4 ms·

Do lower reading comprehension, stunted long and short term memory, and a constantly wandering mind also factor in there? I was a precocious talker and reader,

Do lower reading comprehension, stunted long and short term memory, and a constantly wandering mind also factor in there? I was a precocious talker and reader, and in many ways a 'gifted' child, but I always struggled to comprehend reading material, or remain engaged with what a teacher was saying. These learning difficulties pretty much negated the value of any 'gift' I may have had. That said, anything related to computing, I was hooked. It's taken decades to overcome these cognitive challenges, but meditation has been exceptionally helpful to me.

eyelidlessness 6y ago
> Do lower reading comprehension, stunted long and short term memory, and a constantly wandering mind also factor in there? Yes! These are even pretty common symptoms addressed in youth. And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees. If these are still difficulties for you or if you ever find them to be again, I highly encourage learning more about how ADHD presents in adults. If nothing else you might learn more about how those electric brain meats work.
- h0l0cube 6y ago
  > And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees. It's always a small relief to know other people who have/had the same challenges. Thank you.
  - eyelidlessness 6y ago
    It was so much a relief to me too, and I’m glad I could help in that way. I’ll also tell you it saved my life. I had coped pretty well for years, but for a variety of reasons it deteriorated. I was in such bad shape before I sought diagnosis/treatment. Not saying that’s where you’re at but just validating that it can be seriously debilitating. Please feel free to reach out (same handle everywhere, personal site link in my profile, contact easy to find from there) if you want to talk more or any kind of direction on resources. Edit: also if you do want to reach out and it feels daunting in any way, you can literally just say “HN” or any other recognizable thing and I’ll understand.
    - h0l0cube 6y ago
      Thank you very much for the offer. I feel like I'm on the other side of the worst of my troubles, but it has been a long road.
      - eyelidlessness 6y ago
        Cheers to the other side! The offer stands, if you ever want it.
    - follower 6y ago
      > also if you do want to reach out and it feels daunting in any way, you can literally just say “HN” or any other recognizable thing Talk about empathy in action. That was a really caring touch.
      - h0l0cube 6y ago
        Someone I like in the ASD domain is Max Derrat. He's a gaming streamer (which I have no interest in) but he has a lot of candid observations on his own struggles with autism. His experiences seemed to resonate strongly with a lot of people (myself included), and he's built a bit of a community around it.
- boyaintbright 6y ago
  Do you have any tips on dealing with these issues as an adult? I saw meditation mentioned at least.
  - sjg007 6y ago
    Do you have the attention span to meditate? I mean maybe it could help ADHD if you are super interested in it so you hyper focus on it but otherwise it would be a chore.
    - cyberbanjo 6y ago
      I identify with a lot of ADHD symptoms, and I think it's easier to find a "fun" meditation. For me that means walking-in-circle meditation, repetitious chants, and metta, and also a "some is better than none" mindset. Even 1 iteration of a chant is better than none, and takes less than a minute. I struggle with breath meditation as a "chore".
      - h0l0cube 6y ago
        Meditation can be a chore, I think. I only persevere with it because I find that when I lapse, my life is just worse in so many ways. The least worse path I can take at the moment is meditate 2 hours a day. Though I have lapsed for weeks at a time during 'low moods'. I only reached the discipline for a 2-hour daily habit after immersing myself in 2 vipassana courses. This is probably not suitable for many people, but I was at the end of my tether and I had no choice but to succeed.
        canadianfella 6y ago
        2 hours per day seems crazy to me. Why is this much time required?
  - jjj123 6y ago
    If you have trouble concentrating while reading, consider reading while exercising lightly. Pre-covid I would read while on the elliptical at the gym and I could go for 90 minutes or so totally engrossed in the book, which was pretty much unheard of for me before.
watwut 6y ago
> I was a precocious talker and reader, and in many ways a 'gifted' child, but I always struggled to comprehend reading material, or remain engaged with what a teacher was saying. These learning difficulties pretty much negated the value of any 'gift' I may have had. Afaik, those are different brain functions. Early reading is a lot about early development of memory. Comprehending material can be about many different things. Remaining engaged is difficult if you dont understand. But also, it is about attention span.
- h0l0cube 6y ago
  I suppose there's probably a few cases where someone had particular brain damage that left their memory intact but could no longer make sense of new information. It's not something I've looked into, honestly. In my instance, I was capable of comprehending complicated subjects, but it took a force of will to stay with the subject long enough.
inter_netuser 6y ago
Textbook case.
spiralx 6y ago
Yes, but there's another potential compounding effect that I've realised didn't help matters for me: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/the-s-word/397205/ https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/the-s-...
- h0l0cube 6y ago
  That's an interesting article, and I agree that the 'gifted' label is somewhat pernicious. I came to resent, and reject it, when my impairments became a serious obstacle to me in the later years of schooling. Not sure if you caught this when it front-paged, but here's another theory about why 'gifted' people may fail: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22901962 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22901962
  - spiralx 6y ago
    Interesting, thanks!

