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How is your executive functioning level?
1) I have been diagnosed with AS and I don't have or exhibit the common "executive dysfunction" associated with autism. 3%  3%  [ 1 ]
2) I have AS and ADHD, but I seem to fit the ADHD side of Executive Dysfunction. 13%  13%  [ 5 ]
3)My executive functioning varies a lot, as between good to bad, depending on conditions such as stress, etc.. 45%  45%  [ 18 ]
4)My "executive dysfunction" is pretty stable, it changes little. 30%  30%  [ 12 ]
5) I just have ADHD(ADD)(so far) and my level varies. 10%  10%  [ 4 ]
6) I have ADHD and my EF level is about the same on any given day. 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 40

Moog
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29 Aug 2011, 6:37 pm

swbluto wrote:
Moog wrote:
Mdyar wrote:
btbnnyr wrote:
I didn't vote, because I didn't fit any of the options. I have the perseveration of ASD, and hyperfocus with attention-switching difficulty is my primary executive dysfunction issue. But my issues are not stable. I am at my most productive when I am hyperfocused on one topic, stick to a rigid routine to remember to eat/sleep/clean/do other things, and avoid interacting with people who make me sick, tired, confused, and more executively dysfunctional. But all of my ASD-related executive dysfunctions seem normal and healthy for me. How would I function without them? How would I get anything done without hyperfocus and routines for the care and feeding of hyperfocus?


Good to be positive with this --after all it is "you."

This lady with AS discusses EF and how it affects her. Your post reminded me of this video.

If any have time it is worth a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ko8DW_YuU


That is interesting, I never realised that I was 'carrying out daily tasks by spontaneous association rather than deliberate planning', I thought that's how everyone operated. It's like I'm surfing a wave. And neurotypical people can just ignore the wave and do stuff they intend to do? Wow. They must be like gods or something :lol:


I spontaneously associate things I need to do for the day and put them in a list and deliberately execute items on the list one at a time. Otherwise, I forget them.


I can't seem to make lists work for me.


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btbnnyr
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29 Aug 2011, 6:38 pm

Mdyar wrote:
btbnnyr wrote:
I didn't vote, because I didn't fit any of the options. I have the perseveration of ASD, and hyperfocus with attention-switching difficulty is my primary executive dysfunction issue. But my issues are not stable. I am at my most productive when I am hyperfocused on one topic, stick to a rigid routine to remember to eat/sleep/clean/do other things, and avoid interacting with people who make me sick, tired, confused, and more executively dysfunctional. But all of my ASD-related executive dysfunctions seem normal and healthy for me. How would I function without them? How would I get anything done without hyperfocus and routines for the care and feeding of hyperfocus?


Good to be positive with this --after all it is "you."

This lady with AS discusses EF and how it affects her. Your post reminded me of this video.

If any have time it is worth a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ko8DW_YuU


Thanks for the video. Like this lady, I've come up with a few coping mechanisms for my attentional issues, and mine are all routine-related. I enjoy hyperfocus as an exhilirating state of mind (ain't nothin' better than the feeling of thinking), so I try to make use of it to be productive. Sometimes, I do get hyperfocused on something that is not supposed to be my hyperfocus at that time, so that's when I've gotta impose the conscious executive control necessary to make the switch. It's really anxiety-inducing to make the switch or even to think about making the switch or worst of all, to be forced into making the switch by someone else, but once the switch is made, all is well, as I am then hyperfocused again. For me, it all comes down to the willpower for making the switches, and on some days, I have more willpower than on other days. With a routine in place, such as "You will clean your bathroom every Sunday afternoon between the hours of 4pm and 6pm", my willpower is directed towards maintaining the long-term routine rather than the short-term whatever I was doing when I had to get off my ass to clean the bathroom. Could this be classified as purposefully brainwashing oneself?

My therapist discussed the issue of routines with me, and we agreed that one of the keys to my happiness was to maintain MOAR routines, not less. To be my autistic self instead of emulating anything else. That's just how my brain works. I shouldn't try to conform to the way someone else's brain works if it doesn't work for me.

Interestingly, I never write out to-do lists. If I did, then I would become obsessed with the writing out of the to-do lists. It's much less stressful to keep the to-do's in my head. My therapist laughed at my Opposite World (Wrong Planet?) technique of "Never write anything down". :D



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29 Aug 2011, 6:44 pm

I think, I really prefer the way my mind works. It's not that good for some things, but it really works well for other things. All I really need is an environment/activity that it's useful in.

I think the moderation activity I do here is fairly spontaneous. Sometimes I need to ban someone and forget, but generally things get done.

I guess I tend to operate in sidewise lines... or at least not straight lines... My brain operates like weblinks, the internet works like I do, you can shoot off at infinite tangents effortlessly, existing in an eternal present

I have a memory that works by spontaneous association as well, or is that the same for everyone?


