This may be something totally normal and nothing to do with dyscalculia, or something abnormal but still nothing to do with dyscalculia, but I have noticed lately that my brain sometimes has problems sorting out sensory stimulation. It feels like I can only process one trigger at a time.
For example, if there is supposed to be a strong smell and someone asks if I can smell it but there's alot of noise, I have to really struggle to focus on smelling that smell. Almost like the ambient noise interrupts the sensory processor in my brain.
And I call it "interrupt" because I am a computer major and it reminds me of something that happens with computer processors, at least it used to. Basically, every device in your computer - the hard drive, the sound card, the mouse, any USB devices - had an IRQ or "interrupt request" number. So if it ever needed additional processing from the CPU if would make a request and the CPU would know which device it was because of the unique IRQ number. Except that the IRQ wasn't always unique. And there could be problems where if your keyboard and your modem both were assigned the same IRQ, you couldn't type while your modem was going or vice versa.
Anyway, not sure if that makes sense to anyone else, but I think that's what's happening in my brain. Hearing and smell or hearing and taste have the same IRQ so I can only do one at a time. What do you think? Anyone else noticed this about themselves?
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Clownfish, I haven't noticed any sort of "sensory interrupt" with myself, but I do have issues with external stimulation and being able to process them. My main problem is with hearing, especially in the presence of ambient sound. The educational psychologist who tested me suggested that I may have CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder) but she couldn't diagnose me with that, I would have to see an audiologist.
She thinks that may be the case because I scored incredibly low in the part of the test that measures auditory attention/processing. In that subtest I had to listen to minimal pair words (words that sound the same except for one phoneme, like "cat" and "bat") and point to the picture of the word being said on tape. As that test progressed, the ambient sound (background noise, basically just white sound) became increasingly louder, so picking up on what was being said became more difficult. The average score on this subtest is 100 (much like the mean average of an IQ test is 100). I scored a 55.
The practical application of this is that I don't hear things very clearly, particularly in the presence of any other sound. It's not that I can't hear volume-wise, but that I can't always decipher what I'm hearing. The best way to explain it is the way the parents in "Peanuts" sound when they talk. You can hear them volume-wise, but what they say sounds like wompwompwompwomp. It's loud, but it's not clear. Because of this I'm always asking people to repeat themselves, especially in loud areas like the mall or a classroom. I get by fairly well by lip reading in loud situations, but if I can't see the person's face (for example, if they're talking to me from the side or behind) then it's a totally lost cause.
I also have attention issues and because of my low threshold for being able to block out ambient sound, being in an environment with any sort of noise is highly distracting for me. Sounds that other people would be able to easily tune out, I can't, so I hear it all all the time. I wear earplugs whenever I take tests because otherwise I can't focus on the test because of the external auditory stimuli. Every time someone flips a page, taps their pen, sharpens a pencil, shuffles their feet, zips or unzips their bag, sighs, coughs... you get the picture... I hear it all, and it distracts me from what I'm trying to focus on.
So for me it's not so much a sensory interrupt as it is a sensory overload, without having the ability to block out certain stimuli and hone in on others, at least as far as my hearing goes. I am easily distracted in general (my doctor has suggested ADHD medication, which I declined) but it is particularly bad regarding auditory stimuli.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
4/18/10
Dear classclownfish,
I haven't had that same problem with my 'senses', but it made me think of a problem that I have had that is somewhat similar, so I'll tell you about it, as what you've just now written about is probably the closest that I'll get to something on the same subject.
Sometimes when I'm trying to multi-task, I have trouble assigning 'prioities'. I'll have something in one hand, and need to pick up something else, and then have a flash of a thought of something else that might 'work better',... and then I do a quick little 'back and forth' thing that looks like some computer program that isn't workng correctly. I think that any external stimuli, such as the ambient noise that you mentioned, would cause me to be more prone to one of these 'processing' glytches. - jus'
I wonder if it could be a symptom of an attentional or sensory processing disorder, though it doesn't seem all that severe. It's just weird. I would imagine if I ever did go to get tested, they would lay some of the blame for my issues on attentional problems. I've never thought of myself as "attention deficit" -- I'm quite the opposite usually, as least when it comes to tasks. I am however, extremely distracted when it comes to conversations with others. I feel like I don't make eye contact and I have a tendency to look around and shift my weight and get really antsy sometimes. Almost like you are describing -- having trouble filtering out stimuli like if people are talking around me while I am talking to other people. It's never affected me during test-taking or anything like that so I don't know that it's a problem. Just a quirk I guess.
jus'--
I have that problem too. I have started making lists of everything I need to get done, as menial as they may be, and posting them where I can see them and crossing them off as they get done. Even eating meals has made its way onto that list, because I forget. Alot. I notice this problem the most on the weekends when I do all my cleaning. I will start to clean the catbox, then remember that I was also going to fold my laundry and put that away, then I'll remember that I should clean my fish tank and my shower and my sink and then I'll remember that I need to study for my CCNA test and even though the cat box was the one thing I actually really NEEDED to do at that moment, I forget that and I end up doing it later when I finish every other thing.
