Symptoms as a child?

Post Reply New Topic

If i was to list some traits/quirks i had as a kid, is there anyone here that could say whether this sounds like as/autism or something else? Ive tried to be as clear as i can with what i remember, but some things are just blank to me. Like i really cant remember how i was with looking people in the eye when i was very little. What i do remember though is that i got very shocked when my therapist suggested i practiced eye contact. I didnt realize i was doing something out of the ordinary. Anyway. Here goes the traits:

*I was very shy as a kid. I never initiated conversations, but i did reply if spoken to.
*I often had enormous tantrums, sometimes my mom says she didnt even know why.
*When i visited my childhood "friends" it was mostly cause they had something i wanted to see or try. There were three people i visited, one of them had a super nintendo and i often came home with her to play. Another had this pond that was full of frogs, i often went there to see the frogs. The third had ducklings every now and then, and every time they got new ones id go there to cuddle with them. I never went places because of the people, but because i wanted to play with frogs or whatever.
*I was really naive, i usually said whatever came to mind without thinking. I remember some older guys at school made a fun game out of having me comment on people and telling those people what i thought about them. They would make me go over and be completely honest and i thought those boys liked spending time with me. I can see now that they thought it was funny that i made a complete ass of myself by telling people stuff they probably didnt want to hear. Also, another older guy once told me that the snowplow was really dangerous. He told me it killed nearly 3000 kids every year. And so i jumped off the road every time i heard something remotely like the snowplow.
*I learned how to read early, and always did well with english and languages really. I know that i knew the alphabet in kindergarden and also quite a few english words (im norwegian)
*I was interested in a lot of stuff that my peers certainly didnt care about. Like: Ancient Egypt, mythology, geology, astrology, certain tv shows and movies also had me going. I also remember having a strong obsessions with detectives at a point because i read a book about one. Fantasy figures and fantasy was also a big deal for me. I had my stepfather copy pictures and symbols etc for me which i gathered into folders. Im guessing it was my mom and her friends that got me all hooked on fantasy stuff, as they used to role play alot. I didnt like the part where you were supposed to make up your next move, but i loved watching them rolling dices and creating characters on a piece of paper.
*I sang a lot, and i sang to whoever was around no matter if they were interested or not. Often i sang english songs infront of other kids, and quoted english lyrics. Dunno if they appreciated this or not...
*I was a perfectionist. Things had to be in a certain way, both homework and play. I got really angry if other kids didnt follow my rules. If the kids didnt follow them, i didnt wanna play with them. At a later age, i became more of an observer than a participant. Which made me even more shy and quiet around other kids.
*I remember this school play once, it was a christmas thing. We were supposed to sing and act something. A girl in my class that was standing next to me sang the wrong lyrics at one point, and i couldnt help but scream to the entire audience that: "THATS NOT THE WAY IT IS!! !" People were laughing and stuff, but i didnt really care. I had corrected her after all. That girls bigbrother came to me afterwards and said: "that was really smart" and i remember feeling so proud. He understood it! Looking back i realize he was being sarcastic
*Another incident i remember was when i had to go to the bathroom during class one day. I ran as fast as i could, cause i didnt wanna be late as we had been told to be quick with stuff like that. I ended up slipping on this puddle of water on the floor and i fell head first onto the concrete floor. When i finally got up, i decided i couldnt go to the bathroom cause i had wasted enough time crawling around on the floor. So i went back, and when my teacher and classmates saw me they looked shocked. They pointed out i had blood all over my mouth, but i hadnt noticed that. I was too busy hurrying back.
*I was really melancholic as a child, i could often sit alone for hours with my walkman just thinking.
*I often spoke with incredible speed. I also did that when we were reading out loud in class. Not many people got a word in when i first started speaking. But i never spoke much in situations i wasnt completely safe, so the people that got to hear my endless ramblings were most of all my family.
*I remember i never really liked those "free hours" at school our teacher surprised us with sometimes. The others loved that they got to go outside to play ball and stuff, i would rather continue following the schedule. I never snapped over this, but dear me how i hated it. I never liked gymnastics, and i remember throwing a fit one gymclass because we were doing something we had never done before. I spent almost the entire session crying like a maniac.
*Ever since i learned to sit, ive been rocking back and forth. My mom has a special word for it, but its hard to translate to english. I did this a whole lot more, and my movements were bigger and wider back then than they are now. I still rock, but not as violent. My mom also told me that they could often find me sitting on my hands, rocking back and forth, making this weird sound while my face was red as flame. I dont really remember that.
*When i was reading or watching tv, or was otherwise preoccuopied, i was impossible to get in touch with sometimes. They could call my name 500 times and i still wouldnt react. I cant take in two things at once it seems. If i did get interrupted though, id have to read certain pages or watch the movie from a certain point cause i wouldnt have been able to consentrate on both the other person or the movie/book.
*Mom has told me that if she put my stuffed animals "wrongly" into my shelves id throw fits.

