Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone
i recently bought a book ‘neurosceience For dummies’ in an attempt to understand the mechanics of the autistic mind. May not be the first stop for some people but I really wasn’t too sure where to go to with their being so much to choose from online. I prefer to go straight to the foundation. Do you have any opinions on where I am best to pry into? I’m not too good with having a book in front of me unless I know what I am going to focus on, it overwhelms me. This often happens, I get something because I am aware that it will be helpful, but I can’t tackle it unless I am fully aware of a small area I can begin with. Does this happen to any of you?
Any other doses of advice? I’m interested in basically what areas of the brain are supposedly non typical, why, behaviours induced, along with self help techniques.
Best wishes!
Hello, thank you to my two responders.
In my post, I mentioned that, I can not get my head around a book a lot of the time. I have to be able to visually follow the words I'm expected to process. When I can't develop a clear mental image in some cases, I can't keep my focus, I look to see how much I've got to read, it starts to seem impossible a task, and I give up. This has caused me great frustration growing up. It's meant that I've stuck to more imagery based topics. I'm wondering if any of you have this issue. With it being a new topic, I will specifically find it difficult to make a start and follow it through.
Reading more technical books, especially in a subject that's new to you isn't really the same as reading a novel where you can generally progress from front to back without much problem. It takes time to "tune into" the language etc. and a good dictionary may be helpful. You may find yourself having to go backwards and forwards before bits start to make sense to you. It also helps to take a break when you feel stuck - letting your subconscious mull over things in the background or going back to it later often helps to provide that moment of inspiration needed. So don't be surprised if it takes longer - that's not unusual! For some reason teachers etc. don't tend to set that expectation though and people tend not to talk about it so people think they are "being thick" or something when it's just perfectly normal.
It also sometimes helps to have books by different authors so you can "compare and contrast" - one might have an explanation that works better for you in some areas and vice-versa. As you get more into the subject you'll probably find that things start to speed up for you.
The thing when starting to learn a new subject is to keep in mind "this is marathon not a sprint." With a bit of perseverance you'll be surprised how much progress you can make.