Have you ever looked at old videos of you and thought...

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..."How did nobody notice sooner?" or something along those lines? I wasn't tested until I was 16, but looking back at old home videos I find it strange that nobody suspected anything earlier. For example, we have video of me during Christmas when I was 3 years old and I had very little interest in the toys, but I liked playing with the paper, and when my mother tried to give me a stuffed doll I would usually drop it and go find something else but yet I found my musical jewelry box to be intensely fascinating. In one of the videos my mother actually had to take it away because I didn't want to open my presents, I just wanted to play with that box.

In other videos whenever there was a loud noise I would cover one ear and either hide or lay on the floor until the noise was over, then I would go back to playing with the VHS tapes or whatever.

Maybe it is because I know what to look for now, but when I look back I can't help but wonder how people didn't suspect anything as I was clearly different. Then again by the time I entered school I was pretty good at hiding my quirks and trying to be Little-Miss-Perfect.

Anyway, has anybody ever looked back at home videos and wondered how nobody noticed sooner?

Every time that I look at myself, I can't believe how weird I am. My facial expressions, body language, and the overall way I interact with my environment is just strange. I look like I'm focused on something, deep in thoughts, and unemotional, almost to the point of complete unawareness. I had always thought it's just because I'm looking at myself, so of course I'm going to be uncomfortable. Now, I realize this is not the case. You can notice that I'm an aspie from several miles away. It's that obvious. "How did nobody notice sooner" has been on my mind ever since March of this year. I don't know. It's just so blatantly obvious that it truly baffles me.

Although, my actions aren't always aspie-like. I mean, I've never really had meltdowns or shutdowns in public before. Interpreting sarcasm isn't terribly difficult for me. Most people would probably just think I'm shy and introverted. Well, that is true, but there's more to it than that, it just isn't as obvious.

I'd rather swallow a roll of nickels than look at footage of myself, even if it's five seconds old. But yes, I often think about how amazing it is that I was never dragged into a psychologist's office a lot sooner.

Sometimes.

I'm another one who would really rather not watch it at all, though...

No, I look at old photos of me and think "I guess I was as odd as people thought I was."

well, i was diagnosed being 'on the spectrum' quite young, although the actual AS classification came later.
but still, looking at old footage shows me clearly that i was weird and different, showing an almost textbook example of a young AS...

There are no videos of me. I am the youngest child so my parents were too busy trying to keep my older brothers under control to record videos. There's plenty of my brothers though

No. I just looked odd in some videos because of my body position.

I seemed normal in lot of them and I wonder how did the doctors think I was autistic? Everything looks normal from when I was a toddler. Sure I was quiet but I couldn't talk then.

There are scenes where I ring my wrists in the mall but it looks normal. Mom said it was something I did when stressed but I didn't look stressed. I was looking around too but it looked normal.

I was silent in them when I was 3 and 4 but when I was two I made sounds and laughed. I hardly talked when I was four and I wonder if my mom had my age wrong for when I started talking or did I not talk in the videos?

But I saw even I loved arguing back then, even at four years old and even had grudges and anger then because I mistreated my brother all because he wrecked my block fort and my parents allowed it because they didn't stop him. They just let him crawled to it and knock it down. Why? Because he is a baby? I noticed I was nice to him and sweet when he was an infant but when he got to a year old, I was mean to him. I could see why in the videos.

But mom said I had always acted in the videos anyway. Acting normal as possible whenever there be a camera. But I remember in one video from when I was 7, I was at gymnastics and I struggled in class with my coordination and there was one scene where I kept sticking my hands in my pants and digging down there. I remember that. The underwear kept sticking my skin skin down there it was uncomfortable so I kept sticking my hands in my pants to pull the linen away from my skin. Mom was disgusted with me about it and also the fact my dad got it on camera. Sensory issues perhaps. Only I would know because I only know what was going on inside my head. So I didn't always hide it.

Yeah.

I notice I don't make much eye contact and try to stay in the background. I will get up and move away from the camera. I hate to see my own eyes. My facebook picture is of me sitting in the dark so my computer monitor is reflecting off my glasses so I will not have to see my eyes. I have been told my picture is creepy or serial killer like.

Oh my gosh - I ALWAYS used to just play with the boxes rather than the actual present, I thought that was just normal behaviour!

I still have a hard time seeing videos of myself today. It's more subtle, but it's definatly still there.

I feel like I'm acting normal... and then I see myself. Blah.

Funny thing is I feel the same thing when I watch Napoleon Dynamite. I see a lot of the behavior in him that I used to exhibit as a kid and it's... embarrassing.

In somewhere around ten hours of childhood videos (ages 2-3) I...

Spoke exactly three times, not in full sentences
Spun in circles for 20 minutes straight
Looked up twice
Zoned out multiple times
Spent a full hour in a room full of people and never interacted at all
Displayed many examples of echolalia
Ignored people over and over

Thing is, my mom DID wonder and took me to doctors, who said, according to my mom, "She's just stubborn." Ughhh.

I actually just watched quite a few videos my parents took of us when I was younger than 8 years old and its just.....weird. I didn't like regular kids. And if someone said something wrong I'd correct them with facts. The one video that stood out for me was when I was 3 years old and I was stacking colored blocks in order. They were perfectly strait..until my brother came and tore it down. I went into this huge rage for like a minute and then I stopped, went back to my blocks and started stacking them again. I also did a lot of tics back then which I never noticed up until I watched those videos. The fingers thing (can't really explain it, I'd have to make a video) is something I still do to this day.

My parents never had a video camera, so all the video footage of me is fairly recent. I was looking at one the other day and thought the way I appeared wasn't even close to how I was feeling. I look completely emotionless, which was ridiculous, considering we were recording a Christmas message to my cousin, who was posted in Afghanistan. We are very close (he was orphaned as a teenager and my parents treat him as their son and he's like a brother to me) and I was really concerned about him. Also, I'm a very emotional person.