Your early childhood experiences

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I've been reading lately about the idea that autistics are more vulnerable to abuse.

A friend of mine who has been studying shaken baby syndrome (he's building a mathematical model of it, to improve diagnosis and possibly treatment) says that he thinks that even early on, when autistics aren't diagnosed yet, they may easily be more vulnerable to abuse like shaken baby syndrome.

And I'm wondering whether my friend's right, and whether we're vulnerable to abuse even as early as a few months old--whether the autistic "Kick Me" sign is there from the start, or whether it might become more apparent only later on, when social skills become more important (such as the first grade or the teen years).

So... What were your early childhood experiences? Did you experience abuse, or were you only targeted once you were older?

I remember getting hit by a slingshot by neighborhood kids (I don't remember if was two boys, two girls or a boy and a girl) for no other reason than they were bullies. I do remember telling my parents and the kids' parents and they got in trouble. I think I was in first or second grade at the time.

I did experience physical abuse at a young age, but I can't remember if it was before or after I was six years old so I didn't answer the poll. It was around that age though when it started, though.

I remember playing with the toys, in my toy box. All of the sudden, the lid of the toy box, came crashing down, on my head. My head started bleeding, and my mum gave me a towel, to hold, on top of my head.

I think there might be a higher potential for abuse just because research has shown parents may be more stressed when raising a child who is on the autism spectrum. However, it depends on how the parents cope, how good of a support system they have, and if they have good parenting information.

I was talked to rather negatively as a child for not talking "like other kids" i.e. I would talk about my special interests almost exclusively. This happened over and over, and as a result, I had poor self-esteem and often took anger out on objects reminding me of my special interests. If my mother knew how to coach me to talk about other things and/or was able my special interests into something useful, that would've helped tremendously. I think parents have more resources now, so hopefully there will be less children on the spectrum that deal with this.

School was 12 years of bully Hell.

No parental abuse, tho.

--XFG

Not at that age.

Regarding parents, I don't recall much physical abuse. For verbal/emotional, I've had my father call me stupid, idiot, dumb***, ***hole, a variety of names. Overall I don't see him as this totally intolerant horrible father, but he can be pretty quick to anger, and when he is, he won't really think and then just jump straight to insults. If you disagree with him in general, even on something trivial, the smallest thing can set him off. I'm trying to get that through to him, but he hasn't made too much progress. My mom in terms of ideals/morals is similar to him, but isn't rash and quick to anger like him.

Regarding everyone else, I've had a handful of verbal/emotional abuse that explaining would take too much space. I haven't had an outrageous amount of physical abuse, but it's been here and there. Bullying in general's been prominent, up until about the end of 10th grade (it strangely faded afterwards, but considering a near-death depression episode earlier this year, apparently it's left a lasting impression). I made the mistake of joining the American football (contact sport) team, yes, but prior to 11th grade, I still remember a few things. Often on offense (as a wide receiver), doing what I'm supposed to be doing, a few people on the team that had it out for me were usually right across from me at the start of the play (they're on defense). They blatantly go against what they're supposed to be doing (backing up and watching the ball), and instead just charge at me, getting at me while I'm down. Wanting nothing more than to see me lose it emotionally. They've made bus rides to and from games real hell, one of them threatened to literally kill me after the bus ride home, in the parking lot. Really that's just an example...

Everything but sexual.

For what it's worth, I wasn't abused.

I was, however, a hot target during middle school and the first half-ish of high school.

I answered yes to verbal/emotional.

I remember it, but I'm not quite sure if I was 5. I do remember being quite young, though.

By 6... Well... I consider it abuse, others wouldn't though. It was religious.

by 10 though other types of abuse (sexual), stemming from issues that arose out of the religious abuse.

If i were not aspie or on the spectrum, the abuse would not have affected me the same at the early age, and the later abuse would not have occurred.

A thought that I fear to, but feel i must, share here, and really the reason I answered this thread:
An autistic/aspie child is far more likely to have a parent who is aspie/autie. (or at least has similar traits)
A crying baby, a baby's unorganized sounds that don't make sense or flow, they can be more grating on someone who has aspergers or autism (or auditory hyper acuity). It can grate, it can frazzle the nerves to no end, the more other noises going on at the same time add to it.
Flailing arms and legs don't help either.

I have a 6 month old son, and it's an issue I can't let out of my mind when i hold him. It does scare me, but I do understand it, and WP is the main reason I do understand it.

What would you answer if you were hugged lovingly and got PTSD from it? (Not my experience, but someone's.)

What about people who don't perceive what happened to them as abuse when someone else does? (I wouldn't know if this were my situation, obviously.)

Are you also correcting for the possibility that in someone with autistic wiring, early abuse could lead to a greater likelihood of diagnosis later in life?

Or the possibility that the same sort of person who is likely to be an abuser is likely to have an autistic child?

Sorry. I don't mean to be discouraging. I just found the thought so fascinating that I thought more about it, and... well, this is the kind of thoughts I have about things I find interesting. (My favorite book series resemble swiss cheese, yes.)

The age of 6 is not a good choice because only a tiny proportion of childhood sexual abuse occurs at such a young age. In the most comprehensive survey I have for my country, 2.5% of sexually abused children are 0-4 years old. Most sexual abuse (80%) is experienced by children over 9.

According to the same data, re-victimization is a serious issue - adults with a history of childhood sexual abuse were more likely to experience adult sexual violence.

I wasn't abused at that age and I've never been abused by parents or relatives, so I answered no.

but there was one incident. We had just moved, I was between 12 and 18 months old, and I was in my carriage. I can't remember this but my mother has told me the story. She had bought something and was parking the carriage outside the stairs where we lived on 4th floor. Some metres away she saw two boys under school age, but didn't give them another thought. She reckoned I was safe and went up with the groceries.
(When she told me this, I got the shivers at this point; fully aware of kids' cruelty I'd never leave a baby/toddler like that; I'd rather have it in a play pen safely indoors and go back down for the groceries.)
When she returned, I was crying wildly. (I cried very little.) The boys were snickering and backing off as she came out.
I have no idea what they did, though.

Upto the age of 8-9 I was terrified of boys. A result of that?

All the other stuff happened from age 9-10 and on.