What were you like in elementary school?

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Somewhat quiet. Attempted to be social, but most of the time I did not succeed -- I got picked on; apparently I was a bit "awkward."

Teachers usually liked me. Looking back on it, my music teacher may not have liked me so much; I wasn't too fond of the singing in front of a class gig. Still did well on tests in that class though, as with all other courses -- maintained A's and B's, as well as perfect attendance.

I was good, and did well. The only other issue I really recall was with my handwriting. I wrote very small, which teachers did not like -- it took me a couple of months to finally be able to write at an appropriate size. So tough.

In American pre-school I used to cut up and make the class laugh. I spent grades 1 - 4 in German public school where I had a few friends but also got bullied. A lot. My dad interfered towards the end of it but the damage was done. Back in American school for 5th grade, I couldn't socialize with other kids very well because we didn't share any background and I couldn't intone my voice well enough to express how I felt, and at least once gave someone an impression opposite to how I felt. I usually avoided the other kids during recess by playing with\observing an ant hill on the far side of the yard. After that I was home-schooled until college.

quiet very very quiet

I used to draw a lot... I was obsessed with RPG/Sword-and-Shield adventure video games, especially Dragon Warrior and The Legend of Zelda, and would draw the "enemies" that you would encounter while walking around in the game that was in my head. i had no plotline to my game really, and "saving the princess" was an idea that was distasteful to me even then. i was probably one of the only children i knew that was bored by Super Mario Brothers and other games... but i used to draw characters, artifacts, and world and dungeon maps to this game, and i sort of envisioned it as a wandering game where you just kept fighting evil monsters.

i did this even later in life... when i was 12, i wrote an entire plotline and drew maps, "enemies", and items for a game that revolved around Mystery Science Theater 3000. Basically, Joel and the 'bots had to stop the Satellite of Love from being taken over by some evil alien robots who wanted to hijack it for some reason that i have now forgotten. i had a stack of drawings, and i wanted so badly to send it to the producers of the show, but i never did.

my world was pretty unusual, i guess. i thought i was a talk show host when i was 6 and i used to interview people in my family with a tape recorder, and i did this until i was about 8... but as i got older, it transformed into me just having a tape recorder recording all of the time. i don't know what happened to all of those tapes, but a lot of them recorded some not-so-nice things, so it's probably better this way.

i liked to sit really close to the TV to see the scan lines and pixels flickering, but my mom hated that.
I also got into trouble for playing with my uncle's VHS camera... i liked to make videos even then with puppets i made or my toys and silly costumes. i took apart almost every VCR that came into the house, but i knew that if i did, i was gonna be smacked, so if i did that, i would hide the VCR's remains, but i would still get into trouble because the VCR went missing. so i learned to wait until my mom told me i could have the old VCR because she got a new one. i could never put them back together right.

I read a lot, to the point it would get me into trouble at school, because i would read comic books and things during classes. I wouldn't do homework because i had better things to do, honestly. i got pushed around a lot by other kids, and didn't really like to join in during recess or parties. i really hated gym class, and when i started to get fat, it got even worse. My teachers didn't know what to do with me; i liked to talk to them, if they were nice or young, but the questions i asked or topics i wanted to talk about were not usually related to the course of learning. because i was so difficult to deal with, i actually caused a few of them to cry in class. I drove a math tutor crying from my house once because she was so frustrated with me. I was given an IQ test and learning disabilities tests when i was about 8, and they found that, while i had a startlingly high IQ, i lacked attention and certain problems were evident in my language and mathematics faculties. I was placed in Learning Disabled classes and diagnosed with ADD (the H for "Hyperactive" wasn't in wide use yet). I remained in LD classes for Math and English until i was in the 7th grade, and they mainstreamed me because i would have an easier time adjusting with other kids in high school.... which incidentally, wasn't the case; things got worse for me there.

