Autistic people can benefit from attention training – new study

once,  a teacher recommended drama acting etc to me.  Now I reckon he knew i was autistic and this was his way of pushing me in the right direction because at the time. I couldnt work out why he would suggest such a thing to me.  I never did   so i agree acting and improv is a good idea.

Logic is bizarre in places --- i did it at university as part of the Maths modules.  

yes i did some psychology when doing my MSc thesis into computer vision and was surprised how useful it could be to me now and my research at the time.   I am considering doing some more psychology qualifications at the moment.  It is the course work that is putting me off. Writing assays again nooooo

i agree as well

Jenny Butterfly said:

If it's not ND-friendly, after all, they'll be missing out on the benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace.   

Yes!

Every discipline and routine and endeavour I've taken on has actually helped me become a better version of me. Logic classes compounded my comprehension with language and became a ground work for grasping knowledge through a much more effective technique. From there, I could grasp philosphy, literature and begin to identify arguments poorly constructed which helped filter out a lot of back ground noise in society. As a fundamental for learning, this shifted what I would classify as my 'focus' to anothers inability to construct a sentance or use language correctly when it came to communication. 

Acting and improv techniques can help with the function of reading, of sharpening skills of observation, thought-ful intake and a 'bag of social tricks/tips' as it were. 

Learning psychological (and even ethical) boundaries, including just bits of wisdom in relating to others - steps to invest in relationships and steps to create a space for oneself can eliminate a load of overwhelming, unwanted and unnecesary complications. Thus, clearing space to grow/learn/become or specialise. 

The issue of 'Focus' can be hindered by environmental and emotional/relational factors, it can be misconstrued with something it isn't. Not following the nuances of small talk has nothing to do with 'focus' or not responding becasue one is stuck in a menal daydream I would also not classify as an issue with focus. If one's senses are hyper than even emotional investment can be subject. But if you're argument is ill-pieced together and nonsense that's not my 'lack of focus' simply confusion ;)

every you have said is pretty much correct. Here are some of my thoughts for what they are worth.

ok i had a very different upbringing. I was bought up as a normal child by my mum  which allows me to mix with neurotypicals easier than most. I was constantly told I could do anything and I did.

I also attended a bad primary school where everyone was treated very badly and not educated properly so everyone was in the same sinking boat. Whether I had autism or not didnt matter.

the workplace is very hard to control it varies enormously between company's and organisations. From Microsoft ( in belfast ) who actively recruit autistic workers to places you will not even interview if u put autism on the application form ( tip : put ADHD ).

my thinking is, that if say, an attention improving technique was found it would be taught to entire classes no should be no need to be singled out. 

but i have seen ADHD kids move from one school to next until someone steps in and the only way they can get any education is by 1 to 1 special tutors  1-2 hours per day. 

I am all for inclusion and see it as very important. I was trained / and drilled by the american company who once employed me. To them the lack of inclusion behaviour was seen as a disciplinary offence and i agreed. it worked really well and created powerful teamwork.

thanks for your input

I must admit to finding it hard to weigh up sometimes, particularly when co-occurring conditions are involved, there are underlying assumptions and models built in to the research design and also when I zoom in on the criteria for inclusion in some research - if it's 100% youngsters who were identified very early in life then people like me and mine are going to be excluded anyway.  To my mind it muddies the waters if, for example ADHD, anxiety and/or learning disabilities are also included and not properly differentiated.  That's not to say that such studies aren't helpful to a degree, but when we're on the lookout for something helpful we need to look at the cohorts, the study size, the duration of the study, the longer term results etc etc and think about whether it's actually going to be helpful to us.

One thing I'd be leery of, for example, is the longer term effects of kids feeling singled out for extra work or attention when perhaps more focus on inclusion and acceptance for the whole class would have been more beneficial.  It's like when the focus is on the lack of social skills in ND class members but there's no whole class work on the other side of any communication - i.e. what the non autistic class members can and should do with their side of the communication process.  As a kid, even without knowing I was autistic, I often came away with the feeling that I was somehow unacceptable and faulty and so it was always my duty to improve myself in whatever ways I could.  Well, maybe there were things I could have done but communication is a 2-way street and, looking back, there were certainly faults all round.  And I shouldn't actually have left school feeling damaged and traumatised by the education process.   

So, yes, maybe there should be a bit of "teaching kids skills they need to get through examinations and indeed later the work environment" but I'd still feel disgruntled if all this only tried to teach me to be more neurotypical, instead of working on skills for everyone and adapting the environment to multiple different styles of learning.  I'm maybe playing King Canute here, but, given how hard I've tried over the years, you'll have to forgive me for thinking that the workplace needs to change too.  If it's not ND-friendly, after all, they'll be missing out on the benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace.    

yes i do wonder sometimes  why are they doing it. 

having said that I was interested because i have improved in that area (attention) myself.

you are correct to stop the striving for someone or something out there to fix you. ( that part of buddhism  ).

That acceptance u talk of is so correct and I am gald youare applying way better than me

I guess if it does work it can be delivered within schools to teach kids skills they need to get through examinations and indeed later the work environment.

also there research would help those with autism + ADHD where the ADHD is more disruptive than the autism.

yea its hard to decide want u should / should not be doing at times so thanks for your input.

I was talking to "Adele M" yesterday and she may be coming back to this forum. i cant remember if you know her but she is a really nice and good person to know. So look out or her.

I agree it's interesting but here's the thing - I can honestly say that my own autistic mind has improved no end since I (mostly!) gave up on the continual perceived need to improve myself, fit in and be accepted!  All of the striving and perfectionism over the years was wearing me out and it turned out that an ounce of acceptance went a lot further than ten tons of self improvement.  

I guess it depends on your benchmarks though.  Mine are unlikely to be the same as those of these researchers.  Were any of the researcher themselves autistic, I wonder?  Did they work largely from a deficit-based model?  And were changes to the environment considered, in line with the needs indicated by any attention differences? 

I sort of feel uneasy that there might be the unspoken assumption that it's autistic people who always need to improve and adapt when really it could be made easier for us (and others) if environments and teaching methods were made more autism-friendly.  Sure, all brains can be "improved" or used to maximum effect, but who gets to choose what counts as an improvement and why?