Reflecting, and have a question

[Megawoman]

Hello all,
Newly diagnosed, and up to my ears in all of the reading. I am 40, and as I look back on things, one of the issues/things that has always bothered me is that if someone is reading me something and then asks me a question, or asks me to do quick math after giving me some numbers, I can’t do it. I learned to say that I just couldn’t process what they were saying. But is this possibly the ADHD? I hear them, but I don’t HEAR them? I would just like to hear from others who have been there. Thank you!

[Penny Williams]

Slow processing speed and poor working memory are both common with ADHD, and both could be to blame for this.

[Self-Test] Do You Have a Working Memory Deficit?

Also, we are learn and function best in different ways. It sounds like you’re a more visual learner than audio.

Penny
ADDitude Community Moderator, Parenting ADHD Trainer & Author, Mom to teen w/ ADHD, LDs, and autism

[Spaceboy 99]

Hey there:) Congrats on your diagnosis!

Is the problem specifically with whatever they’re asking you to do (as in, you struggle to do maths all the time, or you struggle to answer questions), or is it specific to being asked to do it VERBALLY? Would you find it much easier if you’d been actually READING the questions? If so, TWINS!

Difficulty processing auditory information is common amongst people with ADHD. I have a comorbid issue called Central Auditory Processing Disorder. 80% of people with CAPD also have ADHD. The best description is like it’s dyslexia for your ears. I’m willing to bet that you also struggle to hear the ‘correct’ words people are saying to you (‘terraces’ sounds like ‘terrorists’, ‘baltimore’ sounds like ‘voldemort’) and often have to ask people to repeat themselves?

CAPD manifests itself in several ways:
Difficulty parsing the correct words in speech (terraces and terrorists)
Difficulty hearing anything while concentrating on something else
Difficulty hearing what’s being said unless you’re directly focussed on the speaker
Difficulty remembering more than 4 pieces of auditory information (such as directions)
Delayed speech onset as a child

and about two other things which I can’t remember right now.

I use a similar example to the one you used to describe this. I LISTEN (insofar as I’m paying attention to the person speaking, and trying to understand what they’re saying) but I don’t HEAR (because whatever they’re saying just sounds like noise that I can’t make sense of).

The specific issues you mention are also features of ordinary inattentive ADHD, and can be alleviated with medication and coping mechanisms, though not in all cases. There’s no need to feel overly bad or worried about this 🙂 As a general coping strategy, I just find that asking people to repeat themselves, or to write down what, specifically, they want me to deal with, or in the case of sums, to give me a couple of numbers at a time that I CAN deal with.

I hope this helps! 🙂

[Author]

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