But as a kid, i wasn't very placid. i was irritable, and sometimes outright hostile towards other kids. I wanted to be alone a lot (i still do), and when i had to play with other kids, it usually ended up with me being hurt physically because i "pushed" people into wanting to hurt me. but if i really knew the kid, and we did actually get on with each other, i would usually get offended by them somehow, and tell my mom about how bad they were and make things up about them. this cost me a lot of friends. I also used to hang around kids that were not that good for me, and this actually resulted in me being sexually assaulted by my fifteen year old neighbor when i was 7. when i was in 3rd grade, i latched onto two other boys named Dan and Danny. Dan was the leader, and Danny was second in command. we all wore jean jackets. i don't want to say that they mistreated me, but Dan didn't want to be around me outside of school too much, and Danny liked to break my video game cartridges i would let him borrow, among other things he would do to me. In the fifth grade i started to hang out with a kid named Lance who at first, beat on me, but then that abated a bit and he was nicer to me because we liked to play "covert opps" together. we'd sneak around in his neighborhood and peek through windows and get into places... then we started to build non-working "bombs" out of his dad's extensive collection of military ammo cases, and would leave them in places around the city. we got into trouble from his dad for doing that and we stopped playing together, then he moved away. i didn't miss him too much because he did hit me a lot.

I guess you could have called me a troublemaker and my grandmother labeled me an "instigator". i think i was just lost in the world of others and i didn't understand them, and just got to expecting mistreatment from them, so i grew hostile and goading. i still retain tendencies of that... people tell me that i am not very friendly, and i can be super irritating.

in primary school i was seriously below average, so below average that i had to have a mentor with me all through, from when i was 4 right to when i was 11. i was at mainstream school, but was treated a little diferently. sometimes my mentor took me out of the classroom and take me to the gym to do little exersise and ball games, just me and her, and once a day i had to have little nap in the headteachers office, usualy before lunch.

at playtimes i often sat in the staff room with the other teachers and i played on the floor, and sometimes my mentor would take me out into the playground to play with the other children. the staff didnot want me about on my own because i was very developmentally delayed and i needed to be escorted all the time.

sadly i couldnt talk properly until i was about 9 or 10, before then i just babbled or hardly said anything at all, and sometimes i cried if i didnt want to be taken out of the classroom but i never had big tantrums or meltdowns. i was quite a happy quiet child for an autistic, which is why back then nobody suspected autism, they all just thought i had mental retardation. i was developmentally delayed in everything, including reading and writing.

i didnt go to secondary school because they knew i would be bullied for sure (i am now at work), even if i had a mentor to watch me, so i went to special school for 2 days a week and 1 day we went on little outings, and the rest of the week i had off.

very queit k-4th, and was class clown 5th grade

I did okay in elementary school i think. I don't remember having any particular problems. I most certainly pretended to be sick on a frequent basis in order to avoid attending though.

The major problems didn't kick in until late elementary and early junior high. Both in terms of cognitive problems in certain subjects and of course the social integration aspect.

In class I did what I was told. Did my homework for the subjects that interested me. Ignored the rest.

Out of class, I dominated those who would be my friends. I played with them like they were my toys. I named the games, made the rules, and they loved it. Those who didn't, stayed away from me. I never had any problem with bullies.

All of this came crashing down when socialization became important, around 5th grade. By 7th grade, I was an outsider, viewed as odd, and bullies took a few shots at me. But I was fast and strong and willing to spend time alone.

High school was magical. This was the 1960's, costumes overwhelmed the dress code, and my unconventional clothing just sort of blended in with crowd. Bullies became hippies. It was all peace and love, with a new Beatles album released each year.

The yearbook editor noticed my obsession with photography, asked me to join, and I shot half the pix for my senior year edition. I quickly learned that most people will do anything you tell them to when you point a camera at them. It was like kindergarten all over again. I dominated.

It was after I left school that I was struck hard by the realization there was something wrong with me.

In class, I was extremely well behaved. I did absolutely everything I was told to and never spoke, when we weren't supposed to. I got most of my work right and was one of a group of 4 kids who were top of the class for everything. But, I really struggled with reading comprehension (or rather could not take in what my eyes had just read). This was only when we had activites which were specifically about reading and answering questions on the text. Given my performance in everything else, the teachers were totally puzzled by this and just looked at me in a perplexed or disappointed way. There were never any investigations into this issue.

Out of class, I had quite a few friends, in fact I was friends with about half of the class, especially the boys, but had no lasting best friend. We played playground games all the time, so there was no playground politics to speak of and that was never an issue when playing with young boys anyway, not in those days. I loved primary school.