These are some, if maybe not all traits i had from age 3-now. Of course some things have changed, but i also made a thread with traits i had both as a kid and adult. But these are specific things i remember or have been told from my children years. Im soon having an evaluation, and again im driving myself insane. Thanks to anyone who will bother to read all this and for any input.

Well, I am only SELF diagnosed, BUT.....


YOU: *I was very shy as a kid. I never initiated conversations, but i did reply if spoken to.

I was ALSO that way!

YOU: *I often had enormous tantrums, sometimes my mom says she didnt even know why.

Some say I overreacted a bit.

YOU: *When i visited my childhood "friends" it was mostly cause they had something i wanted to see or try. There were three people i visited, one of them had a super nintendo and i often came home with her to play. Another had this pond that was full of frogs, i often went there to see the frogs. The third had ducklings every now and then, and every time they got new ones id go there to cuddle with them. I never went places because of the people, but because i wanted to play with frogs or whatever.

Well, I was kind of the same way

YOU: *I was really naive, i usually said whatever came to mind without thinking. I remember some older guys at school made a fun game out of having me comment on people and telling those people what i thought about them. They would make me go over and be completely honest and i thought those boys liked spending time with me. I can see now that they thought it was funny that i made a complete ass of myself by telling people stuff they probably didnt want to hear. Also, another older guy once told me that the snowplow was really dangerous. He told me it killed nearly 3000 kids every year. And so i jumped off the road every time i heard something remotely like the snowplow.

I was the same way

YOU: *I learned how to read early, and always did well with english and languages really. I know that i knew the alphabet in kindergarden and also quite a few english words (im norwegian)

I was the same way. I learned parts of a few other languages as well. I'm American

YOU: *I was interested in a lot of stuff that my peers certainly didnt care about. Like: Ancient Egypt, mythology, geology, astrology, certain tv shows and movies also had me going. I also remember having a strong obsessions with detectives at a point because i read a book about one. Fantasy figures and fantasy was also a big deal for me. I had my stepfather copy pictures and symbols etc for me which i gathered into folders. Im guessing it was my mom and her friends that got me all hooked on fantasy stuff, as they used to role play alot. I didnt like the part where you were supposed to make up your next move, but i loved watching them rolling dices and creating characters on a piece of paper.

I was ALSO interested in things nobody else was.

YOU: *I sang a lot, and i sang to whoever was around no matter if they were interested or not. Often i sang english songs infront of other kids, and quoted english lyrics. Dunno if they appreciated this or not...

Well, I could sing well, etc... I didn't do it just to do it, but that isn't an AS symptom. STILL, that you did it as you did IS!

YOU: *I was a perfectionist. Things had to be in a certain way, both homework and play. I got really angry if other kids didnt follow my rules. If the kids didnt follow them, i didnt wanna play with them. At a later age, i became more of an observer than a participant. Which made me even more shy and quiet around other kids.

SAME HERE!

YOU: *I remember this school play once, it was a christmas thing. We were supposed to sing and act something. A girl in my class that was standing next to me sang the wrong lyrics at one point, and i couldnt help but scream to the entire audience that: "THATS NOT THE WAY IT IS!! !" People were laughing and stuff, but i didnt really care. I had corrected her after all. That girls bigbrother came to me afterwards and said: "that was really smart" and i remember feeling so proud. He understood it! Looking back i realize he was being sarcastic

I had the SAME problem!

