I never properly introduced myself...

Post Reply New Topic

I've said hi to you guys, and posted in some threads, but I never really told you guys about myself. So now, the REST of the story......



I was born January 27, 1979 on my dad’s birthday in Jacksonville, Arkansas, which is a suburb of Little Rock. As far as I know I had a normal gestation, birth, and infancy.

According to my mom I didn't suffer from a lack of speech. I was what they call "echolalic" and apparently I was doing it from about age 10 months. Echolalia is the tendency or compulsion to repeat back exactly what is heard, regardless of whether the words are comprehended. I would repeat things that I heard adults say, like a tape recorder, even before I learned to walk. My mom said that she and my dad would sit outside my room and listen to me practice words while I was lying in my crib, less than a year old. They said I creeped them out sometimes.

Everyone always said I talked like an adult even as a small child, although most of my dialogue was the echolalia, and not true conversation. My mom read to me a lot, and I learned to memorize the books she read. By age 2 I could recite some of my books by looking at the pictures and remembering the words that went with them. I could also recite poetry that had been read to me. I knew my colors at age 2; I don't know why. I also saw a pediatric neurologist regularly when I was 2, and would entertain the doctors and nurses by being able to repeat the phrase "pediatric neurologist" and various other big words on command.

My mom suspected I was autistic by the time I was 3 because although I could talk like a doctor I could not use my vocabulary to communicate with people. I seemed not to notice my mom, dad, and other people unless they spoke to me, and rather than answer their question, I would proceed into a spill about what I was building or what I had seen the last time I was out of the house. I would also panic and become frantic when I had to suddenly leave what I was doing or if someone messed with what I was building. I soon learned that I was not allowed to throw fits, but I was powerless to stop the overwhelming panic attacks from happening, so I learned how to tell time, and learned to time my activities so that I could anticipate things like supper, bedtime, naptime, etc. so that I was able to better anticipate stopping points. Once my mom realized I could tell time, she gave me a digital watch to wear and also a digital clock to put in the living room, and if we were going to go somewhere, she would tell me what time she was planning on going. She also got good about warning me in advance when mealtime, bath time, bedtime, and other such interruptions would occur. As long as I could anticipate when I had to stop building, drawing, or whatever, I didn't panic. I also learned how to use the time, hour, and minute buttons to set the clock, so that I could move it to my bedroom if I wanted to.

Before kindergarten I used to build models of buildings, streets, power poles, and sometimes entire city blocks. I used to ask to be driven around the particular objects that I was building so that I could do my best to build them to scale. I was often very unfriendly to anyone who attempted to move my things or unexpectedly interrupted my building. I was fascinated by power lines, road signs, satellite dishes, and the roads themselves and I would obsess over these things frequently.

When I started kindergarten I learned the final piece to the reading puzzle: the consonant sounds. I had already noticed by watching my mom read to me (after she had pointed to the text a few times I started to realize that she was cueing off of it rather than the pictures) that certain clusters of letters made certain sounds. These would be the vowel clusters, and once I learned the consonants, I simply put the pieces together like a puzzle. My kindergarten teachers fussed at my mom for teaching me to read. But as it turned out my mom didn't know I could read either -- until I sat there in the office and read a kindergarten book to them. My obsessions moved from roads and power lines to calendars, numbers, and maps. I also developed an interest in animals and spent a great deal of time capturing and reading about various creatures.

By age 10 I was reading on a college level (and probably speaking that way too). Problem was that I still couldn't get the hang of interacting with the other kids. It wasn't so bad in K through 3rd, because kids aren't too judgmental then. All I had to do was talk, and they pretty much listened. Catching small animals on the playground and giving mini science lessons to the spectators was cool for a while. But I had big time problems beginning in 4th grade, because my social skills never developed, whereas the other kids became interested more in fitting in with one another, rather than the actual world around them. I quickly became isolated, and I knew that something about my behavior did not mesh with the other kids. I just didn't understand what it was. I had to go through a lot of counseling between ages 9 and 15. My mom continued to suspect autism but the doctors laughed her off because my IQ was ridiculously high. Really I think it was too high to do me any good at all sometimes. My aforementioned interests continued, and expanded to include the solar system, bodies of water, and music.

My teachers had mixed feelings about me as well. Some thought I was gifted because I could recite the textbooks to them, and add missing pieces along the way. Others thought I was slow because I withdrew and had trouble with verbal instructions. I'm still the only kid I know of who was in both the gifted and talented program and the resource program. But as my peers began to take less interest in the world around them, and more interest in each other, I grew more and more distant. By 6th grade I had begun to shut down and my grades went from A's to C's.

