Learning on your own

[WildCat]

I, like a few here I'm sure, spend a lot of time on the Internet pretty much browsing through random subjects and topics for the sake of learning or just out of sheer curiosity. Not that I retain all of it (I'm not an "idiot savant" despite the media's common opinion), but I do remember bits here and there. I heard somewhere that most aspies have a good memory for subjects which they have reasoned out...I'm not an "aspie" in the diagnostic sense, but this very much holds true for myself - everything I'm good at thus far is due to me making sense of the information given mostly on my own time, NOT due to someone else having scribbled it out on a whiteboard or forcing me to swallow 100 pages of text.

I guess what I'm trying to say: I'm mostly self-taught when it comes down to areas of interest. Just curious if anyone else here relates to this.

 

[LittlePuff]

This is probably true for everyone, not just Aspies.

 

[Undiagnosed]

I don't think it's quite true for everyone the way it is for me. I do get cought up on a certain topic and can get obsessed and spend hours and hours learning about it. Sometimes I will get 'stuck' on a topic for weeks, months , or years. I think it depends on how much there is for me to learn before I get booard and move on. The process can get very intense and detailed and seems driven by a force within myself out of my concious controle. sounds like what you are talking about. some of my topics have been

Early childhood development-lasted a few years-included about a year of colledge courses and tv pediatric shows, and reading(this was along time ago before I had internet and computer)
Mind power
Hypnosis was a big on I still use a lot on and off. This spell included a free online course I found, book reading, self practiceing, lots of self hyponosis on CD's internet reading, etc.....
The law of the universe/law of attraction.
Some basic religious and Bible stuff but not as intense and detailed as some of my other topics
Certain personality disorders and mental illnesses
Massage therapy and natural healing was a big one that lasted about three years and included a massage therapy training course ending in me being a trained licenced massage therapist and lots and lots of outside reading studying and real life practiceing in the use of vitimins, herbs, massage tequniques, and other natural health practices.
Evrything about buying and selling on Ebay
Asperger's is my current topic and so far has been non stop for about three weeks

 

[King_Oni]

I don't know if it's that I managed to learn it on my own without the proper tools at hand, but I should say that the traditional sense of school never worked for me.

Anything I do and know, I've taught myself, bar the basics from primary & high school I guess.

That being said; I don't know if the notion of actually having skills is of any interest to me. I rather just have heaps of knowledge and have no actual use for it. And that actually is a bit of a problem since I'm putting myself behind on everyone that is connected to the internet. As a kid I always read encyclopedias and dictionairies instead of fiction and that's still somewhat true now.

And looking at "skills" I have and/or have been commended for in the past (since I guess that makes those skills worth something in the general sense) it's things I got into because it was (related to) a strong interest I had on something. And my way of mastering it (for lack of a better word) is totally not what the educational system would like me to be. I'm more prone to get into it for 2 days straight, no sleep and finish up what I know and not do the bitesized chunks that university wanted me to do. Dragging on classes is one way of taking some of the pace out of me... and as a result lost interest.

So the notion of learning myself things is quite true for me up to the fact that even the method of information provided needs to work for me at that period.

 

[Undiagnosed]

I don't know if it's that I managed to learn it on my own without the proper tools at hand, but I should say that the traditional sense of school never worked for me.

Anything I do and know, I've taught myself, bar the basics from primary & high school I guess.

That being said; I don't know if the notion of actually having skills is of any interest to me. I rather just have heaps of knowledge and have no actual use for it. And that actually is a bit of a problem since I'm putting myself behind on everyone that is connected to the internet. As a kid I always read encyclopedias and dictionairies instead of fiction and that's still somewhat true now.

And looking at "skills" I have and/or have been commended for in the past (since I guess that makes those skills worth something in the general sense) it's things I got into because it was (related to) a strong interest I had on something. And my way of mastering it (for lack of a better word) is totally not what the educational system would like me to be. I'm more prone to get into it for 2 days straight, no sleep and finish up what I know and not do the bitesized chunks that university wanted me to do. Dragging on classes is one way of taking some of the pace out of me... and as a result lost interest.

So the notion of learning myself things is quite true for me up to the fact that even the method of information provided needs to work for me at that period.

Reminds me of my oldest son. He seems to know all kinds of random information. Something odd will come up and he will know about it and will say..., "I'm full of useless imformation."

 

[Dragon's Tooth]

I always try to expand my knowledge base and mind. I have hundreds and hundred of documentaries on my computer I watch. It could be anything that grabs my attention.

And like other aspies school didn't really work for me. I managed to get a degree but it was a hard fight.

But I find the internet to be a great tool for teaching. I just sit down, decide what I want to learn, look up a tutorial and teach myself it. Half the time you would struggle to realize I did a lot of stuff for the first time when I show it to you.