YOU: *Another incident i remember was when i had to go to the bathroom during class one day. I ran as fast as i could, cause i didnt wanna be late as we had been told to be quick with stuff like that. I ended up slipping on this puddle of water on the floor and i fell head first onto the concrete floor. When i finally got up, i decided i couldnt go to the bathroom cause i had wasted enough time crawling around on the floor. So i went back, and when my teacher and classmates saw me they looked shocked. They pointed out i had blood all over my mouth, but i hadnt noticed that. I was too busy hurrying back.

WOW, I had the same sort of thing!

YOU: *I was really melancholic as a child, i could often sit alone for hours with my walkman just thinking.

Same here!

YOU: *I often spoke with incredible speed. I also did that when we were reading out loud in class. Not many people got a word in when i first started speaking. But i never spoke much in situations i wasnt completely safe, so the people that got to hear my endless ramblings were most of all my family.

Well, girls tend to speak faster sometimes. 8-/

YOU: *I remember i never really liked those "free hours" at school our teacher surprised us with sometimes. The others loved that they got to go outside to play ball and stuff, i would rather continue following the schedule. I never snapped over this, but dear me how i hated it. I never liked gymnastics, and i remember throwing a fit one gymclass because we were doing something we had never done before. I spent almost the entire session crying like a maniac.

SAME HERE!

YOU: *Ever since i learned to sit, ive been rocking back and forth. My mom has a special word for it, but its hard to translate to english. I did this a whole lot more, and my movements were bigger and wider back then than they are now. I still rock, but not as violent. My mom also told me that they could often find me sitting on my hands, rocking back and forth, making this weird sound while my face was red as flame. I dont really remember that.

Well, I don't know, but I kind of do the same thing.

YOU: *When i was reading or watching tv, or was otherwise preoccuopied, i was impossible to get in touch with sometimes. They could call my name 500 times and i still wouldnt react. I cant take in two things at once it seems. If i did get interrupted though, id have to read certain pages or watch the movie from a certain point cause i wouldnt have been able to consentrate on both the other person or the movie/book.

Well, the preoccupied thing is one I had!

YOU: *Mom has told me that if she put my stuffed animals "wrongly" into my shelves id throw fits

I would hate people "rearranging/touching my stuff!

Thanks for the reply, i guess im kinda going crazy over and over till i can finally get my assesment done. Its nice to see other peoples traits and hear their experiences. Being in this state of not knowing is the worst thing i know, i cant handle not knowing. So i keep researching both myself and how i was as a kid, how i am now and aspergers all the time. My therapist told me to stop obsessing about it but shes stupid. Sorry but how the heck do i stop obsessing when ive been obsessing over things my entire life?

Don't worry about it! You are as you are, and that doesn't sound that bad. The diagnosis is just putting a label on it. You are old enough that you have seen just about every facet of it.

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

Last edited by autism on 10 May 2008, 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hmm...

*I did not start speaking regularly until I was four. Once I did, I picked up on everything extremely quickly.

*Even though I didn't really speak, I was capable of reading when I was two. I read 'thank you' off of a trash can.

*I started having obsessions about when I was two. My first one was '101 Dalmations'. My mimi had a dalmation, too, that was was even more fun for me!

*Meltdowns were never small.

*I wasn't shy, but I was very, very controlling over everyone.

*Loud noises bothered me when I was little. Same with itchy shirt tags. (Neither of these things do anymore.)

*I was always the smartest one in my class. By fourth grade, I tested at a college level for language arts. In third grade, I wrote the top story in the state, as well as getting a drawing of mine into the Indiana State Museum, being the youngest one in the state.

That's all I can think of that really stood out about me. At least some of it's really good.

Another list for you, think of anymore love to know
http://asplanet.info/forum/index.php?topic=161.0

Thanks a lot everyone

I just talked to my mom some more, and she also mentioned i had issues with certain types of clothes. Like i wouldnt wear jeans, and sometimes id go nuts with tags on clothes as well. I seemed to prefer sweats back then as well

Thank you very much for that list asplanet, i can relate to a lot of it.

Ligtning88: I was also the smartest in my class, though nothing i ever did ended up in a museum You must be really good at drawing and writing

I was often shy. It got worse as I got older.


I lined my stuffed animals up, but I was just preparing the set for an imaginative play scene. My mother didn't know this. She thought the whole game I was playing or whatever I was doing was just lining them up.


I daydreamed when I wasn't supposed to and sometimes preferred to be alone but don't we all?


