Poor Working Memory

they said i have trouble sequencing, such as doing things step by step. i also feel learning is simply not that wonderful for me. i think that's why some aspies, such as me, tend to do the same things over and over. so, basically, avoiding learning a new thing and avoiding the pitfalls of newness. ie, the learning issues we seem to have....

you're lucky you have support for things you're not as strong at. for me, i'm learning how to get support, and how to use it. i can't do certain things on my own, i think.  i've accepted i'm just not good at those things, and prefer to work with things i'm good at.

a friend of mine, who i think is aspie, lives his life this way also. he seems to no what he's poor at (communicating and reading), and what he excels at (working with incredibly complex machines.) that said, i think if one is poor at something, they can still tackle it, altho probably slower going than an NT would have.

i've sort of gotten off the anxiety tack.... i think my asd is such that it's just normal to be on sort of high alert. i think i'm simply that way.

Yes, we are unable to be copycats.

I gave up on trying, they add to many completely unneccessary steps for the outcome, and that is what is confusing us.

It's faster to find your own way

Is there a way of breaking the process down into chunks so that you can learn individual bits and then piece them together rather than learning a whole long sequence?

Yes, that makes sense to me. I think I've said about as much as I can here. I hope things go ok/get easier in this aspect.

Beans on Toast said:

My memory in all aspects is poor, but if it’s something I’m interested in/ understand I sometimes remember

Absolutely; that's why I like things like Tai Chi, the guitar (I'm still not very good at this) and drawing. All are about repeating them many, many times and super slowly (fun fact, you practise tai chi and the guitar at a snails pace so you don't have to think about it going super quick...which makes the ethos of tai chi sound a bit more....erm, fighty.

I think that last paragraph is me too.. super slow anyway, processing issues and a new thing to learn. I think because I can’t do it straight away or follow the written instructions, then the anxiety becomes the main focus and it stops me moving forwards with the next part as I panic that I’m stuck. I know I have lots of strengths  and have support  with this for as long as it takes. I just want to be more independent and to be able to do it on my own without the over reliance on others.  

I seem to able to remember things  that have associations or that mean something- often really struggle to remember things that have no anchor or context. 

I am motivated and really like my job.

Have you found that sometimes you develop a kind of muscle memory?

I ask this because I wonder whether, if you follow the process through a few/several times (using a video has help), possibly the task will start to become a bit more automatic as you get used to doing the same process?

I can imagine that going through the video and following each step would take quite a bit of time at first. My hope is that on repeated runs through the process, some of the steps might start to naturally follow each other.

I hope you find a way that helps you with the task.

i agree with you. mouse clicks are so 'abstract.' you may have issues with parsing out words, multi-tasking..... so, at least you have an idea of some of your weaknesses. yeah, most find writing down instructions works - apparently not you. maybe you're anxious, also. and when someone is explaining something to you, you may have to work a lot harder just to process that - them communicating with you. that might not leave much of your processing available for what they were actually doing (giving you instructions, which you immediately vaporize on)

on the other hand, you should investigate your strengths --- maybe you're unaware of them. 

i don't think doing memory games will help, altho you could try. but since you're in an asd forum, i think your asd is the issue, or things that go with asd.

for me, i gotta know a LOT about something before i can feel ok with memorizing or feeling okay with the task or material. i'm super slow, which is a drag. i've only discovered after a long time that i just need a lot of practice, trying out, experimenting with something before i get it. but sometimes i get it to a really solid degree. 

u may need to find a job u are motivated by ----- or maybe invent a new way to think of your job---- eg think of the money u make or what u are going to spend it on ----- 

having a memory issue is quite a serious thing . 

have the instruction really close to the screen so u can see both at once. the aim is to shorten the thinking distance between the instructions and the screen. 

how about using a Dictaphone. record the instructions then repeat play them until u get all the steps correct

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one thing u could do, is play games that improve short term memory they do help .

this is  a simple game to practise every day that uses short term memory and see if you improve. 

https://www.bing.com/fun/matchingcards

Yeah, I could take a video and play back and actually that has worked well for other instructions. I suppose the only issue would be is that I have to repeat the process 4/5 times a day within a short space of time. Is is usually to have poor memory where I can’t even remember from looking at the paper to carrying out the task? My memory in all aspects is poor, but if it’s something I’m interested in/ understand I sometimes remember more. 

Know the feeling; although I think mine has more to do with lots of brain surgery but that makes it a double-edged sword with the anxiety caused by the ASD.

Would it be possible to take a video of the process being followed? Including asking someone to move the mouse a bit slower than usual so the video can capture each step?

I kind of know a bit of the struggles with working memory. I struggle with this area a fair bit. I also struggle with people giving directions. If the directions are any more than two or three steps, my memory hasn't a chance. So, in such situations, I'd need to video the person giving directions so that I could replay the vid when I get to each new step of the journey.

I hope you can find a good tool or workaround to support you.

Best wishes
Ed