 

[Serendipity]

I've been doing a lot of reading up on Asperger's Syndrome lately, especially with my recent diagnosis. I'm trying to find out all I can about it. Vampires are next on my list, though. I've become addicted to them lately.

 

[Geordie]

Give us the power to learn everything on our own, though with proper guidance by someone experienced in our field -

We can be experts in whatever we do with the things we learn!

 

[Woodswalker]

I agree, I have taught myself many things without going to school. Growing up, I learned through books. Now we have the greatest library on earth, the Internet! Though I have reservations about big brother and privacy issues, the Internet is a great tool.
Of course, nowdays we have instructional DVD's. I have a whole library of these. Look up Smartlix.com. It a DVD rental service like Netflix but they have many subjects of instructional DVD's. It' amazing!
I think so many people stop learning new things unless they are in a traditional school environment. Sad. The world is too big to not want to know more.

 

[Woodswalker]

Correction: Smartix.com

 

[Woodswalker]

Correction 2: Smartflix.com. Stupid iPhone!

 

[Perkinsj88]

If its something I don't really care about someone else must force it into much, good example...I hate algebra for the most part, all the rules and formulas drive me nuts, I am pretty good at math and pre-algebra considering I've never taking pre algebra classes before. I self-teach a lot of things. I taught myself how to build a blacksmith forge using an old bbq grill and hairdryer with a bit of pipe, it worked so I started teaching myself knifesmithing, was a fun deal for a while.

 

[SallySlips]

I started teaching myself things before I even started school. So I was always ahead (on my own) of what my class was currently doing, so I hated school. I aced everything, but I always wanted to just go home and learn things by myself. I love learning, but I hate it when it's not something of my choosing and I'm being forced on a deadline to do it. College was a little better because I got to choose the subject matter for the most part, but there was still the pointless assignments and deadlines to deal with. Since I've left college, I've learned so much more. I'm always reading and watching documentaries about nature, history, science, etc.

 

[rhubarbo]

For me, my entire education experience changed when I started self teaching. I learned that when I attended class I did not retain it anywhere near as much as when I studying it myself. Night and day difference - i probably learned twice as much with this message as the other students. Grades went from horrid to flawless.

Later on I would start taking online classes which was the best solution for me. The classroom was just a time waster.

I guess, at least for me, Self-teaching anything can become a special interest.

 

[pacman]

I taught myself the Python programming language and now coding in python is pretty much second nature to me. I'm currently teaching myself Haskell for fun, although there is not really any practical use for Haskell. In high school, I taught myself how to play guitar.

 

[Aalo]

For me being self taught in the fields of special interest is a must (none could ever tech those issues for me broad and elaborated enough), but self teaching is also easier approach for those occupational subjects that would just give head ache in a class because of their uninteresting nature.

Everything they're teaching for us at uni I basically have to learn by myself at home, because the basic didactics won't work for me either. That leads me having no time outside learning, because of that I'm not an expert of those fields already and therefore have to spend pretty much time around certain topics even that I mostly skip going to unnecessary lectures. But I enjoy having good results so it's worth it. I hope this would change a bit as I proceed to more advanced courses where hopefully will be more thorough teaching and I won't have to do it all by myself. Despite my antipathy for social classroom situations I still want to linger in an academy in order to get a diploma once I know enough for their criteria. Most of it will be useless any way later on life, but heck with it.

 

[Mello]

everything I'm good at thus far is due to me making sense of the information given mostly on my own time, NOT due to someone else having scribbled it out on a whiteboard or forcing me to swallow 100 pages of text.

This resonates with me as well, people explaining information to me often confuses me even more, I just need to sit down and take it all in by myself. No one can make me understand it except myself, which led to me skipping school very often. Learning things on my own gives me the freedom to learn how, when and what I want. I've been teaching myself how to play the piano for 3 years now, and I'm planning on teaching my self realist art techniques and web designing skills.

 

[SallySlips]

This doesn't really apply to learning in the traditional sense, but I've recently taken up a couple new hobbies such as crochet and fishing. When I was little, my family used to go fishing all the time and I absolutely hated it. My mom would try and force me and it got so bad that I would break out in tears and throw a fit over an impending fishing trip. Now, about two decades later, I've started doing it on my own and I really enjoy it. My mom also tried to teach me to crochet when I was younger and I just couldn't understand, but I took it up on my own last year and now I've surpassed her!

 

[Peace]

I do awesome, until some weenie starts telling me that I have had enough time to do what ever it is (boss, teacher, etc.). I do not work under pressure. If left to do a task in my own time, excellent results.

 

[rhubarbo]

Same here, Peace. Fundamentally I think aspies generally operate under higher levels of anxiety so when additional stress comes along it's harder for us than the average person.

I also tend to take significant steps to avoid the type of people that appear to really find things to be stressed about.