As a child did you......?

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Did you ever develop a habit of crawling into small cupboards and close the door? I used to squeeze myself into the tiniest of cupboards and shut the door and stay there for a long time. Once I got shouted at by my dad because he said that the cupboard he found me in could have fell over and trapped me if the cupboard door was face down on the floor. My brothers and sister used to laugh at me for it.

I also developed a habit of sitting in the dark whenever I could (when I was alone). My dad found me like this a few times and I got angry and stressed when he wanted to know why I was sat in the dark.

Are these AS traits or are they more classic autism?

As a child what peculiar habits did you have?

Yes, absolutely I did this. Often.

I'd spend a lot of time in the wardrobe or the cupboard. I wasn't playing and I wasn't sulking or unhappy. I just wanted to be there. I'd often sit in the dark too. I had a little plastic stick and I would spin it for hours in the dark and I started this when I was very small. Parents always get freaked out when they find you doing things like that. Stick spinning (as well as spinning other things) is something I've always done and still do now as I find it both exciting and soothing.

I had many weird habits like that. Another was that I would sit with my head on the radio in my room and turn the dial slowly backwards and forwards.I wasn't interested in the music or the stations but all the weird swirling frequencies and tones between them, and especially at the extreme ends of the dial. I loved to do this and spent a lot of time at it. As long as the volume wasn't too high, I liked it.

I have always done that, I loved sitting inside my wardrobe as a child, and especially liked a certain spot that I used to have in my room, I had a bunk bed that had the two beds on different angles, and under the top bed I had a desk and a drawer and I could slide the desk to the side and move into a small box that was between the wall, desk, drawer and had the bunk bed as a roof, I would sit in there all the time until my room got rearranged.

As for sitting in the dark, I was too scared of the dark when I was younger, but as I have gotten older and less scared I have sat in the dark a lot, even right now the only light on in the entire house is the light of my computer screen.

Yes! I did that all the time, and now having two little boys I watch them do the same things. They will both take turns helping each other into a small cabinet and closing the door. They just stay in there at times, just like I did as a kid. I also would go into a small shelf in my closet and curl up there. I too had the habit of messing with the radio dial and listening to the frequencies.

I didn't crawl inside of cupboards, but I loved crawling underneath the covers of beds and pretending I was exploring a cave.

I don't recall ever doing this. I made a little game out of hiding from my parents when it was bedtime, though.

We had a little desk in the corner of the living room that I would sit under to play and read. I also had a tendency to play quietly under the kitchen table when my parents had guests. Sometimes my mother said she would forget I was in the house.

I'd rather sit under the table and read/play there

I liked hiding under the bed.

I did this as a kid but I wasn't in them long. I did it during hide and seek and when I felt like it. One time I hid in one of the pantries during hide and seek and I was hidden so well in there my friend didn't see me in there when she looked. I was behind stuff and all and no one knew where I was until she said she gives up. I crawl out from there and mom sees me. I also did the same again to my brothers, I hid in my parents closet in a tight spot where their shelves are and they were behind clothes. I just like finding tight places during that game. I also hid there behind the clothes when my mom still had that mean nanny. My brother hid in there too.


I also used to take everything out of our toy box and crawl in there and I remember being under my bed sometimes and lying there. Same as in the closet as a small child.

I think a lot of young children like to hide in small places. My husband's children are both NT and used to throw all the pots and pans out of the lowest cubbord so they could climb in and hide. It was a phase.

My brother's room had a "high" closet - it was not a floor level and was much smaller than a typical closet. We loved to go in there and play and used to try to convince my mother to let us sleep in it on a regular basis.

I did these things too! I was always crawling into closets, boxes, etc. as a kid, and just sitting or lying there for hours. And I used to play with the dial on AM radio to manipulate the noises between stations.

Now, I'm a lot different with enclosed spaces; in fact, I often get really claustrophobic. But I still love to manipulate sounds, and am a big fan of experimental music. Once when I was a kid, before I was really even into music at all, I found a really deep, pulsating noise on the radio and turned it up really loud, thinking, "Wow, what if somebody took this noise and changed it to different pitches and rhythms to make songs?" Little did I know, much crazier things had been done successfully, haha.

Yes I did, when I was a child I spent a lot of time under the kitchen table or in the wardrobe - until we got a dog and it decided that the wardrobe was its favourite place so I had to move out. In kindergarten I used to hide from bullying in a secluded spot in the shrubbery - other kids were scared to go in there so they could never find me.
I might still crawl in the wardrobe or in any dark, sheltered corner if I am very upset. The few people who have seen me in such moments find it scary, turns out that I can manage to curl up in places where a even a normal-sized cat won't be comfortable.