your earliest "reported" signs of autism

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Eloa
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21 Apr 2012, 7:03 pm

In my baby-photoalbum the first photo when being two weeks old my parents wrote under it, what they thought what I was "thinking" (= the "expression" I gave to them) : "I am born now, and leave me alone", because I did not do any contact. I kept not doing contact, also with being fed, so at age one I was seriously underweight. I still cannot "feel food" or "being hungry", as I cannot interpret the signs my body gives of being hungry. Therefore I need a caretaker telling me I have to eat at that specific moment.

What are your first "reported" signs of being autistic?


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cathylynn
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21 Apr 2012, 7:09 pm

i rub my hands together when i'm emotional. one time i did that and my uncle told my dad there was something wrong with me - gradeschool.



zkg
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21 Apr 2012, 7:14 pm

On the hottest day of summer when I was three, my mother found me sitting in the middle of the living room, faced away from the blaring fan, very calmly weating all my winter clothing including scarf and mittens. Later my mother very nervously mentioned this to her mother. Grandma said, "Listen, your brother used to do that when he was a little boy. So did your father when he was little."



Jory
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21 Apr 2012, 7:31 pm

There were signs in childhood that nobody picked up on. My extreme sensitivity to sound and touch, my preference for being alone, my obsessive interests, my fidgetyness, my lack of eye contact, and so on. I heard my father on more than one occasion describing me to others by saying that I'm "off in my own little world." But the social problems didn't become a big enough issue until my teens, and that's when I started getting sent to psychologists. I was misdiagnosed with social anxiety, and it wasn't until the last two years (age 26-27) that I finally got a psychologist who recognized AS when he saw it and I got an official diagnosis. I should have gotten it as a child, but I was surrounded by people completely ignorant of AS.



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21 Apr 2012, 8:03 pm

I was around two years old and I didn't seek attention from other people. I was just quiet, aloof with one helluva messy Beatles mop. I never ate either, but it was more about not going to the cupboard to get a snack. In those days childhood obesity wasn't such a big deal and kids were encouraged to get their own snacks, i.e chips, chocolate. I never did and my mum would ask me when I had gone without food for so long I was ill.
Hypoglycaemia now tells me: "now, go eat or you will pass out or start seeing things.


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Tuttle
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21 Apr 2012, 8:40 pm

I reacted the opposite way of most autistic children, but you could see signs of my sensory differences nearly as soon as I was born. I was very insistent on being held, I wanted the pressure of it.



Verdandi
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21 Apr 2012, 8:42 pm

My first year. As soon as I was able, I resisted being held.

My mother frequently described me as very passive.



1000Knives
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21 Apr 2012, 8:48 pm

For NVLD, in kindergarten taking a standardized test and scoring like 12th grade reading level, but only 4-5th grade in math. For Aspie traits, maybe spending like hours on end by myself kicking a football over a tree in my yard, everyday. Probably the interests thing.



League_Girl
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21 Apr 2012, 9:10 pm

Ritualistic behavior, not tolerating touch from strangers, wringing my hands, food needing to be served to me in a certain order, taking a certain step before entering each room in my home. Yet I was still labeled as autistic and I was also speech delayed as if the doctors expected me to pick up on learning to speak where I left off when I lost my hearing and then got it back. Also I did not play with other kids and I preferred to be alone.



Kinme
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21 Apr 2012, 9:18 pm

Mom told me when I entered Kindergarten that I had huge difficulties making friends and was often quiet and withdrawn from other people. My earliest memories of my troubles were when I was being bullied and had issues understanding what other kids wanted from me (social cues and such). I remember having no friends, and when I was at school I was always left out from other kids' activities. I was usually the loner swinging by myself, or daydreaming/in my own world thinking about about something I enjoyed like Yoshi, video games, or Pokemon. And I remember my mom telling me that I never liked to be hugged or touched for too long by anyone.

Thinking back to stimming, I can't actually remember stimming. I barely remember when I do it. I probably fiddled with my fingers and hands a lot.



Last edited by Kinme on 21 Apr 2012, 9:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

OuterBoroughGirl
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21 Apr 2012, 9:23 pm

When I was about eighteen months old, my pediatrician remarked to my parents how unusual it was that I would get anxious and about being placed on the examining table (difficulties with vestibular input.)
Shortly before I turned three, a child a year younger than me pushed me in the library. This threw me off to such an extreme degree that I developed a fear of other children that lasted for several weeks, which involved me having a major tantrum every time other children were in the vicinity.
By the time I started preschool (or nursery school, as they called it back then) I was able to tolerate being around other children, but I would still withdraw from the group, and avoid interaction with the other children. I also tended to space out and not follow through on instructions given, and I demonstrated delays with various fine and gross motor skills. When my parents took me to be evaluated by a psychologist following my preschool teacher's recommendation, the psychologist reported that my evaluation results were "erratic." Apparently, I struggled with some simple tasks, and easily accomplished some more complex tasks. I scored significantly above age level in some areas, and significantly below age level in others. As my mother later related to me, the psychologist didn't seem to know what to make of me.
This was the early to mid 1980s, and I'm a female who presented with advanced verbal skills. Thus, ASD was never considered as a possibility.


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Last edited by OuterBoroughGirl on 21 Apr 2012, 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sweetleaf
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21 Apr 2012, 9:26 pm

Well there was the never making eye contact thing.......and one time when I was about 5 I threw a 'I don't want to wear that or act like that because I'm not a person' fit(not sure what i thought I was at the time).


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Briana_Lopez
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21 Apr 2012, 9:38 pm

When I was not even 12 hours old, my mom learned that she could not breastfeed me. Instead of sucking on the nipple, I bit down on it and made her bleed. I started to lose weight from not getting any milk. A few years ago, she told me that what happened hen was a VERY early sign of aspergers.



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21 Apr 2012, 9:56 pm

As a baby, I resisted being held. I also walked about a year late, and when I did start walking, I walked on my toes constantly. My achilles tendon in my right foot is permanently too short because of this, and I still walk funny.

Around the age kids stop playing near each other and start playing with each other (I guess around 3 years old), my mom said that I wouldn't respond to other kids when they tried to get me to play with them. I would just continue to do whatever I was doing as if they weren't there.


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ebec11
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21 Apr 2012, 11:13 pm

My mom noticed when I was 9 months old, and I was diagnosed at 18 months



felinesaresuperior
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21 Apr 2012, 11:28 pm

when i was a year old my father came home after being absent for six days and he had a beard. my mother said i didnt recognize him and treated him like a stranger.
in kindergarten i was selectively mute and ignored everyone besides my brother whom i followed everywhere.
age six, is started pacing back and forth and flipping my fingers, and walking over and over again over a tub that was a bridge over a hole in the ground in the schoolyard. i stayed away from other kids and had no interest in making friends.


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