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pixie-bell
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01 Dec 2007, 9:02 pm

I am looking for some advice.

Did anyone not demonstrate lack of eye contact and/or tactile sensitivity as a toddler but developed these things as they got older?

The reason I ask, is that, as a young adult I am unable to sustain eye-contact as it produces anxiety. In terms of the tactile issue, my earliest memory of not like hugs etc. was when I was 7/8 and it has had a significant impact on my life.

I asked my Grandmother whether she remembers whether I exhibited 'normal' eye contact and she couldn't remember. People have always viewed me as a shy and quiet individual, even as a young child, but something I am not is shy and never have been!

I also asked my Grandmother whether I flinched from touch when I was young and she said that I was a very passive baby and sat on people's knees and gave my cousins hugs when I was young.

Thank you.



gwenevyn
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01 Dec 2007, 9:46 pm

I don't think anybody noticed anything odd about my eye contact until I was at least in preschool, and even then they couldn't say "oh, it's her eye contact", they just knew I was averse to many social situations. Even today my mother will not admit that my eye contact is very odd, though strangers can see that it is.

I was the type of toddler you describe. Very quiet, easy to please, eager to please, spent a great deal of time happily on my own but also loved to sit on everybody's lap.


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2ukenkerl
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01 Dec 2007, 10:00 pm

I remember being less resistant when I was very young, like 3-4. I NEVER liked sitting on peoples laps though. By 6 I WAS more resistant. I don't really recall about looking in eyes. I HAVE been looking down as long as I can remember. Outside of a few times, I don't even think I looked at my OWN eyes.



Danielismyname
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01 Dec 2007, 10:03 pm

Perhaps you were more comfortable as a child? Anyway, toddlers aren't usually picked up with AS; the "symptoms" usually start later as school starts, possibly due to the environment suddenly changing.

Symptoms <3 equates to autism; >3 equates to Asperger's.



AspieMartian
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01 Dec 2007, 10:20 pm

I don't know about eye contact, but I had tactile and other sensory issues from the start. It made me a very "difficult" infant and toddler. I frustrated the hell out of my mom.



LostInSpace
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01 Dec 2007, 10:44 pm

Well, my parents never noticed that I had a problem with eye contact, but my brother mentioned it to me in high school (he said something like "You need to start making eye contact with people!"), and two professors have commented on it. So I don't really know when my eye contact issues started.



SoccerFreak
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02 Dec 2007, 12:40 am

I hate it when teaches say with a mean voice "Look at me when were talking!" I mean it was hard before they scare the sh*t out of me.


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czechguardsman
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02 Dec 2007, 12:55 am

MY commander in Iraq demanded that I made eye contact with him when I addressed him. He absolutely terrified me.

D



scumsuckingdouchebag
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02 Dec 2007, 1:18 am

I don't know for sure, but I think I've always lacked eye contact. According to the best friend of my grandmother, I was "extremely shy" when she first met me when I was 2. I don't even remember what my mother's eyes look like and I last saw her about 2 weeks ago! I never accumulated that image. In fact, the only eyes I know for sure are my own, and that of a relative who I had a mock job interview with last week because he told me to look at them and I made an effort to remember what they look like.

Looking into people's eyes is mentally draining to me; it makes it difficult for me to think clearly. It's intimidating.

During school, in order to look like I was paying attention, I'd usually look at mouths. But a habit I had never broken up until college, was to generally stare down at my desk or my notebook. Once I broke that habit and started trying to look like I was paying attention, my ability to focus and recall details dropped along with my grades, but it is only a minor factor in the drop of my grades IMO.


I'm always had problems with speaking; I've never overcome the speech impediments I've always had. From grades 1-4 and from grades 9-10, I was in speech therapy classes. Both therapists always commented on my lack of eye contact, monotone voice, stiff posture, and from grades 1-4, my apparant failure to interact.



czechguardsman
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02 Dec 2007, 3:31 am

My parents said that since I was two I just never gave a s**t about anything. When I was little I never ran up to strangers or other people, I never played with other kids, and I never took any interest in anyone or anything. That has continued up into the present day. I can't think about anything except working out, history, or baseball. I hate everyone except for my parents or my sister. I hate it when people are really nice to me, solicitous, or take an interest in me. I get in alot of fights with my fellow soldiers. My old commander was furious with me for not taking an interest in the espirit de corps of the unit.

Ever since I can remember I've just hated everyone to the point were I just want to kill every smiling face. I've never had any friends or girlfriends, and I've never wanted any. I have never worked at a job longer than two weeks, besides the army, and I have been in 6 different units in 2 years, which is odd and reflects poorly on me. I wish everyone would just leave me alone. f**k You.