Through junior high I tried to remain transparent, but I studied other kids, seeing how they interacted. In fact I avoided a lot of bullying by being as invisible and inaccessible to the other kids as possible. I spent as little time in the halls as possible. I hung around teachers because I could talk to them about my interests more so than I could my peers. Obviously hanging around the teachers prevented a lot of bullying as well. My interest in music allowed me an outlet beginning in 7th grade -- I joined the school band and learned to play trombone and euphonium.

I had a few friends my age, many of whom were in band, but I talked to them only for brief periods. My content would generally be limited to what they wanted to talk about, because 1) I was used to being teased for my own interests by this point, and 2) I was curious as to what things wouldn't get teased. By listening to what the others were talking about, I began to learn how to script.

In 10th grade I was still eccentric and I still had panic attacks, but by eavesdropping and studying how other people interacted, both in real life and in movies, I sort of developed a style of dealing with peers so that I could at least make it for a little while. I also learned to play basketball and touch football (my interest in numbers compelled me to become competitive in games that involved them), and luckily for me I was a fast runner. I was too small to make the varsity teams, of course, but I played a lot in yards and driveways. Thus I could express myself through my abilities and it put less pressure on me to talk. This outlet also allowed me to get in closer to the social infrastructure and study it further.

So I got to be a little less of a loner, but I still had to get away from people once in a while. Rather than looking weird, I just appeared to be a fairly smart, fairly quiet guy who was nice but just didn't have much to say. And that's pretty much how I've remained into adulthood.

I graduated high school May 16, 1997. Academically I was #70 out of 349 seniors (80th percentile). I accepted a scholarship to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas, which is where I would spend the next 7 years of my life.

I played the euphonium through most of college, and began playing bass guitar after the bassist from an on campus praise and worship band began allowing me to explore the instrument. I picked up on it quickly, and the following year that bassist switched to guitar, and I joined the band, replacing him as bassist. I have now played bass for several local bands and continue to pursue the hobby.

I graduated Arkansas State University December 19, 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in the field of biology.

I was finally diagnosed autistic at age 26 because I was having trouble at my job, mostly dealing with the whims and politics of coworkers and supervisors. I had taken a job working with developmentally disabled children because I felt compelled to help in this capacity. I also felt that I would be better understood by my supervisors since they were trained to deal with conditions like autism. Seeing as how my case is mild in comparison to most, and seeing as how I enjoyed working with children, it stood to reason that I could adapt and conform. Unfortunately, however, that outlook did not last. I still exhibited remnants of some of the problems that many of the preschoolers were exhibiting, and rather than work with me to help me get into a routine, the management routinely changed the rules and classroom arrangements, often with little or no advance notice. Changes in policy, as well as the arrangement of teachers and students, were made on a knee-jerk reaction type of basis, and I began to lose track of what was done, when it was done, and how it was done. When I began having noticeable problems coping with the loosely bound regulations, my coworkers became frustrated with me and I was deemed incapable of being responsible for the children. Interpersonal problems and sensory issues that I had not encountered since childhood began to resurface, and nothing about my issues fit any profile other than the one my mom had suspected from the beginning, which was autism. So I was re-evaluated. My mom filled in the pieces from my childhood, and the doctor quickly agreed that I fit the Asperger's/high functioning autism profile. This did not help my case at work, though, as my supervisors became fed up with complaints by my coworkers. Thus I would eventually be forced to leave the preschool.

I've spent most of the time since my realization and subsequent diagnosis trying to analyze my condition and cope with it more effectively based on what I am able to learn. My IQ is still near the 99th percentile according to the last test I took, but emotionally speaking I will probably never make it past age 10 or so.

Currently I am a substitute teacher, and I play bass in a rock band called Eden Crow. You can admire one of my axes by looking at my avatar.

So that about brings us up to date.



Oh, and I hope it's OK that I don't post a lot. I probably will never make it to 1000 posts. It's not that I don't like to post, it's just that a lot of times I just don't have much to say.

So anyways, now you know!

Also, I seem to be an avid member of what seems to be known as the "Threadkiller Society." Involuntarily of course.

Here is a belated..

To WrongPlanet!! !

Thanx. Yes it's odd that I have accumulated 200 posts and yet I have been nearly transparent this whole time.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome to the forum, stickboy26!!

Wow. If we had been in school together, we would have had so much fun with each other.

Welcome to WP!