@ljoy: Your story sounds similar. DS8 gets frustrated with me for not understanding him. It's strange, because he has no problem explaining how to turn a hollow cube inside out using the fourth dimension. However, if it's something more basic, then the frustration rapidly sets in. Perhaps it's another manifestation of emotional intensity and perfectionism.
@KathrynH: I too have difficulty as an adult. The level of difficulty is related to the confidence my listener has in my intelligence. I perform best when speaking to people who think I'm intelligent (regardless of their own intelligence) and I perform worst when attempting to communicate with people who can't see it or don't value it.
More precisely, I communicate well with people who are willing to put some effort into understanding what I say and I communicate less well with people who don't want to learn from me and expect everything I say to fit neatly into the framework they already use to understand the world.
Because of this, I put tremendous energy into understanding other peoples' perspectives and deconstructing their world views. This allows me to transform my ideas into a form they can more easily digest.
So how does that help with DS8? I'll have to give it some thought. The skills may (or may not) come in time, but perhaps I can help by exposing him to more vocabulary, more structured exercises and more role models.
