Comments on: Say what?

By: codeman38

codeman38 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:31:52 +0000

@Ettina: No, I have just as much trouble deciphering song lyrics, to be honest!

By: Ettina

Ettina — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:30:27 +0000

Would it help if the person sang instead of talking normally? I’ve heard some people recommend that for autistic kids.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:12:26 +0000

I am glad to hear that I am not the only person in the world with this problem.
Only, in my case while I often have to ask people “excuse me, could you repeat that please” thus may appear half-deaf to some, I am also hypersensitive to noises such as scrambling with chairs and cutlery, ventilation, and other random ambient noise. A dinner in a crowded indoor restaurant with hard walls, lots of chatting, scrambling and ambient noise, is not only frustrating due to my struggles with following conversations, but also physically painful – like constantly being hit by something from all directions, unpredictably and meaninglessly. Needless to say I don’t go to a lot of parties. Finding a solution to this would make quite a big difference.

By: Ellen3Davis

Ellen3Davis — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:34:34 +0000

This describes my situation perfectly.. Aside for the musical aptitude you have.
I developed this phenomenon in graduate school after chicken pox w some nasty shingles type bonuses….

So my question becomes did my celiac + a previously un-noticed super-low level of sensory integration problems or something else + my pre existing spacial issues (get lost in a paper sack, 300 trips to learn how to get some where and no contect of associated area or directions, suddenly bloom into this curtesy of a virus or did a virus cause this totally?

By: Adrian

Adrian — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 18:57:29 +0000

I am finding this blog fascinating. It is interesting to learn about different ways the brain can work and how other people’s perceptions are different.

I can empathize with your auditory processing being different from most people. Although I certainly experience the cocktail party effect, I seem to be less comfortable in the bar scene than many. For one thing, I can’t read lips. Another thing I experience is that I have a hard time understanding words when they’re sung; I don’t know what a lot of popular songs are about because I simply can’t follow the words.

For whatever reason, I also prefer written communication in many situations. I wish my friends and family were more writative.

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 00:29:06 +0000

Yep, I know exactly what you mean about preferring text and subtitles (closed captioning) to normal speech, Cody. I see you’re already a member of the “text_is_life” community on LJ, but for other people who might want to check it out, take a look here: http://community.livejournal.com/text_is_life/profile . I discovered this comm when it first started, and although it’s not very active, it’s still a good community.

And yes, I also have something resembling perfect pitch – I don’t actually have perfect pitch itself as I can’t tell you what note something is just by hearing it – I need to do a sort of mental scale before I can know, and even then I can be wrong sometimes. However, my relative pitch is superb. Also, like you, I can easily carry a tune, but lyrics are a problem – I need to specifically listen for them. Having said that, when I remember a tune the sounds of the lyrics are in there too so I can “sing” ghe lyrics by mimicking the sounds, if that makes sense.

By: Emilie

Emilie — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 04:09:51 +0000

Cody and I have chatted several times about sensory integration issues — we seem to share many of the same processing quirks and problems. Our discussions have gone a long way towards explaining to me why it is so much easier for me to write than use the phone, and why I lose so much of the average phone or face-to-face conversation, and have to guess at words from the context. I thought I was the only one who tried to mentally picture the words of a conversation in order to understand the speaker’s meaning, but apparently I am not alone in that after all. In my reading on autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, I am getting the opinion that the books written by psychologists often completely miss or barely touch on the subject of sensory issues, while sensory issues are often (and rightly so) an important topic in books written by people with AS/HFA, and books written by occupational therapists. One a/A book I read lately (written by a psychologist) mentions the senses only in the context of training a child out of his “irrational phobias” about loud noises. My take on it is that it’s hardly an “irrational” reaction if those particular noises are painful to the child. I look forward to reading more posts here which give real insights into life on the autistic spectrum.