After some moderate progress alone with Adult Piano Adventures vol.2 (about 1/3 in it, plus a few 'jumps' to the end, I liked Pachelbel's Canon so much still cannot play the 1/16's, too fast overwhelming). Some improvement in reading, esp. bass clef, and chord patterns, but not much. Basic multitasking limitations are about the same, only slightly pushed back by the experience.

I'm going soon to try with a pro teacher. She's younger than me, a Conservatory graduate with lots of recitals and competitions etc.
*Really* expensive for the conditions around here, so it would be a rare interaction, or more a "mentoring".

Don't know if she knows or used Faber, or about the "spectrum" of autism. Likely no on both, but who knows ? She briefly mentions adult students, but the ad is more targeted to young children of well-to-do parents.

Please suggest checklists of what [of my] abilities/lacks to check and what to ask, to use best the limited time. Ideally the encounter should improve my learn-how-to-learn ways...

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. Do you have autism? Do you think that a teacher should teach you in the book you're using simply because you chose it for yourself? You are asking good questions, but why are you asking us? WE don't know who she is, but she sure does. Call her up and see if she will meet with you for a consultation (most will do so for free), and then she can hear where you are at.

What you ask her depends on your goals. Since it sounds like you wouldn't be able to afford regular weekly lessons, ask her if every other week is possible. I highly recommend at least to start that you go as often as possible to instill good practice habits, but see if she can work with you on that.

You should get a feel for whether or not she will teach you what you wish to learn in the course of the conversation, but it doesn't stop there. In the course of lessons, be sure to communicate with your teacher on your progress, on what is giving you a hard time, or any other concerns about your progress. This is key to a good working relationship with a teacher.

Could this be "what to ask" as a stated goal, also mentioning the autism? Should a student perhaps ask the teacher whether he should bring the material he is working on? Beyond this, is it the teacher who should do the asking? How should a student present himself, and should he present himself at a first meeting?

Yes, I have Asperger's syndrome which is the milder part of the autism spectrum.

How it went: I got a *serious* case of I-Played-it-Better-at-Home ;-) from the excitement and physical heating of marching to her (and with bus delayed in crowded city more than I considered, and searching in a 'forest' of identical Socialist apartment blocks).

She didn't know Faber at all, took a very brief look at it and put it away; briefly looked at my considerable stack of printed pages (from Net) and let me choose; perhaps I erred over-ambitiously with a Pachelbel Canon in D, with the intention to 'work' on known problems: reading with key signature and fast 16ths.

The teacher tried to do her best with what she knew; but for me the hour (what remained of it) seemed to fly by in confusion and joint effort, and I seriously doubt my teachability in conventional ways.

- Fingering should be 'functional' that is, always taken from respective steps of the scale. For instance, in D Major: F#,E,D,C#,B,A should be 321543 and not 543212 what I did on-the-spot. Train scale before trying the piece (OK, I did it).
- Coordinating hands - a disaster. She checked back to see if I knew reading landmarks in bass clef; theoretically yes, one hand yes, two hands reading - disaster. One or more elements always missed: fingering, the #'s, timing etc.
- A lot of tension *there* (yes, the IPIBAH)
- She demonstrated how to do descending thirds a smooth legato, by sliding finger 5>2 over the key kept down. On this forum I already read about it, but *seeing* it was really great. Could not do it there.
- Funny, when need came to name octaves. I used "C4" for Middle C etc. She used the naming of Romanian conservatory: "do 1" was the Middle C, then below the Great octave, Small octave and Contra-octave. And *she* was the confused one ;-)when I tried to disambiguate citing Hertz in powers of 2 (oh yes, the 128 Hz do is really 131), or pipe organ feet (she said she does *only* piano, no organ).
- Weird look when in a short pause (she was called on cell phone) I struck a forte bass C to time decay with stopwatch (22 sec), then middle C (17s) high C (2-2.5) etc. I told her I was comparing her Soviet piano with the Yamaha in the store...
- At a time of confusion over any play speed, I showed I can play quite fast some pieces 'by ear memory' (an Austrian landler; Tchaikovsky Neapolitan dance; Deep Purple), even with some fumbling as where the proper start is, to avoid accidentals.

So... I didn't even reach the 16ths. She demonstrated that passage to me so nicely and effortlessly that it increased my frustration even more ;-) or :

Other of her opinions:
- DON'T play a transposed version just for the ease of avoiding the key signature - it ruins the musical intention of the composer. [She saw a page with Moonlight Sonata in Dm instead of the proper C#m, and several versions of Pachelbel in C]
- At my intended level, I should try Bach: Anna Magdalena, some Inventions then easier Preludes. (Didn't really check if that is really my level, or should I continue back with Faber)

So, to recap: my mother asked if I got my ~$25 worth of learning there - definitely no. But there is some seed of learning, if I can really do it on my own, assimilating it my way.
I'm not sure if more of this would be helpful, or what can be modified to be.

The Asperger-like things for now: the fast overloading, inflexibility of habits (good and bad) so general-purpose teaching of something different is difficult; don't know how I could prolong the existing 'my ways' that allow me to do at this level, or if they should be completely destroyed and rebuilt ? that would be very long and painful...