I stimmed with a string.


I read and wrote early and talked early and that...


I talked like a professor sometimes and had obsessions sometimes. I had hundreds of obsessions as a child, one after the other.

Thank you for the link to this list. =D It was very helpful.

I also relate to a lot of your childhood symptoms.

The thing that strikes me as being much lower functioning in childhood is that I was much more outgoing; I had no fear and I didn't realzie that anything I did was odd. I'm not the most aware person who's high functioning, but once I realized how my actions seemed I immediately become shy.

I was able to identify songs almost immediately.
I was advanced in English, even though English wasn't my first language. (My first language was German.)
I was something of a picky eater as a child.
I loved animals-still do!
I had unusual interests all my life.

I was told I was pretty social until I began school. I grew progressively more introverted.

You remind me a whole lot of myself as a kid. Thanks so much for your input

Thanks! And yeah, I've always been pretty advanced in writing and drawing. My pictures were often displayed in the school halls as well. One of my favorite things I've always loved to do with drawings is design products. I even have some pictures from back in kindergarten where I was designing my characters on T-shirts and toys of them. As for writing, that's something I love doing as well. Last year, a friend and I wrote a story with over 2,000 pages on MS Word! But I sadly had to delete it to save memory space on the computer.

* Used to throw some mega tantrums.

* I memorized all my favorite story books.

* Never paid attention to the TV until a commercial came on, then you better not change the channel, I knew the words to all my favorite commercials by heart.

* It was normally 2 to 3 hours tops with my friends, then I would ask my mom when they were going home. I liked hanging around the adults.

* Perfectionist here too.

* Used to get really upset everytime my mom re-arranged the furniture, she stopped re-arranging my bedroom all-together after awhile...I couldn't sleep if the bed was moved.

* Hated having my hair cut, or brushed for that matter.

* Sang alot, usually the same tune over and over.

* Loved playing in water.

* Zoned out quite a bit when I was focused on something.

* Hated sports because I thought they were pointless, loved cars especially older ones.

Wow, I never thought of those things as being Aspie traits, but looking back it makes sense. I had a whole bookcase full of books, but I ended up always wanting the same ones read to me. I didn't have my hair cut at a salon until I was in the fifth grade not because I thought the haircut would hurt but simply because I didn't want to change my hair.

yeah; they itch like f**k sometimes

found and looking over some parts:

"*I learned how to read early, and always did well with english and languages really. I know that i knew the alphabet in kindergarden and also quite a few english words (im norwegian)"

Yea, that's Autism. Many people can learn languages early.


"*I was interested in a lot of stuff that my peers certainly didnt care about. Like: Ancient Egypt, mythology, geology, astrology, certain tv shows and movies also had me going. I also remember having a strong obsessions with detectives at a point because i read a book about one. Fantasy figures and fantasy was also a big deal for me. I had my stepfather copy pictures and symbols etc for me which i gathered into folders. Im guessing it was my mom and her friends that got me all hooked on fantasy stuff, as they used to role play alot. I didnt like the part where you were supposed to make up your next move, but i loved watching them rolling dices and creating characters on a piece of paper. "

yep, you're an aspie

"*I was a perfectionist. Things had to be in a certain way, both homework and play. I got really angry if other kids didnt follow my rules. If the kids didnt follow them, i didnt wanna play with them. At a later age, i became more of an observer than a participant. Which made me even more shy and quiet around other kids. "

yep, you're an aspie

*I remember i never really liked those "free hours" at school our teacher surprised us with sometimes. The others loved that they got to go outside to play ball and stuff, i would rather continue following the schedule. I never snapped over this, but dear me how i hated it. I never liked gymnastics, and i remember throwing a fit one gymclass because we were doing something we had never done before. I spent almost the entire session crying like a maniac.

yep, you're an aspie

*Ever since i learned to sit, ive been rocking back and forth. My mom has a special word for it, but its hard to translate to english. I did this a whole lot more, and my movements were bigger and wider back then than they are now. I still rock, but not as violent. My mom also told me that they could often find me sitting on my hands, rocking back and forth, making this weird sound while my face was red as flame. I dont really remember that.

yep, you're an aspie

*Mom has told me that if she put my stuffed animals "wrongly" into my shelves id throw fits.

yep, you're an aspie