Earliest Memories

Post Reply New Topic

I think this was already discussed at another time. But I remember, probably around being 1 year of age putting my hand through big white bars (the crib) and looking at the pink light (the night light). I also remember making a fuss at that moment. I probably wanted out... I told my husband this memory I had and he said "it was a memory from a dream".. he is wrong. I have vague memories as well from when I was around 2... my grandmother trying to play with me but in fact she scared the s**t out of me instead! I have vivid memories from age 4 onward.... like when I was 4.5 and watching my mother fuss over my baby brother and ooooh I was sooo jealous LOL.

I don't know if this is a real memory or if it's something I constructed. I'm in some kind of baby chair, or propped up. It's like I'm on a couch or something. There is a big, sunlit window to my left (and the couch back, or something pillowy, to my right). My mother and another woman are talking, but I can't see them, because they are sitting to my left and behind me a bit. If this is a real memory, dull as it is, it's from before I could walk.

In another memory, I'm little enough that my mom is holding me on her hip. It would have been when I was around two, I think. She's talking to a neighbor, and the neighbor says, "See you The Safternoon." I wondered what a "safternoon" is. I had never heard that word before. Obviously she was saying, "See you this afternoon", but I had never heard that expression, and didn't understand it.

When I was three, my mom needed a hysterectomy. I knew that she was in the hospital getting her uterus taken out, and that a uterus was where a baby grew. I was looking at a National Geographic magazine on the coffee table in our house, and I saw a picture that was blackness with lots of white dots. I asked my dad what it was, and he said what must have been "The universe", but I heard "uterus." For the longest time, uterus and universe were the same thing for me...which is funny because when you are a fetus in the womb, the uterus IS your universe.

Very interesting posts, especially ValMikeSmith's.

Come to think of it, I believe I may have had a memory from around age 1. I remember stilling in grass with pink or red tulips nearby. And there was a tall building visible, and I thought it was "General Hospital", because the building looked like the one from that show. We also have a similar picture of me though, so I don't know if it's an actual memory or just a reconstruction based on a photo.

I don't really remember my life before 10, but my earliest memory is when i was 3 year old, I was playing Playmobil in my parents' apartment (or flat, which you prefer ) in France.
That's my only memory I remember before my 10 years old.

I think it is. I have been told my memories are good and I have detail. Even my therapist said the same and she was amazed by my early memories. She said most kids don't get memories till they are five so they don't remember anything before it. Even my grandmother had the same gift before she started going senile and getting Alzheimer's. She might have had AS too.

I'm never sure if my early memories are real because I have so many pictures that fabricate memories...

The earliest memory I have is comming back home after a forced visit with my biological mother and watching my older brothers play old school Mario on the old school Nentendo.

This is probably because it is not considered plausible to have memories from such a young age.

In fact there has been research conducted into early memory retention. The age you describe is younger than the average age of first memory retained for the population that demonstrated the earliest average age of first memory retention. Evidently the population concerned surprised researchers because their first memories tended to be from ages at which it was previously considered implausible to retain memories from.

What is very interesting when thinking about ASDs is the reason the researchers posited for the early age of first retained memory in the population that had the lowest average age (New Zealand Maori). It was found that there is a culturally influenced pattern of oral reliving of memories taking place with the assistance of parents. In other words, the early memory was attributed to refreshment and persistent active recall of the memory with parents being found to prompt early memory formation in their child by asking them questions about earlier events, thus causing the memory to remain accessible.

When we think about the autistic 'triad of impairment' one of the 3 areas is repetition. This does not necessarily exclude repeated remembering. I think it is very probable that people with autism might have potential for astoundingly early first memory retention because, we are prone to fixate and repeat in ways that non-autists do not. If it happens to be a memory we keep returning to, then the memory will be refreshed, entrenched and remain accessible for longer (giving more scope to again repeat recall to further refresh, entrench....etc).

Thus I believe people with AS can experience early memory retention well outside the norm, and that some people with AS indeed do, seems apparent from this thread.

My mom says because of my tramatic beginnings, I have blocked out most of my early memory. I simply cannot remember things I should. If I had an easy childhood, I could probably remember my birth.

I remember being in my crib. I remember the mobile over my bed made of wooden figures. I remember wanting out of my crib.
I remember thinking more than I could talk.
I have lots of high chair memories and car memories..
I remember my grandfather who died when I was 2..

at 3 with mum showing me how the breast milk came out to feed my then baby brother.

My family moved house right on my 2nd birthday and I remember absolutely nothing of the house I lived in before the move. I can barely if at all remember when my little sister was born when I was 2 and a half. I can clearly remember when we first got television installed at the age of 3 years 2 months. So I think my earliest reliable memory would be closer to 3 rather than 2.

I remember a scene from when I wasn't talk yet, so I must have been under 13 months.

I have my normal memory from age 2 onwards.

I amazed myself with how accurate and complete my memory was after revisiting my house of birth in which I lived until I was 2 to 2 1/2 years old after more than 13-14 years.

Being held out by my mother in front of her, facing her, and seeing how anxious her smile was; she was looking at me for reassurance. I can't have been more than 7 or 8 months because it was when I was barely crawling. I was very little and she was holding me under the armpits like do with babies.

I remember loving her so much, so totally, that I would do anything for her, it was all I wanted to do. Until my sister was born when I was a year and a half.

Then I don't remember much at all until I was about 3 and a half.
.

When I was 1 I cried for a long time because my diaper was filthy and my mother didn't show up. Finally she did. It was in the evening and it was dark.

Being denied going into the hospital to see my dying grandfather, I was just a hair over four. All I remember is the knowledge of having to stay outside in the vehicle (don't recall conversation), and the brick exterior of the hospital. Back then they didn't let kids go in. Apparently we were very tight, I was his first grandson and he really loved kids. Probably why it stuck with me, the trauma of not being allowed to see him. I have no memories of my grandfather himself.

My wife on the otherhand has much earlier memories. She remembers an incident where she fell down stairs when she was less than a year old. She also remembers masturbating (no hands) in her crib (had to be less than 18 month old). A few other memories too before age 3, when she immigrated from Belgrad to Montreal.