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mikeman7918
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05 Apr 2016, 11:45 am

This year in school I took a debate class instead of an English class. It seemed like a good idea because I am good at debate as long as I have a long time to prepare my speech, but one big thing done a lot in debate is improv debate. An improv debate event we have been doing lately is spar (my teacher calls it spar wars) and that requires preparing for a 2 minute speech in one minute and coming up with what to say for the Q&A and rebuttle round on the fly.

It takes me more then a minute to prepare for 2 minutes of small talk and even then I often suck at it. I have been in 3 spar rounds and I got my a** handed to me every time. I had to cut my speeches short because I ran out of things to say, I couldn't come up with good questions, I could barely keep my points strait, and I just overal sucked at debating. This is especially annoying because it's election season in the United States and every time I watch the candidates competently doing improv debate with each other it always makes me think about how I couldn't do that for the life of me even though I know all of the rules and tactics because I suck at processing language.

This makes me sound like an idiot whenever I am in a debate and it's really frustrating. Can anyone else relate?


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Grammar Geek
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05 Apr 2016, 12:35 pm

I'm not good at improvisation in anything. I have a ton of theatre experience, but improvisation was always my weak point. I don't have the think-on-my-feet ability that some others do, and I'm not good at debating either for that reason.



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06 Apr 2016, 8:42 am

Had a speech impediment when I was younger. Suspect also mild verbal/language processing problems. Bad at both language and speaking. Have to do presentations for school. Suck at them. Draw blanks trying to think of words, then mess up saying them.

I go into them assuming they're going to be unmitigated disasters, so at the end when it's over and I haven't lost any limbs or been sent to prison it doesn't seem so bad. Plus I think I'm bad enough at them that everyone in the audience assumes I've got legitimate mental issues instead of just ordinary stupidity, for whatever that's worth. :|



untilwereturn
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06 Apr 2016, 3:54 pm

mikeman7918 wrote:
This year in school I took a debate class instead of an English class. It seemed like a good idea because I am good at debate as long as I have a long time to prepare my speech, but one big thing done a lot in debate is improv debate. An improv debate event we have been doing lately is spar (my teacher calls it spar wars) and that requires preparing for a 2 minute speech in one minute and coming up with what to say for the Q&A and rebuttle round on the fly.

It takes me more then a minute to prepare for 2 minutes of small talk and even then I often suck at it. I have been in 3 spar rounds and I got my a** handed to me every time. I had to cut my speeches short because I ran out of things to say, I couldn't come up with good questions, I could barely keep my points strait, and I just overal sucked at debating. This is especially annoying because it's election season in the United States and every time I watch the candidates competently doing improv debate with each other it always makes me think about how I couldn't do that for the life of me even though I know all of the rules and tactics because I suck at processing language.

This makes me sound like an idiot whenever I am in a debate and it's really frustrating. Can anyone else relate?


I can absolutely relate. I'm a lot like you, I think, in that if I'm given ample time to write out my thoughts I can spar very well on topics I know inside and out. Get me into a situation where I have to think on my feet, though, and I come across like a drooling moron. I'm sure not all people with ASD are like that, but it seems to be a common thing that we're slower to process and respond. I get unnerved really easily when facing a seemingly hostile audience. I've not done much in the way of formal debates, but suspect it would be no different for me.



mikeman7918
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15 Apr 2016, 10:55 pm

untilwereturn wrote:
I can absolutely relate. I'm a lot like you, I think, in that if I'm given ample time to write out my thoughts I can spar very well on topics I know inside and out. Get me into a situation where I have to think on my feet, though, and I come across like a drooling moron. I'm sure not all people with ASD are like that, but it seems to be a common thing that we're slower to process and respond. I get unnerved really easily when facing a seemingly hostile audience. I've not done much in the way of formal debates, but suspect it would be no different for me.

For me it is difficult because I have language processing impairments. I find it very difficult to come up with what to say on the fly, even if it's just a casual conversation. I can and do speak in complex sentences, but I am rather slow at it and I prefer to use a simple sentence or a memorized phrase whenever possible. Not all aspies have problems with this though.


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Also known as MarsMatter.

Diagnosed with Asperger's, ADD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in 2004.
In denial that it was a problem until early 2016.

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