what was your biggest issues as a young child?

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For me, i had a lot of issues playing with my cousins and Potty Training. I was very attached to my Baby bottle (which i still am it just changed from a baby bottle to a water bottle) my parents couldn't get rid of it. Some of my more apparent problems were my fine motor skills were delayed and i had mostly textile sensory issues my parents couldn't keep clothes on me unless it was Pyjamas. My speech was very repetitive but understandable, a sentence was said on average 7 times.

during meltdowns i would smash my head; i had a lot of concussions.

what was some of your biggest issues growing up as a young child?

I really didn't like being touched by anyone and had strange attachment to various objects (such as walls!). Also, I was expected to play with dolls but was more interested in my brothers' toy cars (I didn't pretend I was the driver - I pretended I was the car). I also thoroughly enjoyed taking objects apart (including dolls - lol) and reconstructing them, which wasn't considered appropriate for a young girl back then.

Suzanne

I don't remember my early childhood but from what I heard my parents had huge problems with me separating from them and walking off without them knowing(no separation anxiety) as well as talking the ears off of random strangers on the street (no stranger danger).

I had extreme sensory issues, delayed language and communication skills, extreme difficulty with change and transitions, and a lot of terrible meltdowns on a regular basis. I also didn't respond at all to traditional discipline (well, except in ways opposite to what adults are hoping for in the case of punishments/negative reinforcements that confused, scared, and/or angered me) and was impossible to control except physically. (I don't mean through physical punishment -- I mean that I could only be made to stop doing something by being physically prevented from doing it; I could not be made to do anything I didn't want to do unless it was something simple like getting into the car, where my parents could simply drag me to the car and strap me in, likely kicking and screaming).

I had lots of tantrums & meltdowns because my issues weren't really known

Lack of communication and super rigid.

Terrified of loud noises and sensitivity to touch.
Withdrawn and uncommunicative.
I didn't interact with kids at school, some kids called me 'outer space', my mother complained that I didn't talk to her and I spent a lot of time laying in my room doing nothing and staring into space.

I think I pretty much had all the typical issues that went with severe autism.
Nonverbal
Non-responsive
Withdrawn, aloof
Hyper sensitive
Far behind in motor skills development and learning to do things by myself.
Meltdowns easily triggered.
Fortunately I had an early diagnosis so everyone knew what they were dealing with.

My biggest issue as a young child was staying alive, not that it would have occurred to me that I had any problem. For instance, if I was playing ball and I kicked the ball onto the road I would just chase after it irrespective of whether there were any cars on the road. Once I got collected by a car and bounced off the bonnet and hit the pavement. Apart from a couple of scratches I was unharmed. I also went down into drains because I liked the feeling of confined spaces. It would not have occurred to me not to go down into drains if it was raining and risked drowning.

I can remember preschool very clearly. While I was verbal, I never spoke. I didn't know how to talk to other people - new people. I had a "friend" but not once in however long I knew her did I speak to her - I just saw her everyday because I got picked up and dropped off by her parents. I just remember being highly confused and not understanding what was going on. They'd say there was, say, a wolf, a fox, whatever and I'd go looking for it and not find it - only recently I have realised they were roleplaying and the surrounding woods was not packed with animals. I was surrounded by kids and yet it was a highly isolating thing for me. So I'd play - well not even play, actually. If we were playing with magnets I'd line them up, just lined everything up like I did at home. And yet I pretty much hated being there but never wanted preschool to end. Had a really hard time accepting that it was. Even harder time adjusting to primary school. My parents have confirmed many of my memories are true and not found a false one yet so I trust my memory - they also remember me starting primary school clearer than I can.

I was VERY accident prone. If there was something to hurt yourself on/with, I would do it. I was constantly getting bumps, cuts, bruises and have many scars. I also am a compulsive skin picker (Dermatillomania) which added to the scars since I picked the scabs, let them re-heal then re-picked. Haven't grown out of this, I end up with cuts and bruises, half the time I don't even remember where they've come from.

A dislike for physical contact/affection. I never cuddled people and would try to pull away from kisses. I never cried or told people I loved them.

From what I understand I was a very 'adult' child. My mother often says I came out of the womb like an mini adult, I was self sufficient and unlike a child so she didn't worry about me in an age appropriate way. I was often allowed to do things people probably wouldn't let their children do at similar ages. I never felt like a child at all, I resented being treated like one. I related far more to older people and couldn't understand why I was constantly forced to 'play' with children or being told I couldn't do something because I was too young. Makes sense I would marry a man twice my age.

My biggest issue was my mood. I was always whining, instead of just enjoying myself. Well, sometimes I was normal, did normal kid things, played with other children normally, and acted like a normal happy kid. But things upset me easily, and it would start me whining and being miserable. If I wasn't so moody, I think I would have been a better kid to be around.

Meltdowns caused directly by sensory and other discomforts that I didn't even have the words to articulate adequately, thus I couldn't explain why my fussiness was escalating by increments into full blown screaming and crying. There was a reason behind it, every time, but because my parents and everyone else around me couldn't see or hear the reason, because it wasn't something that bothered them (noisy restaurants, for one example) all they saw was a child who was "throwing a tantrum" for no discernible reason --- and therefore I must be just "bad" or even "possessed by the devil." Seriously, that was thrown around. I was shamed at a very early age.

Yet the thing was, between meltdowns caused by sensory overloads, I was actually a really sweet child when feeling calm and safe. But that was just it -- nobody, myself included, was clued in on what those "calm and safe" conditions were and that I needed them created when they were missing, or at least helped through coping when they couldn't be in place. This is why it's important to identify if there is autism, because then everyone can go "OHHHHHH, so now we know this coping thing is what helps, this other thing is what makes things worse" etc. Everyone was in the dark dealing with me in the 1960s.

Another big issue was of course social interaction. I was withdrawn most of the time, but if I did come out of my shell and interact, it was in a very one-sided way, monologing to a person instead of taking turns.

Something else I remember was being deadly afraid of someone knocking at the door. I would run and hide under furniture because (I've now figured out) I was scared by the uncertainty of not knowing who was there, coming into my world. To this day I feel creeped out like hell when someone knocks on my door and it isn't because I've either ordered pizza, bought from Amazon or invited a friend over. I hate unexpected door knocks.

I didnt talk til I was 8. That was my biggest issue.

Probably concrete thinking and not understanding social cues/norms. I would get in trouble at school for things I said and not understand why. I was just smart enough to stop doing certain things since I'd get in trouble, but of course then you become more quiet and isolated, so people think you're a freak for that.

Gaining enough weight and delayed speech mostly. I was very difficult to understand around 10 years old still because of my moderate dyspraxia.