High Functioning

In practice labeling myself as high functioning generally means difrent things to difrent people.

• most people hear high functioning and think 'he doesn't need someone to change his nappy'
• a few think 'supper genious' but this is very much the minority
• Autistic people and people who work with autistic people hear 'high functioning' and know it means i have average / above average inteligence but other wise might struggel with a lot of non inteligence related autistic issues.

For medical proffesionals their understanding of 'high functioning' can be anywhere between those 2 perspectives.

I agree it’s not simple atall I’ve heard of people who can compose intelligent posts on forums and have an excellent  grasp of the English language yet have no self care skills and cam’t live independently. 

I lived on my own in a 11th floor flat for 12 years after my wife dead. I lived in a tip and self neglected. My daughter eventually persuaded me  to move near her. I get very good support from her and my granddaughters. High range IQ tests are a doddle compared  to daily living tasks  most people take in their stride.

I lived on my own in a 11th floor flat for 12 years after my wife dead. I lived in a tip and self neglected. My daughter eventually persuaded me  to move near her. I get very good support from her and my granddaughters. High range IQ tests are a doddle compared  to daily living tasks  most people take in their stride.

Iain, I've had years of therapy and to be honest I dont' think my issue with maths and tech would be sorted that easily, things that go back into childhood like that tend to take a long time. I'd have to find a therapist that knew what the hell I was talking about in the first place which wouldn't be easy, especially round here.

TheCatWoman said:

At my age I dont' see the point of years of therapy

It may only take a few sessions - it was all it took for me to deal with some of my childhood traumas. This had a few follow up sessions to check I was coping ok with the new ways of thinking and reacting and it improved quality of life for me a lot.

You could consider it an investment in your remaining years to get the most out of them that you can.

Or not. I have chosen to retain some of my bad behaviours as I feel they are part of my identity, but I also have the comfort that I have the tools at my disposal if I change my mind later on.

I think it all started with my very first maths lesson when I was about 7 and the teacher said she was going to smack anyone who got it wrong. I understood what she said and she kept explaining it and I thought it couldn't be that easy and I must be wrong, so I wrote down the wrong answer and got smacked. I'd never been smacked at school before and was upset, embarassed and outraged.

At my age I dont' see the point of years of therapy, even if I could get it, I'd probably just about get passed it in time to die! lol

TheCatWoman said:

When confronted with a maths or tech question I feel my brain slide into this sort of fugue state where I feel not really present, it's similar to the sorts of disassociation I used to go into when being abused,

I think this is the crux of your "performance" issues with the learning and application of knowledge.

It is a trauma response based on something quite probably unrelated but one that is the brains go-to state when faced with something stressful.

IF you can unpack this and then train your brain out of the habit then things can change but that is a lot of work over a long time and you would really have to want it badly to make it worthwhile.

I guess the most likely option is you remain uniquely, beautifully you - accept your limitations if you must, own your traits and live your best life.

Do you think it could be the response mechanism the body uses in emergency situations? (would Google it but I'm very distractible today so would forget to finish this message if I did)

During post diagnosis sessions they talked about us being very often, sometimes always in that state , where fight flight or freeze kicks in, maybe your maths and tech thing is the "freeze" as you somehow find it startling?

I'm starting to see how it has an affect on me with certain demands, I can end up doing nothing at all as I just zone out when I try to start doing certain things.

Thanks Iain, people have tried all sort of ways to teach me maths, from playing with matchsticks, cake to beating me round the head, I've had specialist help too, but none of it ever sticks. I think it may be because of memory problems, some things, particularly if I'm anxious about them, go straight to long term memory storage totally by passing short term memory, there fore I have no synaptic link to access the information. For example I know I've done C&P before, but I have no knowlege of how I did it, I remember people talking me through it or writing it down on a piece of paper, but I've no memory of what I did or what they told me. When confronted with a maths or tech question I feel my brain slide into this sort of fugue state where I feel not really present, it's similar to the sorts of disassociation I used to go into when being abused, I'm physically present and even answering questions but I'm somewhere else somewhat away from my body, acting totally on autopilot. When I come back to myself I have all sort of feelings of shame, wondering what happened, will I be able to remember what I was taught and worrying about it to the point where I go into a semi melt down, or a full one if people start getting cross with me.

TheCatWoman said:

Yet I can cook for a dozen people, organise the housekeeping for a B&B/Retreat house.stuff like that I take in my stride, but maths, and I'm a gibbering wreck along with anything techie.

I remember my brother in law (when he was 14) had similar issues with math at school and his teachers couldn't find a way to get him to understand fractions and percentages.

I tried a visual approach using stuff he was interested in to demonstrate the principles of what a fraction is and how they work. I think I stared with how far through a computer game he got to explain what the fraction meant then used lego blocks to explain how to add, multiply and divide fractions - then showed it on paper and ran the two side by side until it sunk in.

Percentages were relatively easy after this and I used milk in a jug to explain how they worked.

Once he gained the confidence that he could learn these things which were previouslt a blocker he could approach more complex stuff and he got back on track and passed his O levels comfortably.

It is similar with techie stuff - sometimes it takes someone who can explain it in terms you can relate to in order to build your confidence to the point you take over and start to work it out on your own.

I was absolutely useless at geometry.

I think I over think things iike IQ tests, not that I've done many, things like tesselation tests really throw me and I don't even know how to beging to approach them, the woman doing my learning difficulties assessment at uni said she'd never seen anyone sit their and poke them with one finger before! The maths elements of those tests totally throw me, I don't even know where to begin with most of them, I simply don't understand the questions or the concepts behind them. I remember being given a sum to do when I had my first maths lesson when doing an access course, I'd never seen a sum with numbers in brackets before, how on earth was I to know I was supposed to do them first and that everything else followed on from that? As for fractions they make no sense at all, it doesn't matter how many times its explained to me it's still as thick as mud. Yet I can cook for a dozen people, organise the housekeeping for a B&B/Retreat house.stuff like that I take in my stride, but maths, and I'm a gibbering wreck along with anything techie.