Does anyone here have a "learning difficulty" and how do they work their way around it when it comes to studying/learning?

I, myself, have dyspraxia which really makes me struggle with things sometimes.

Things I struggle with:
- Repeating things back out loud
- Listening to a good portion of music/can't leave a program running in the background (oversensitivity to sound)
- Short term memory. This REALLY doesn't help when I'm SRSing. It's one of my main problems. It also means I get distracted easily because I forget what I'm doing
- Organising myself
- Writing (my kanji AND my alphabet look like demonic scrawls sometimes-- and I get hand cramp after writing for a couple of minutes sometimes)

There are many other things that bother me which I can't remember off the top of my head right now.

I've been trying to get into a routine where I do the kanji in the morning, don't open any other programs or talk to anyone until I do (and no distractions like listening to music), which sort of helps.

I have a learning disability too so I know where you're coming from. Mine doesn't affect my short term memory much, so I've no idea what you could do to handle that. I will give you advice based on what worked for me, it might not work for you.

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Listening to a good portion of music/can't leave a program running in the background (oversensitivity to sound)

Try to read more. Go to mangahelpers.com and download some interesting RAWs. Also, news programs are less chaotic than variety shows so it is probably easier to listen to the more mature stuff.

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Short term memory. This REALLY doesn't help when I'm SRSing. It's one of my main problems. It also means I get distracted easily because I forget what I'm doing

No clue what you could do about this, perhaps fewer new cards per day? Write stuff down the first time you encounter them?

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Organising myself

Your SRS will do this for you, just show up in front of your computer. This is one of the things I love about anki/SRS, because organization is not my forte either
I guess having a routine helps with this.

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Writing (my kanji AND my alphabet look like demonic scrawls sometimes-- and I get hand cramp after writing for a couple of minutes sometimes)

I've always written extremely poorly, it is OK... Paper is a dead medium anyway

Tykkylumi Wrote:I've been trying to get into a routine where I do the kanji in the morning, don't open any other programs or talk to anyone until I do (and no distractions like listening to music), which sort of helps.

A good routine can be very powerful. I boot my computer and anki is the first program I see (since I put it on autostart), I notice the number of reviews left and sort of feel compelled to bring that number down. I don't always do all my reviews in the morning though, because later on I just sit and stare at anki and sigh because there are no more reviews that day. Try finding ways to exploit your disorder to turn yourself into a Japanese devouring machine.

Sounds rough. I've found that various 'neuroses' I have, I've been able to manage them better over the years the more I've focused on self-study, on designing routines and having that sort of control and self-awareness, where I'm constantly examining what I'm doing and how to make it better--and doing it with things I'm interested in, from the ground up w/ an adult awareness.

I have minor aspbergers, so I am unable to do it true AJATT style - listening to things tends to give me a headache - I need quiet and peace.

Still though, I persevere.

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Writing (my kanji AND my alphabet look like demonic scrawls sometimes-- and I get hand cramp after writing for a couple of minutes sometimes)

My teacher recommended me to print a paper with the kana/kanji and write over it (in the correct order stroke) to help me make my writing look neater. I've also seen others people doing this and their writing seemed to become better after training for a while. Maybe you can try too?

I also get distracted easily so I study in small blocks (30 minutes or 5 kanjis, for example) throughout the day. Timeboxing is great for this too and there are some good topics about this in this forum, so check it out.

Yeah for mental problems!

I've got horrible A.D.D, combined with if something is difficult/ I don't understand it makes me horribly depressed out of sorts/not able to function/ not want to deal with Japanese anymore. This makes the ALL Japanese all the time method literally impossible(I probably need to stop reading stuff I would have trouble understanding/be bored with in English though).

Aka when searching for stuff to read it has to be Per Page no more then I+1, or else I can't get through more then a page or two without losing total attention/ feeling down. This is why I'm considering just memorizing the compelate 25,000 or so list of common words. It's the only thing that can hold my attention

A positive thing to consider is that you're not having difficulties without any disabilities. T_T

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Repeating things back out loud

While I don't have dyspraxia, I'm pretty sure everyone runs into difficult pronunciations at least some of the time.

Here's a trick I picked up from Pimsleur tapes: start with the syllable at the end and work backwards.

For example, I learned to read 私は石につまずいた today and found the last word (ironically, "tripped") pretty tough. So, I said:
た
いた
ずいた
まずいた
つまずいた

I hope this helps. Sorry I don't really have ideas for the other stuff.

wildweathel Wrote:

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Repeating things back out loud

While I don't have dyspraxia, I'm pretty sure everyone runs into difficult pronunciations at least some of the time.

Here's a trick I picked up from Pimsleur tapes: start with the syllable at the end and work backwards.

For example, I learned to read 私は石につまずいた today and found the last word (ironically, "tripped") pretty tough. So, I said:
た
いた
ずいた
まずいた
つまずいた

I hope this helps. Sorry I don't really have ideas for the other stuff.

That was the best/only trick I learned from Pimsleur. It works well for the whole sentence, too, repeating the final words in clumps, moving to the 'left' till you're starting at the beginning. Especially since there's no 'pause audio' in Anki, even though I know it's possible!

wildweathel Wrote:

Tykkylumi Wrote:- Repeating things back out loud

While I don't have dyspraxia, I'm pretty sure everyone runs into difficult pronunciations at least some of the time.

Here's a trick I picked up from Pimsleur tapes: start with the syllable at the end and work backwards.

For example, I learned to read 私は石につまずいた today and found the last word (ironically, "tripped") pretty tough. So, I said:
た
いた
ずいた
まずいた
つまずいた

I hope this helps. Sorry I don't really have ideas for the other stuff.

That sounds like a pretty good trick, actually. I'll try to remember that one when I'm struggling.

koyota Wrote:Yeah for mental problems!

I've got horrible A.D.D, combined with if something is difficult/ I don't understand it makes me horribly depressed out of sorts/not able to function/ not want to deal with Japanese anymore. This makes the ALL Japanese all the time method literally impossible(I probably need to stop reading stuff I would have trouble understanding/be bored with in English though).

Aka when searching for stuff to read it has to be Per Page no more then I+1, or else I can't get through more then a page or two without losing total attention/ feeling down. This is why I'm considering just memorizing the compelate 25,000 or so list of common words. It's the only thing that can hold my attention

yay for add. I have tablets though which are brilliant. I also have dyslexia and dyspraxia but thoughts three often come together. I’ve found that the method that works best for me is just watching and lisining like rtk method but lets learn the sounds first then worry and every thing else. Its slow but its fun and so far this is the longest I’ve ever kept to something so something working.