ScienceGeek

No lectures until Wednesday!

Personally I've always had sleeping problems. Right from when I was younger I only got a few hours sleep, then between the ages of 8-19 I was an insomniac and only got a few hours every few days. I don't know why but ever since I've been with my girlfriend I normally get around 6hrs sleep, as soon as she isn't around or stays up late herself it reverts back. There are times she goes away for the weekend and I will manage maybe 4hrs in the whole weekend.

Seeing as I have already put a couple of posts up I thought I would actually do an introduction! My name is Jack and I'm 23 studying Foundation Science with the aim of going on to taking Biomedical Science. My long term goal is to work in Haematology. I was recently diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia by an Ed Psych at the beginning of September. Several times it has been suggested to me to get assessed for AS, I would like to know mainly to know for sure, after doing a lot of reading I can definitely see traits there. I'm not sure where I need to go from here though with regards to getting assessed. Currently I am getting mentoring and dyslexia tuition at university and soon counselling again. My interests mainly lie in Science, reading and computers. I like to read sci-fi, fantasy, history, religious and science books. I probably spend far too much time on the computer. I like knowing the way that things work, and am fascinated by programs such as brainiac, mythbusters and how its made.

Thanks! Once I finish my foundation year I'll be moving on to study Biomedical Science, I want to work in Haematology. When I find a particular kind of clothing I like to wear, I tend to buy a few of them. I thought it was quite funny when I was in school, all the other kids used to be so bothered about what the label was and there I was taking them out

I get really irritated by labels and certain materials make me feel physically sick. I try to explain this to people, but they don't really get it. I can't handle scratchy materials or slippery ones like silk. My mum used to think I was being difficult for the sake of being difficult. Know what I mean?

Bells

We have two cats, one that is 18 months old and the other is 3 months old. We've had the 3 month one for a few weeks and they are now settling in together. The older one looks after the little one and they normally sleep together quite happily. They are both males, can be a bit crazy sometimes.

I think it is a combination of both. I have an mp3 player which helps a bit with the noise aspect, although I have to turn it up to full volume. It is also the smell, lack of space, squashing. All the different pungent smells of the typical commuter, I swear they bathe in perfume and aftershave! Ha! I tend to pretend that I don't hear the charity people when they pounce on me, same with people trying to sell stuff or survey people. It looks like I can't hear them because I have my headphones in most of the time, even if I'm not actually listening to anything.

I'm not sure how much she knows about AS. We haven't really sat down and talked about it properly it was kind of a passing comment really. We do live together and have done for about 3years At the moment I'm not coping with how busy the university is, I get sensory overload really easily. I commute to uni which includes getting a train and a bus, the train is normally so busy that you are squashed up against a lot of people. At the moment during my breaks I disappear in the library to calm down, normally in a quiet corner somewhere. I've been ill recently and thats made it a whole lot worse, I like to rock backwards and forwards and fiddle with my jumper, apparently it alarms other people I've been told that my lack of eye contact and visible emotions are confusing people and making them think I don't care or come across aggressive. The truth is I just don't deal with people that well, I tend to cope better on a one-to-one basis. Apparently I keep offending people without realising it, mainly because I'm brutally honest. Supposedly I'm meant to pick up on subtle social cues, but unless it is blatantly obvious I won't pick up on it. Obviously it isn't all bad I'm a student rep and was the only one who went to the course meeting.

Back in September I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. I had the appointment with the Ed Psych just before starting university, it was to get the report done in time so I could get the support I need at uni. I had my needs assessment this week and hoping to have the equipment in place by the beginning of next term, I'm currently getting dyslexia tuition and mentoring. I'm 23 and a "mature" student. Due to the nature of my course we are a small group (well in comparison to the other courses). I've been suspecting that there is more to it than just the Dyslexia/Dyspraxia diagnosis, a lecturer took me aside and asked if I had been assessed for AS. I had already read up about it before I went to uni and a lot of things struck home, but I chatted with my partner about it and she said there was no way I had AS. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I'm not coping at uni at all.