I read post 30, and the rest of them as well. I don’t think that your description of a kid watching TV fit my behavior when I was a child. I never heard people say anything. They (parents or siblings) had to touch me, tap my shoulder, get right in front of my face or something like that if I was in a hyper-focused state. I’m either easily distracted or in intense focus. I know it was a frustration to my family.
I would be the only one who didn’t hear the instructions that the family would be leaving in 15 minutes, so finish getting ready. Seriously, I never heard the first word, the second, or the third. I would ask why somebody didn’t come tell me, and they would tell me they did. (I was an avid reader - still am - and always had my nose in a book.)
I was a great reader and speller (champion at my school and competed at the local city level), and took verbatim notes. A voice recorder in college did help me keep up though. I had very fine motor skills. In my early career in the lab, I did work under the microscope frequently. I’ve always had great penmanship, too, and have done calligraphy as a hobby.
One thing I did have trouble with was remembering verbal commands. If my dad asked me to get something from his bedroom, I’d repeat it over and over again on my way to the room...look for the requested item...not find it where I thought he had indicated it should be...then get distracted trying to find it elsewhere...only to return to him empty handed, and asking for further instructions. I can’t remember a list that has more than 3 or 4 items on it, unless there’s some logical connection between them.
I did find out a few years ago that I do have restless legs syndrome. The only thing that may be similar to what you’re saying is that as an adult, I realized I was (am) afraid of high places (restaurants at the top of high-rise hotels, high levels at the Statue of Liberty, the tippy top of the World Trade Center when it was still around, that sort of thing). Heights never bothered me as a youngster to my recollection, but I’m not sure how often I got the chance to go very high. I loved climbing trees and swinging as high as possible.
So how does any of the compare to yours? I’m in my early 50’s BTW.
Oddly enough I notice some of my symptoms subsiding a few months ago. I also noticed I was saying what, huh, etc much more. I had to get my hearing aids turned up and that increased all other symptoms again. But I still have to have things repeated to me verbally quite often.
Before I really got bad on concentration I could read books. Not anymore. But for me books especially technical ones I used to retrieve the information I needed from specific sections.
Oddly enough before the damage got bad I was an electrical trouble shooter as a maintenance mechanic. I could shut out the world around me and focus on my task. I lost that as well.
Your fear of high places? OK it's simple. Your brain is geared for self preservation. Whether you realize it or not the brain realizes there is a balance issue. That is where the majority of heights stem from. The brain says danger get away. The worse this got with me the worse my dislike for high places. Falling off a ladder a couple years ago was the last straw LOL.
See if any of this sounds familiar to you. COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF VESTIBULAR DISORDERS