I think I did OK in elementary school. I always had a paraeducator with me, every year through 6th grade (which was the last year of elementary in the district I used to live in). Loved going out for recess but I mainly stayed by myself - didn't really play games with friends or do tetherball like everyone else. Yes, I said hi and how are you doing but I mainly stayed by myself. I had huge teacher relationships and driver relationships - instead of having loads of friends in 5th grade I only had a couple. Most of my "friends" were teachers and bus drivers. I used to wave to EVERY driver that went into our elementary school each morning. One of them would do a peace sign instead of a wave which I thought was cool. I also loved field trips and always did well with them. Loved music and library and computer lab. Was not a fan of PE - don't like running and was picked close to last a lot. Most of the time for a few years, I was placed with another special ed student. I remember one day in 2nd grade I told my paraeducator I wanted to be with other general ed kids and that worked with some success. Sometimes I would have to be with the PE teacher because no one picked me - they all picked their best friends. I loved playing with the keyboards and xylophones in music class, loved reading picture books in library, and in computer lab I enjoyed doing computer games and "Type to Learn" starting in 3rd grade (all with those big bulky headphones!) The school I was at was about 8 or 9 miles away from my house - so there was NO way that any of my friends could be invited for sleepovers or sports, etc. I actually didn't really want that. During the summer I didn't want to be with friends - I wanted to be with family. My K-4 teachers were great, 5th and 6th grade not so much.

I was NEVER into doing sports. After I did *one* cross country meet in 5th grade, scoring a low placement and tearing up over it, I said NEVER again. Everyone at school told me I was a "winner no matter what" - that's not true. You have to be a fast runner to be a winner. I was OK but everyone was passing me like I was a slug in a freeway. I still don't do any sports. The only sport I do is "fastwalking" - 3 to 4 times a week I fastwalk for 30-90 minutes at a time. I burn off calories from that and I don't have to do football, basketball, or baseball to get my exercise - just a two-mile walk will work for me!

i was smart, but i had A LOT of meltdowns.i would get locked in a small blue room as punishment.Sometimes locked.

When I was in elementary school, I would call out the answers in class, thus aggravating the teacher (even though, until 6th grade, I was in a school for emotionally disturbed kids).

I would throw tantrums if I got an answer wrong. I would react to kids calling me names like "ret*d." Someone once sued my mother for medical bills because this kid would follow me, calling me names, then would want to shake my hand. I shook it, all right, to the tune of torn ligaments. My mother didn't believe my story; she took the other kid's side.

I didn't have many friends, and was sad to lose the one I had to what may be termed "the need to hang out and write graffiti on the walls." I didn't like "hanging out" on the corner, and I didn't want to write graffiti. I wanted to read the encyclopedia.

One teacher told me that I wouldn't make it through junior high. In junior high, I would get thrown out of science class every day for calling out the answers. I was sent to the guidance counselor's office each time. One day, I drew a family tree of human origins (i..e, Australopithecus, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens sapiens); the guidance counselor thought I was nuts, and recommended I be expelled from school. Fortunately, we moved to another part of NYC, where I went to a different school where I kept quiet and played good punchball, thus enabling me to be accepted somewhat by my peers.

Perhaps, I wanted to make friends too badly, and the kids reacted to that.

Tall for my age and skinny. Physically un-coordinated. Couldn't run or jump very well. Socially withdrawn. Jokes went over my head. But smart. Always in competition with one particular girl (who I later dated as a teen-ager) for the highest grade in the class.

Very quiet, withdrawn. I remember at age 4, a preschool teacher told my mother that I was "different".

I also remember when I was 7 years old, I sat outside during recess in tears and calling for my mom watching as all the kids were happily running around and playing.

I had a few friends..everyone who could described me would say I was quiet, shy, but very nice. I had little issues with bullies really as I kept to myself, (once in a while I'd get quick insult while walking down the hall but I always ignored it) but gym was always a nightmare as well as group activities. Always got picked last for gym games..it was awful. I tried to fit in a lot with terrible results..always felt like an alien.

As far as academics, I always had a real hard time paying attention in class..unless the topic was of something I was really interested in. Otherwise I was in my own world and if I got called on, I would never know the answer. Teachers always described me as bright but with no drive (ie lazy)

Somehow I got decent grades even though I never studied (my good memory helped here), math was always a terror for me but with tutoring I managed to. Always pass. I successfully got into college but once my mom passed away, I withdrew. I couldn't handle it.

Social outcast, got picked on a lot.

i never spoke and never did anything. i was told they "passed" me just to get rid of me.