How does this issue relate to aspergers?

[Ihaveaspergers]

Do you experience that you learn things slowly compared to others?
The initial learning seems to be slower for me. This is why group learning is so hard. I cannot keep up with their pace.

What often happens is that when I take the time needed I actually become very good at something. They don't. They go through things too quick. This applies mostly to learning physical skills. Sometimes people go too much into theory eg when learning languages.

How does this issue relate to aspergers?

 

[Wolfsage]

Yes, actually. Though I don't understand it very well. It actually feels like i'm not absorbing it all.

 

[Loren]

All I can think of is that - with AS/ASD, it is quite common to possess slower cognitive and gross motor processing (among other processing delays), which could possibly impact/explain why you learn physical skills, at a slower pace. Perhaps, someone else will be able to provide a more thorough answer.

 

[Hylian]

I learn a lot of physical tasks very slowly compared to other people, at least when I start learning them. It's hard for me to coordinate movements and do things precisely enough, so a lot of my effort at first goes into that.

 

[Aspychata]

My learning style is l need to understand the bigger picture so that l can understand and apply details. My new position is listening, not overselling, not over-talking. The customer dictates the conversation and l hopefully tell a few bad jokes. Yes, it's social, so l venture carefully, stay in employee format and represent the club. One lady bartender l like is classy at all times and l work on emulating her but still be myself. (A tab quriky). Had a club member come up and retell me the joke l told him. He liked it so much.

 

[Fino]

I don't know the details as to why or when or how or anything, I just know that sometimes I don't understand simple things and that is that.

 

[Progster]

I generally grasp new ideas and learn new things quickly, as long as they are presented in a way that I can understand. I'm a visual thinker, so diagrams always help. At school, I worked with text books and we often had demonstrations of experiments to illustrate scientific principles, and I had no difficulty in understanding the theory, but I was always very slow to complete tasks that were set us in class. I was usually the last to finish, if I managed to finish at all.

 

[Crossbreed]

Many things that are easy for NTs are hard for me (especially in the social arena);
many things that are easy for me are hard for NTs (especially in the STEM arena).

The above is not necessarily true for the non-autistic gifted, but I think giftedness is another form of neuro-diversity.

 

[SDRSpark]

All I can think of is that - with AS/ASD, it is quite common to possess slower cognitive and gross motor processing (among other processing delays), which could possibly impact/explain why you learn physical skills, at a slower pace. Perhaps, someone else will be able to provide a more thorough answer.

That would explain a lot.

When I was younger (elementary school age) I had a lot of issues learning physical skills. (It took me a couple years to learn how to swim, for instance, despite being in the water almost every day in the summer. I was noticeably behind my peers in swimming.)

Now, as an adult, I don't think I have those challenges learning physical skills - I had to learn how to learn, but once I learned that, I do OK. BUT, I'm still pretty clumsy, and there are quite a few physical skills that I probably wouldn't fare well with, though I haven't attempted to learn them, so I wouldn't know.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I've done a fair amount of research on the topic. It is also a significant part of my profession to understand fetal development. I view neonatal brain ultrasounds, CTs, and MRIs on a daily basis. So, to answer your concerns and questions regarding, "Is this an autism thing?", you have to have some basic understanding of what makes up an autistic brain. (I am realizing, at this point, I could write a book on the topic.) You can do your own research on the topic,...and as an autistic, I think it is important that we all do this for our personal education as well as our own mental health. Stick to scientific journals, as there is a disgusting amount of misinformation out on the general internet. Suffice it to say, there are areas of abnormal neuronal migrational patterns, some neurons that should look like "trees", look like "bushes", and vice-versa, the normal "pruning" of synaptic connections is altered, as is the programmed cell death (apoptosis). This can lead to a long list of asymmetric functioning and neurotransmitter imbalances. What a psychologist sees is asymmetrical functional abilities, sensory issues, behavior issues, communication issues, etc. IQs during testing can vary quite a bit from test to test,...significantly more statistical variation than when testing a neurotypical person,...a hallmark of autism.

Long story, short,...there are common traits that can identify individuals on the autism spectrum. Having said that, neurodivergence is one of those traits, and as such there can be a significant functional difference from one autistic to the next. What you must also understand is that many of us learn differently because of how we process our sensory information. A software program designed for Microsoft, or Android, will not work on an Apple product, and vice-versa. What may seem as someone learning something slowly or doing a task slowly, may be someone taking in and processing significantly more information, or perhaps entering that data into their brain in a different manner.

I have two young engineers as sons. One of my sons was married this weekend, and sitting around the table with his friends, I had a good laugh when someone had mentioned the term "weaponized autism". So, of course, I am doing some research on this term,...a term from almost a decade ago,...but more of a "deep dive" into this phenomenon began to show that even military units from around the world are specifically recruiting autistics for their special abilities behind computer screens, intelligence gathering, abilities to focus intensely on a project, etc,...skills that neurotypicals generally tend not to accel at. It's no surprise that many Silicon Valley software and tech companies specifically recruit autistics,...and the numbers of autistic children being born within that community is statistically quite high. I know many of us have difficulties with interpersonal relationships, but given the fact that there are over 100 identified autism markers on the human genome suggests,...if nothing else,...those genes are being passed on. A lot of people love autistics.

 

[Pats]

I think it also depends on our interest in the subject. Forcing ourselves to learn things we are not interested in will definitely be slower than NT's. If it's something we like, we'll probably learn easily and much quicker. You know, I always used to say "I hate reading". In school my sister a year ahead of me let me use her book reports because I didn't want to read the books, especially novels. Names and dates don't stay with me so I hated trying to read and learn history and fictional books. But not too long ago I realized that it wasn't that I hated READING because I find myself constantly reading - articles, cereal boxes, anything I pick up I will read what's written on it. lol I don't like reading stories of any kind. I spend the first 2-3 hours each day reading stuff.

 

[4na11]

I can't connect time to learning because knowledge is as infinite as time, and the speed in which the information is revealed has nothing to do with the speed the information is gathered.
Learning is life itself, it is all there is.
Some things seem to be already known. Other are being revealed in more depth. But there is no actual end or beginning of learning and to measure the process seems also difficult, because it depends on the subject.
In my case, even though I respect institutions and have recurred to them some times, most of my learning process happened by myself through auto didacticism. Even when I was in academic environments I always found I way to do extracurricular research.
I understand that some parts of the knowledge was systematized and can be passed the way it has been, but I also see we are more mature now as a civilization and new generations will be able to study what they like when they like.
I also agree with @Neonatal RRT when he says that we have lots of advantages, and more people like us are being born. Perhaps a new kind of race is raising from this technological era.