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
4/19/10
Dear classclownfish,
Yes, I know what you mean about needing 'lists' in order to get the housework done. I make those, too. And, I'm the same way about being able to really 'focus' well when I have one particular task, such as finding a certain kind of legal case or issue. "I'm on it" and I'll just sit there and keep at it until it's done. However, I do need a quite place for taking tests. - jus'
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Clownfish - The way you described your house cleaning, bouncing from one thing to the next as you think of them and leaving the first one undone because you got started doing something else, is exactly how I do housework! I am notorious for having 7 different things going at the same time... I'll start doing dishes, then decide to take out the trash, then while I'm outside I see that my car needs to be cleaned out, while cleaning it out I find a jacket that needs washing so I decide to put in a load of laundry, then I see the litterbox needs cleaning, then I think to go vacuum the couch... etc.
Clown, as far as the attention vs. hearing question, that's a tough one for me too because I also have an extremely short attention span in general. My psychiatrist said the only reason she isn't diagnosing me with ADHD is because she doesn't want to burden me with yet another pre-existing condition on my medical records, for when I have to buy my own health insurance. (Although now that Obama has passed healthcare reform, pre-existing conditions won't be a problem in the future, hallelujah!) So she kind of questions whether my difficulty with auditory stimuli is a hearing problem, or just a more global attention problem as a whole. I think it is more likely to be a hearing issue because it's not a matter, to me, of actually being able to pay attention to what someone is saying... I am paying very clear attention to them, I just can't understand them well because of the background noise. As far as being in a testing environment, the distractability is probably a combination of both - I have difficulty filtering out other noises anyway, and then since I'm highly distractable those noises I can't filter out get me off-task.
Also, I'm a member of the notorious list-maker's club as well. That is mostly because I have the short-term memory of a pigeon and I will not remember all of the things I need to get done if I don't write them down. Like right now it's finals week so I have everything I need to read, study, and complete written down on a big comprehensive list, bulleted for each class. I have been plowing through that list all weekend, and will continue to until this week is over.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
CheshireKat wrote:
Clownfish - The way you described your house cleaning, bouncing from one thing to the next as you think of them and leaving the first one undone because you got started doing something else, is exactly how I do housework! I am notorious for having 7 different things going at the same time... I'll start doing dishes, then decide to take out the trash, then while I'm outside I see that my car needs to be cleaned out, while cleaning it out I find a jacket that needs washing so I decide to put in a load of laundry, then I see the litterbox needs cleaning, then I think to go vacuum the couch... etc. .
LOL me too! Sometimes I have to put a baby gate across the door to block myself into the room so I'll stay on task!
Blessed are the PURR in heart!
my husband - who I suspect could have NVLD - is extraordinarily sensitive to smell/taste and to the idea of "comfort" - physical sensations. He has great difficulty filtering out smells and dealing with tactile sensations at times. He also has a lotta challenges with body language and non-verbal cues and absolutely NO sense of direction at all as well as difficulty staying on certain tasks.
Edited by RottieWoman on April 19 2010 08:17 PM
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
5/15/10
We talked about house cleaning on this Thread only about a month ago. So, why does it seem like it was 'eons ago' to me? Anyway, now that my semester is over, it's time to focus on getting my house in order for my Summer PHED course. It will be starting on about June 1st, and will last a month. Needing a little encouragement, I Googled 'house cleaning', and there I found this lovely lady's blog where she encourages everyone to carry around a timer and focus for just 15 minutes on a particular chore. She even 'talks you through it'.
Here's the link. I haven't listened to her for the full fifteen minutes, but from what I heard in the first 5 minutes, I think that it might help me get started when I'm having a really bad day. And, anyway, I just think that it's nice of her to try to help. - jus' http://www.blogta...lady-tools
classclownfish wrote:
This may be something totally normal and nothing to do with dyscalculia, or something abnormal but still nothing to do with dyscalculia, but I have noticed lately that my brain sometimes has problems sorting out sensory stimulation. It feels like I can only process one trigger at a time.
For example, if there is supposed to be a strong smell and someone asks if I can smell it but there's alot of noise, I have to really struggle to focus on smelling that smell. Almost like the ambient noise interrupts the sensory processor in my brain.
That is, indeed, strange. I think you may have the right interpretation, too. But, just to check, you can chew gum and walk at the same time, right?
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
classclownfish wrote:
For example, if there is supposed to be a strong smell and someone asks if I can smell it but there's alot of noise, I have to really struggle to focus on smelling that smell. Almost like the ambient noise interrupts the sensory processor in my brain.
This just actually made me think of a Facebook group I joined not long ago. The name of the group is, "I turn down the radio when I'm looking for an address so I can see the street numbers better." It's just kind of a joke about the idiosyncrasy that many people have, of turning down the radio when you're trying to concentrate on looking for something, even though your vision is in no way impaired by loud noises. Maybe that sort of "sensory interrupt" is more common than we realized, since the group is rather large.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