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29 Aug 2011, 6:49 pm

I read some science thing a while ago that suggested that people have a limited pool of willpower.

So is it that we have to crank the will power more to get ourselves to do what we're supposed to be doing, rather than what we're drifting into? That would make sense, because I make what feels like colossal efforts to get stuff done some days, and then I just need time to drift, or my brain gets rebellious.

I should be sleeping now, for example, but I'm doing this.


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29 Aug 2011, 7:12 pm

Ettina wrote:
Someone asked what the difference is between ADHD style executive dysfunction and autistic style executive dysfunction. Be aware that these are stereotypes and may not hold true for given individuals, but:

* poor inhibition - ADHD, this is what they mean by impulsivity
* poor planning - both ADHD and autism
* poor self-monitoring - ADHD
* poor time sense - autism
* difficulty initiating actions - autism
* difficulty stopping actions (perseveration) - autism
* poor prospective memory (remembering to remember) - ADHD
* difficulty focusing attention - ADHD
* difficulty shifting attention - autism
* better performance when interested - both ADHD and autism, but especially autism
* difficulty tuning out irrelevant information - ADHD

I have all of these things except (I think) poor inhibition and maybe poor planning. (I'm terrible at executing plans but not too bad at coming up with them... Is that poor planning?)

But the rest, I have pretty severely.



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29 Aug 2011, 7:42 pm

Moog wrote:
I think, I really prefer the way my mind works. It's not that good for some things, but it really works well for other things. All I really need is an environment/activity that it's useful in.

I think the moderation activity I do here is fairly spontaneous. Sometimes I need to ban someone and forget, but generally things get done.

I guess I tend to operate in sidewise lines... or at least not straight lines... My brain operates like weblinks, the internet works like I do, you can shoot off at infinite tangents effortlessly, existing in an eternal present

I have a memory that works by spontaneous association as well, or is that the same for everyone?


Quote:
Sometimes I need to ban someone and forget, but generally things get done.
:lol:


Quote:
I have a memory that works by spontaneous association as well, or is that the same for everyone?


Yeah, I'll go off on tangents as in the video, but I can control this , and tow it back to the central thing. I believe this "associative memory" looks like it is contigent upon the volume of your working memory, as in capacity to hold " X # of things" in active consciousness.

My wife can pass by something, and the next thing you know she is cleaning this "something" out of the blue, and it could be at an odd time. It looks as though the previous "thought" or activity is quickly dissolved out of consciousness, displaced by the new "image." As in the video there seems to be a division in knowing about this, but unable to do.



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30 Aug 2011, 12:53 am

OK, I was curious to see if EF or lack thereof, widely fluctuates with circumstances. The poll shows that it is near universally common in AS. 3 out 3 for ADHD. I've come across only a sentence or two in the literature showing this variance for ADHD.

EF issues can be very difficult to cope with . I used to dread going out among people during this low cycling or "drop," but by having a definition now, certainly helps to explain this. In the past, before knowing anything about this, I never could really put my finger on why this 'lack in cognition' would surface - "it was madness ensuing," I thought.

Well, I hope the posts here are beneficial, or at least if anything, enlightening.



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30 Aug 2011, 2:19 pm

I have ASD and ADHD. I didn't think I fit any of the poll options.

My executive functioning problems are pretty severe and stable.

I'm not really sure what the difference is between executive functioning problems in ASD vs. ADHD, but my executive functioning problems persist despite being medicated for ADHD......while my hyperactivity, impulsiveness and frustration tolerance are very responsive to meds, my focus and working memory abilities are only marginally improved.



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30 Aug 2011, 3:16 pm

animalcrackers wrote:
I have ASD and ADHD. I didn't think I fit any of the poll options.

My executive functioning problems are pretty severe and stable.

I'm not really sure what the difference is between executive functioning problems in ASD vs. ADHD, but my executive functioning problems persist despite being medicated for ADHD......while my hyperactivity, impulsiveness and frustration tolerance are very responsive to meds, my focus and working memory abilities are only marginally improved.


Choice 4).

I believe you are thinking of external ADHD symptoms, though these are also "EF" related. One can have a type of ADHD, the one with having a good/decent working memory. Then there is the "inattentive types" that have poor working memory associated with the verbal ,visual, or even both together.

If your working memory is about the "same," either way on meds, it looks like the majority stems from the AS side, or the untreatable side.

As in my OP, even at my best I'm impaired, and this is in regard to using working memory for the 'visual memory' side of cognition. I hardly notice the "verbal." When I "tank" ( drops to "bad") they both dive together.



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01 Sep 2011, 8:19 pm

I hate it when im typing down a post only to loose interest in posting it, causing me to make posts like this... I picked the 5th option.



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02 Sep 2011, 4:55 am

extractor wrote:
I hate it when im typing down a post only to loose interest in posting it, causing me to make posts like this... I picked the 5th option.


haha I do that too. I start a response and half way through I think, Ah,screw it.


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