eyelidlessness 6y ago

> Do lower reading comprehension, stunted long and short term memory, and a constantly wandering mind also factor in there? Yes! These are even pretty common symptoms addressed in youth. And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees. If these are still difficulties for you or if you ever find them to be again, I highly encourage learning more about how ADHD presents in adults. If nothing else you might learn more about how those electric brain meats work.

h0l0cube 6y ago
> And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees. It's always a small relief to know other people who have/had the same challenges. Thank you.
- eyelidlessness 6y ago
  It was so much a relief to me too, and I’m glad I could help in that way. I’ll also tell you it saved my life. I had coped pretty well for years, but for a variety of reasons it deteriorated. I was in such bad shape before I sought diagnosis/treatment. Not saying that’s where you’re at but just validating that it can be seriously debilitating. Please feel free to reach out (same handle everywhere, personal site link in my profile, contact easy to find from there) if you want to talk more or any kind of direction on resources. Edit: also if you do want to reach out and it feels daunting in any way, you can literally just say “HN” or any other recognizable thing and I’ll understand.
  - h0l0cube 6y ago
    Thank you very much for the offer. I feel like I'm on the other side of the worst of my troubles, but it has been a long road.
    - eyelidlessness 6y ago
      Cheers to the other side! The offer stands, if you ever want it.
  - follower 6y ago
    > also if you do want to reach out and it feels daunting in any way, you can literally just say “HN” or any other recognizable thing Talk about empathy in action. That was a really caring touch.
    - h0l0cube 6y ago
      Someone I like in the ASD domain is Max Derrat. He's a gaming streamer (which I have no interest in) but he has a lot of candid observations on his own struggles with autism. His experiences seemed to resonate strongly with a lot of people (myself included), and he's built a bit of a community around it.
boyaintbright 6y ago
Do you have any tips on dealing with these issues as an adult? I saw meditation mentioned at least.
- sjg007 6y ago
  Do you have the attention span to meditate? I mean maybe it could help ADHD if you are super interested in it so you hyper focus on it but otherwise it would be a chore.
  - cyberbanjo 6y ago
    I identify with a lot of ADHD symptoms, and I think it's easier to find a "fun" meditation. For me that means walking-in-circle meditation, repetitious chants, and metta, and also a "some is better than none" mindset. Even 1 iteration of a chant is better than none, and takes less than a minute. I struggle with breath meditation as a "chore".
    - h0l0cube 6y ago
      Meditation can be a chore, I think. I only persevere with it because I find that when I lapse, my life is just worse in so many ways. The least worse path I can take at the moment is meditate 2 hours a day. Though I have lapsed for weeks at a time during 'low moods'. I only reached the discipline for a 2-hour daily habit after immersing myself in 2 vipassana courses. This is probably not suitable for many people, but I was at the end of my tether and I had no choice but to succeed.
      - canadianfella 6y ago
        2 hours per day seems crazy to me. Why is this much time required?
- jjj123 6y ago
  If you have trouble concentrating while reading, consider reading while exercising lightly. Pre-covid I would read while on the elliptical at the gym and I could go for 90 minutes or so totally engrossed in the book, which was pretty much unheard of for me before.

watwut 6y ago

> I was a precocious talker and reader, and in many ways a 'gifted' child, but I always struggled to comprehend reading material, or remain engaged with what a teacher was saying. These learning difficulties pretty much negated the value of any 'gift' I may have had. Afaik, those are different brain functions. Early reading is a lot about early development of memory. Comprehending material can be about many different things. Remaining engaged is difficult if you dont understand. But also, it is about attention span.

h0l0cube 6y ago
I suppose there's probably a few cases where someone had particular brain damage that left their memory intact but could no longer make sense of new information. It's not something I've looked into, honestly. In my instance, I was capable of comprehending complicated subjects, but it took a force of will to stay with the subject long enough.

inter_netuser 6y ago

Textbook case.

spiralx 6y ago

Yes, but there's another potential compounding effect that I've realised didn't help matters for me: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/the-s-word/397205/ https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/the-s-...

h0l0cube 6y ago
That's an interesting article, and I agree that the 'gifted' label is somewhat pernicious. I came to resent, and reject it, when my impairments became a serious obstacle to me in the later years of schooling. Not sure if you caught this when it front-paged, but here's another theory about why 'gifted' people may fail: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22901962 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22901962
- spiralx 6y ago
  Interesting, thanks!