Difficulty with instructions? Or is it just me?

[0Tucker0]

Hi! I’m Tucker and I have “high” functioning autism or level 1 autism and ADHD.And I was wondering if anyone has had a difficult time with instructions. For example if someone doesn’t literally give me the step by step instructions for doing something. I won’t know how to complete the task. It’s kind of like in coding where if you miss a step in the code the game won’t run. If that analogy helps.
That and if you give me to much information at once I kind of panic and can’t function.
Anyways please respond and tell me what you guys think and if you guys have experienced this problem.

 

[Thinx]

Hi and welcome. Yes for many tasks that's true for me. Usually I would get someone to break down a task into steps and I write the steps down, for IT tasks for example, I used to have to edit parts of a virtual resource, and I would refer back to my notes each time.

There's nothing wrong with doing stuff this way, even complex tasks can be broken down, and I find if I am doing tasks often I do learn them, but tasks that are occasional I need to go back to my notes for, or ask again.

Yes I agree that too many instructions too fast can be overwhelming, I would have to ask the person to slow down. If you get a book out and write stuff down, they kind of have to slow down, try that maybe.

I suppose this is one of the functions affected by neuro transmitters, which are less or differently effective in our brains? Don't fret about it, as you have already found a good strategy to get around the difficulty, which is a workable solution. Everyone is different, it doesn't matter how we get things done, or if it takes us a bit longer, we still can be effective.

 

[SusanLR]

Same problems with instructions.

Too much, too fast, my brain gets overloaded. And I can't multi-task.
Little everyday things like if I'm speaking on the phone and someone around me speaks,
I've just lost both.
Trying to talk while doing something...nope.

Breaking the instructions/task down into segments keeps things on track for me.
I've been accused of being slow, but, it gets done.
Push and hurry only makes it worse and will slow me down to the point of having to stop.

The type of instructions I dislike the most are those written ones on how to assemble something
like a piece of furniture or electronic devices.
Love my PC, but, hate change.
It's nice so many are good at codes or programmes, but, I shudder when it is time to change
something myself that is already set up and used to it.
It's usually off to the little computer store not far away for help.

 

[Alexej]

yes I too know this one. I recently found a note from my ex about what she needed me to do over a weekend when she was away. It was really broken down into simple steps.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I have to write a lot of things down. (1)......(2).....

 

[SDRSpark]

I have a few issues with instructions:

1) Spoken instructions, I have to really work hard to remember them long enough to carry them out. This is stressful/takes a lot of energy and I may or may not do well at it. Written instructions are much better.

2) If there are gaps in the instructions or "assumed" stuff that isn't said I'll either a) get to the gap and panic because I'm not sure of myself, so I'll just freeze until I can ask for more info or b) not process the gap/missing steps and do exactly what I'm told which leads to screw ups.

Neither situation is particularly good. I do better when I have solid knowledge of the subject, and the more I know the less instruction I need (which I'm certain is typical for everyone).

My instruction-related mega pet peeve is road directions; I ask someone for an address (I use GPS) and 90% of the time, they want to try to give me directions (if the place is local). I don't want directions, I know I'm not going to be able to remember and follow directions, I have GPS and I want an address. I tell them this, and they say "no, it's easy, you just *proceeds to give directions*". It's really super frustrating.

 

[BrokenBoy]

I can't seem to remember the rules to D&D since there's so much...

 

[_eri_bellehumeur]

Yup to all of this. I have gotten into trouble multiple times in school and at work for incorrectly completing assignments or tasks as there was incomplete or strangely worded instructions. I was so embarrassed about misunderstanding something that everybody else was able to pick up without issue that I never even bother to explain how I came to the conclusion that the assignment I completed was the task set out for us.

