Do you start talking in the middle of your thinking process?

[epath13]

I've been wondering why people often don't understand what am I trying to say and have come to a conclusion that it's because I start talking somewhere in the middle of my thinking process. I'm not sure if the expression is clear enough so I will attempt to explain. When I read or hear somebody's opinion, idea etc I start processing it finding connections in my mind that other people might have not seen, connections that are probably a little bit too personal. For instance an association between different tastes and colors, or connections of the given idea to some other ideas and theories that have crossed my mind at some point. As a result I give a response that might look inadequate while it is perfectly adequate. But unfortunately people don't see it and often misinterpret what I'm trying to say. My husband has pointed out once that it happens because I don't familiarize people with my thoughts and start talking somewhere in the middle of my thinking process. I'm trying to think of a simple example.... We've been talking about how people in different parts of the world combine (without even realizing it) flavor compounds of foods differently. Later I told him, "it's sort of like this. American food is painted with complementary colors and Asian - with contrast colors". And he said, "you're doing it again". He said that I didn't explain how I made that connection. And this is just a simple example, it wouldn't take long for me to explain how I made the connection. In many cases I can go from one idea to some seemingly unrelated idea in a few seconds but it might take hours for me to explain how I made the connection.
You know what it reminds me of... the Big Bang Theory episode...again when Sheldon couldn't crack the problem with electrons moving through graphite, if I'm not mistaken. He went to work at the Cheese Cake Factory and resolved the issue when the dishes fell on the floor and broke.
The thing is, I make those long tangled connections all the time about many things but when I start talking I'm usually somewhere seemingly far away from the subject but in my mind I'm still on the subject, unfortunately not many people can see it.

It's like I'm unable just stay in one place my thoughts are moving too fast. I think it's a good thing but sometimes it's almost feels like I'm moving on high speed in space, so fast that I can't even see where I am anymore but when I arrive I can't always figure out how I've got there, nor can I explain it to others.

Does anyone can relate to this?

 

[Arashi222]

I totally relate to this. As a kid I did this way more often I would even start writing my homework in the middle of my thoughts. Now for the most part I only still do the talking thing. Most often my mom tells me to start from teh beginning or asks where that came from as a away to remind me to go back to the beginning of the thought and verbalize what I was thinking so that the story or whatever I was talking about makes sense to others because I mean come on it made sense in our heads right??

 

[epath13]

I totally relate to this. As a kid I did this way more often I would even start writing my homework in the middle of my thoughts. Now for the most part I only still do the talking thing. Most often my mom tells me to start from teh beginning or asks where that came from as a away to remind me to go back to the beginning of the thought and verbalize what I was thinking so that the story or whatever I was talking about makes sense to others because I mean come on it made sense in our heads right??

it does but in order to communicate successfully you have to be able to make yourself clear to others .. I've just been to a meeting and met a woman, her son has high functioning (well... ok, closer to the medium functioning, I guess ) Autism, he's non verbal and communicates through the typing thing, however you call it. She's said that when he writes by himself his thought process is too fast and whatever he's typing is hard to understand. Our perception, or I should probably name it - a thought form product of the perception, might be wider and more elaborate, so to speak, and in many cases the retrieval of that information can be very difficult. I'm even wondering if in some people on the lower side the dis-balance is even grated between ability to present and process information. Maybe they can understand (and I'm not talking about logical understanding based on previously obtained knowledge, I'm talking about entire sensory "Understanding") the world at much deeper level than any normally developing person can ever dream of. Just a thought

 

[Arashi222]

it does but in order to communicate successfully you have to be able to make yourself clear to others .. I've just been to a meeting and met a woman, her son has high functioning (well... ok, closer to the medium functioning, I guess ) Autism, he's non verbal and communicates through the typing thing, however you call it. She's said that when he writes by himself his thought process is too fast and whatever he's typing is hard to understand. Our perception, or I should probably name it - a thought form product of the perception, might be wider and more elaborate, so to speak, and in many cases the retrieval of that information can be very difficult. I'm even wondering if in some people on the lower side the dis-balance is even grated between ability to present and process information. Maybe they can understand (and I'm not talking about logical understanding based on previously obtained knowledge, I'm talking about entire sensory "Understanding") the world at much deeper level than any normally developing person can ever dream of. Just a thought

Hum that is an interesting theory. I like that. Maybe you're right in that we process information differently. I know for me what is related to this topic is that when something happens outside my normal realm say like something is upsetting me or frustrating me about something and it takes me a couple of days even weeks sometimes to process that I am really totally pissed about something or at someone for something they did and usually by that time they have forgotten about it or thought it wasn't a big deal (which of course it was I just couldn't say that at the time). I just think you have something in your thoughts about starting in the middle maybe our minds are working faster than we can express and that's why we start in the middle and have to have someone purposefully slow us down?? Maybe?:cute:

 

[epath13]

I just think you have something in your thoughts about starting in the middle maybe our minds are working faster than we can express and that's why we start in the middle and have to have someone purposefully slow us down?? Maybe?:cute:

yes, that's what I meant plus in some cases we might see situations from many different angles but can't always express it. in addition to that... just remembered it seems that people on the spectrum sort of expect others to know what they've been thinking off... it's irrational but it happens to me pretty often.

