Echo, Echo, Echo!

Happy Holidays everyone! It’s that time of year again. So exciting! The family time, visiting relatives, the giving of presents, and my personal favorite -- Treats!!! Speaking of treats, it’s that time of year where most people have to work extra hard to keep in-shape because they are eating so many yummy treats! -- Or maybe that’s just me :D. I went to a yoga class the other day which surprisingly was pretty hard. Hard not because of the yoga poses, but because it was hard to understand the instructor. It was SO echoey, and was very hard to follow instructions! It was hard when I played basketball, too. What-wha-t Did-id-d you-ou-u say-say-say?
-----

I’ve always had a hard time in echoey locations. I played a lot of basketball in my life, and never liked the echo feeling I hear, and the confusion from echoey spots like basketball and yoga for a few reasons.

First, echoey areas are always LOUD! For anyone it is loud, but everything is amplified for me and other people with APD! My ears ring a lot in these types of settings because it’s so loud. Then, if my ears ring, I feel a little anxious just like anything that bothers me, but obviously I don’t act out about it or anything. Think about it though... My basketball tournaments, where there’s more than one game going on in the same gym, can get SUPER echoey. Talk about a headache. Coaches screaming, fans screaming, four or five basketballs bouncing, shoes squeaking on the “squeaky” clean basketball courts, and teammates getting excited all at the same time all in the same location is equivalent to L-O-U-D, LOUD! In the yoga setting it wasn’t screeching loud because let’s be honest... It’s yoga.

I did have a hard time following the yoga instructor though (I’m going to call her “Kim” for the sake of referring to her as a short name rather than the long name “yoga instructor” haha). The constant breaking and repeating of words caused by the bouncing off the walls in the small yoga gym on top of new words, after the words I am still trying to process, are coming at me are both hard to process. (Does that make sense?) It took me a few moments more to process what she had to say than everyone else as I saw everyone going into the pose faster. I could catch myself and understand in the moment that I was processing the information a little later than when Kim spoke the instructions. It was kind of neat to be able to pick up on when I was able to process it. I could literally feel myself process the information slower.

With that said, processing the chaotic sounds and putting them together is not easy, and sometimes I’m not able to put them together in especially echoey spots. It’s like a bunch of dust particles floating in the air and trying to catch it and keep it in your hand. Very hard. It may stay in your hand for a split second, but then it’s gone. That’s what happens with me. I’m able to put the sounds together, but then it falls apart quickly like a puzzle does. And when that happens I do not feel like putting the a thousand piece puzzle back together, and the echo’s I hear do not at all make my decision change! Echoes just don’t help and only make things worse. I just want to hear/process words once, and would love it if it wouldn’t overlap because my whole world is an overlapping echo. That’s what I hear on a daily basis in my head -- echoes. When there’s actually an echo, it’s two times the echo. It’s like I’m processing things out loud with the echo in the air, and in my head and can’t choose which one to listen to. So Kim’s instructions were hard because it was all verbal, but I was able to look up to see what she was doing to see it visually. In basketball though it was all verbal. I’d hear instructions, mainly yelling from the sidelines from my coach with no visual to put it with. I’d literally be dribbling the ball and say “What!?” or look at them with a puzzled look. Don’t get me wrong, I love basketball but it was hard with my APD. (That is not why I stopped playing to be clear. I stopped because I loved field hockey more!)

-----
That was a longer blog than expected, but wanted to explain it to the best of my ability! Hopefully you understood a little glimpse into my world! As always, I love your questions!

How I Manage My Homework

Hey everyone! Long time, no blog haha. I really haven’t had much time to write a blog in a while. My apologies. Senior year has been quite the experience, but a good one so far! I ended my field hockey season placing second in division two! If you didn’t know, there are four divisions and division one is the best. But anyways! I am sitting on an airplane so decided this is a great time to write a blog. You are probably wondering how I am able to balance everything with school, right? -- Well if your not, I’m going to talk about it anyways, haha.
-----

So here we go. I usually have 2-3 hours of homework a night at the most right now (and fingers crossed that it doesn’t get any longer!). I am now done with field hockey season, so that has freed up my schedule a lot. I do lots of babysitting now, and that has taken up most of my time with school work too now. 

Doing My Homework NOT at Home:

What I have come to realize is doing homework NOT at home has been a big help. Not that I don’t like my home or anything, but I am more productive when I am away from any distractions that I might be tempted to linger towards. For example, the television (and I don’t really watch t.v but it is something other than homework), getting distracted by my very adorable puppy, my family doing whatever they may do, and stuff like that. I also just know if I’m away from my house doing homework, and had a plan to DO homework somewhere else that I will do homework wherever I go. 

These places include the library, Starbucks (but Starbucks can get loud if you don’t have headphones on), my school library or guidance office, and my moms office. Now, many of you probably have kids that cannot drive and stay by themselves in these places. If you have a nice quiet office around your child’s homework time, it really is beneficial to go there. You parents can be in the next room working on whatever yourself, and be right there for your child if he/she would have any questions. Same goes for the library, Starbucks, or any of these places. I have to say, it's extremely helpful for me, and I take advantage of this

A plan of the Time I Spend on Homework:

I give myself a time of how long I will work on homework as well which helps me be productive. It helps so I don’t have to look at the fact that I have English, Math, and Science to do. I look at time instead. For example, I’ll tell myself that I will do homework for 2 hours, from 7pm-9pm.

NOTICE: I did not say that I would work on math for an hour, and science for another. Just “homework” for two hours. For me, that is a stressful thing to say. I was never a fan of timed-tests or anything like that. If you just say homework, that will give you, or your child a wide chunk of time to work on whatever they want for however long it will take them. Reading may take longer than Math will, so be careful of those little words so you don’t stress yourself or your child out.

For younger kids you may say 45 minutes or an hour. -- Whatever they may have left after that time, give them at least 15 minute break or whatever you think in reasonable to your child’s needs before you quickly finish up whatever. OR if they have a sports practice or something, continue after that. I usually give myself enough time for a “bathroom break”, fix a snack, sit down and play a quick game on my phone, and then that usually relaxes my brain. -- The game is important though. I know it gives me a processing break from all of the school stuff I’ve been processing for those 2 hours. VERY helpful! BUT make sure you don’t spend another 45 minutes or however long you spent initially on homework if you notice you or your child is not able to focus very well. Enough is enough. I know it’s important for your child to finish all the homework, but you will only make them tired for the next day and he or she will have a hard time focusing in school. For those parents that are experts about APD, you will then know the tired cycle will begin, and your kid will get behind if you don’t give your child enough down time.

-----
So, those are my two big things I do to manage my time for doing homework, and doing homework well. I hope this is helpful, and as always I love your questions!