I get extremely obsessed with acquiring new skills and currently my obsession is *dun dun dunn* baking macarons. I have been researching for weeks about tips, how to simplify the process, cross referencing different recipes so that weird wording won't trip me up, and learning every little thing that I can about making them properly so that if an issue occurs I can correct it, or at the very least know where it happened and learn from it. Otherwise what will happen is that I will get halfway through this complex recipe, get confused by the wording used, or there will be an instruction missing because it's just assumed by the person making the recipe that the person reading will know to do the step that they didn't include. oof.

So yeah, I've learned that basically everything I do (unless it requires simple memorization of interesting information and not instrucitons) is going to take me way more time than the average person.

 

[Fino]

I get step-by-step instructions and still get it wrong. No clue how.

 

[VictorR]

Join the crowd! As someone who's done procedure writing as a job, I'm used to breaking processes down to the smallest individual steps - so that someone who's never seen a certain program or spreadsheet before would know exactly what to do with it. It helped that I actually didn't have a background in the stuff I was writing the procedures for, so I would question a lot of things that people in that field would consider second nature. Always look to make lemonade from what you have

 

[Wolfgangus Faldestolius]

... the more I know the less instruction I need (which I'm certain is typical for everyone) ...

Yes: NTs are just like us, but they don't know it. What helped me is, besides writing lists, charts and mind maps, is visual thinking, envisaging approx. three key words or images for the immediate or current phase of something, and using my auditory memory to do the same.

 

[Exbrewer]

Hi & welcome, you are definitely not alone. Where is the specification? is a cry often heard in our house.

 

[Klonk]

I used to work in production and my manager would tell me what was needed each day regarding tasks, I got colleague to translate in simple slow terms later.

 

[WolfSpirit]

I have a few issues with instructions:

1) Spoken instructions, I have to really work hard to remember them long enough to carry them out. This is stressful/takes a lot of energy and I may or may not do well at it. Written instructions are much better.

2) If there are gaps in the instructions or "assumed" stuff that isn't said I'll either a) get to the gap and panic because I'm not sure of myself, so I'll just freeze until I can ask for more info or b) not process the gap/missing steps and do exactly what I'm told which leads to screw ups.

Neither situation is particularly good. I do better when I have solid knowledge of the subject, and the more I know the less instruction I need (which I'm certain is typical for everyone).

My instruction-related mega pet peeve is road directions; I ask someone for an address (I use GPS) and 90% of the time, they want to try to give me directions (if the place is local). I don't want directions, I know I'm not going to be able to remember and follow directions, I have GPS and I want an address. I tell them this, and they say "no, it's easy, you just *proceeds to give directions*". It's really super frustrating.

OMG!!! Me too!! Diagnosed Central Auditory Processing Disorder. Scored near the bottom on all categories except full sentences. (nearer the top), and know only one person with worse auditory processing than mine!! And d directions?? Forget it! Unless I already know the area well, and can mentally place landmarks in them, nope, I will get lost! Last time mom gave me directions to an unfamiliar building downtown, I went the opposite direction! Got there eventually, once I figured out somewhere familiar. .

Furniture instructions? well, I think everybody hates those! They're never very clear, even if you don't have language processing issues! Although the ones that have been translated into 'English' can be pretty funny, if you chose to look at them that way. On the subject of those kinds of instructions, and warning labels, I always find it funny the things manufacturers find it necessary to include. And it keeps getting worse, as people seem to continue to stop thinking for themselves. But that's another subject.

 

[WolfSpirit]

I used to work in production and my manager would tell me what was needed each day regarding tasks, I got colleague to translate in simple slow terms later.

Had this issue with a professor once. Okay, twice. (one course, though, I think. Maybe taken twice.) Except, I had no one to translate. I eventually figured out that what he had written down, and what were in his head were very different! His complaint when I expressed my difficulty understanding him, was that he'd never had a problem with people understanding them before. ... No one else was autistic. (oh, and his area of interest was marginalization of disabled populations. . Granted, he mostly focused on intellectually disabled people.) I eventually learned to ask more detailed questions. The second time I took the course. (or maybe it was when I took the second course. Don't really remember now. It was several years ago now, and I was pretty fried to begin with.)