain Man either, but from early childhood I knew I wasn't normal. My parents didn't, they're still in denial today, but I knew.

In the 90s I started to wonder if the term autism fit me but I didn't really understand what it meant.

In 2008 I had a massive burn out and ran away in to the rainforests to live like a wild man. Many of you dream of escaping to a tropical paradise, I lived somewhere where I could.

In 2015 I was listening to the radio and on a talk back show they were interviewing a university professor that was involved with a new 5 year study of autism in adults. For the first time ever I heard a stranger accurately describing everything that was wrong with me and I listened for the names. Then I looked them up on the net and emailed them wanting to know more. After exchanging only a few emails they accepted me as being autistic and included me in the study. That was when I started to learn about autism.

In 2020 I got my diagnosis, not because I personally needed it but because I now knew I'm not just aspergic, I'm autistic. That got me a disability pension. (my age was a consideration here too - 55)

I only really started to learn anything about autism properly when I found this forum last year.

 

[AspieChris]

My house has thick walls and excellent, double-paned windows. If a car parks on the street and I’m in the bathroom, I can usually hear the car’s engine when it shuts off and know if it’s a Toyota, Honda, or Ford. Even with all of the doors closed and the television turned on.

It’s a cool trick. I’ll be yelling from the toilet when company arrives and nobody else in the house has a clue yet.

 

[vergil96]

Okay so I concluded I need more structure during the day, because forgetting about basic activities is a problem for me. But I need to finish what I'm doing first.

 

[vergil96]

My grade 1 teacher told Mum that I had severe learning difficulties and would probably need to go to a special school.

My parents also got told something similar, because I either was bored with activities in preschool or displayed symptoms of what later was labelled as possible ADHD and maybe that was autism, because lots of symptoms overlap. Basically I seemed not to pay attention and fidgeted. But... I learnt how to read and calculate on my own before going to school, so my parents laughed off the idea and said I was just bored. Someome said I was "not mature enough for school" but this lady clearly wasn't very bright. Maybe I seemed not to pay attention for the same reasons as I do now? (Autism)

The priest was a very old and very large man and seemed very happy all the time, I liked him. He gave me lessons in public speaking, or more accurately, how to deliver a sermon without the benefit of a microphone, how to make your voice very loud without yelling and how to read at that volume with perfect diction so that even people at the back of the church can hear every word clearly.

That's a very interesting experience.

I had some lessons about giving presentations and performing. Later as an adult I also took speech therapy for unrelated reasons and I think lots of people can benefit from learning voice emmission.

There's a positive suggestion for you @vergil96, a little speech therapy might be really helpful to you but I don't suggest going to a pathologist. Seek out your local amateur acting group, they can teach you how to project your voice, how to control your breathing, and a few acting skills. You might make a few friends while you're doing it.

That's actually not a bad idea. Especially the acting part, maybe there are some people skills involved. How to not get talked over or not shy away.