 

[Bay]

Yes, I do this often.

 

[2010Dolby]

Hahaha yes I do. My ex-girlfriend used to get annoyed by it. One time she even thought I was talking to someone else because what I was saying something completely irrelevant from our conversation. Well, she thought it was irrelevant. She just wasnt following my thoughts

 

[Alpaca]

totally did this today! Somebody at work cracked a joke. I gave him a 'bu-dum-tch!'. The thought of a high hat "Tch" sound triggered me to blurt out "I could give you a 'bu-dum-tch-tch, it's the Vanilla Ice version." This is a reference to a video I saw, God knows how long ago, of Vanilla Ice describing his blatant rip-off of David Bowie's song as being different because it contained an extra "Tch" at the end.

luckily my coworker is a pop culture guru.

 

[cheetoe80]

yes, I do it too

 

[Arashi222]

yes, that's what I meant plus in some cases we might see situations from many different angles but can't always express it. in addition to that... just remembered it seems that people on the spectrum sort of expect others to know what they've been thinking off... it's irrational but it happens to me pretty often.

I think your right. Seeing things from a different angle or a differing connection is made for us maybe?Me too! So it would seem that maybe it is a big combination of things that make it happen but it seems that we're not the only ones that do that.:cute:cute:

 

[Kelly]

I do this alot. I think it's because I have entire conversations in my head before I have them and sometimes verbally start midway. So for example when I wanted to talk to my husband about some social games the national autistic society had sent me for our daughter I first went through what I'd say first, what he'd say, what I'd say to that and pretty much had every angle covered before I opened my mouth. As a result I started with "yeah so those social games seem really good don't they? I think it might help her especially with the sleepover on sunday"....this was after we'd been silent for 5 minutes, I'd completely bi-passed the opening of the conversation where I was going to tell him I'd called the NAS and that they'd sent me some information, he would ask what information and then I'd explain, he'd ask questions about it, I'd answer and then I'd say they seemed good...I'd missed out about the first 5 minutes of the conversation.

Of course he answered with a 'WTF are you on about' and I had to backtrack and explain which totally screwed up the conversation I had planned and so none of it went quite right.

We'll often be talking about one thing and because of how fast my mind works I will relate it to something else and then start talking about that. We were making my daughter's easter bonnet hat yesterday with her and she was sticking monster high pictures all over it(her obsession) and we were all talking about what to put on next, they decided on some paper flowers, which in about 2 seconds flat had me going through various types of flowers in my head, which lead me to sugarcraft flowers which led me to cookies, decorating and my latest obsession and then the fact my baking magazine still hadn't arrived. So 2 seconds after my daughter said 'lets put paper flowers on' I said "it's not fair why isnt' my magazine here!".

 

[Bay]

LOL, that happens to me all the time and my partner says "huh?" I have to backtrack and explain the circuitous route by which I came to my nonsensical comment. She looks at me with big eyes, I say "welcome to my brain" and we laugh.

 

[Kelly]

Most of the time I don't bother explaining, it's all far too fast and complicated to explain out loud. One day I decided to say everything I noticed along with what it made me think of...verbally I couldn't keep up there was just too much going on too fast to say even a third of it so I stopped after a few minutes, my husband didn't think it was possible to think all of that so fast.

 

[Arashi222]

So now I am wondering if it is that we process information to quickly when we do that? Because I find in other situations I tend to be unable to keep up with conversations at a normal pace.

 

[Meistersinger]

1. I was always notorious for putting my mouth in gear before my brain.

2. Lately, everything starts uh, then the rest of my thoughts come pouring out of my mouth.

 

[smith2267]

Yeah all the time. Seems to be an ASD thing

 

[Divrom]

I do this so much!

Not only is it because I make associations and connections quicker than NTs, but I'm also having more than one train of thought at once. So, I might not just be jumping forward a few steps, I might also be jumping sideways!

I tend not to correct myself and end up looking a bit stupid. However, in those moments I just feel all self-righteous and blame them for being a bit stupid.

 

[Biblio-Love]

I do this often, usually because my brain is racing and I have to get my thoughts in order before I open my mouth. People either get mad because I don't respond right away or I start talking and it makes no sense to them. It is a dilemma. If it is really important, and I feel like people aren't listening to my point of view (and they need to) - then it is better that I write it down. Writing helps my organize my thoughts and communicate more clearly.