What were you like as a kid?

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I was a very withdrawn and didn't engage much in social play with other children (unless they asked me to join). However, I preferred to sit by myself and draw or do crafts. I was also really careful and sort of frightened by other people (I had social anxiety from a young age). I knew I was different, and that made me self-conscious.

I know aspies are very different, some more outgoing than others. I'm interesting in hearing your stories, what you were like as a kid. My slightly anti-social behaviour in childhood, was the reason why I got the diagnosis back then.

Difficult. Bullied and assaulted incessantly. Withdrawn and didn't get on with peers. Tried to but was told I was awkward and would often say things inappropriate just to fit in. I was very much into my computer (Commodore Amiga for those who are interested) and would sit at it most evenings playing games. Was referred to a number of educational psychologists and even had an EEG done due to suspected epilepsy (when people were talking to me, I was told I'd zone out and stare with a blank look on my face)...ended up being nothing....wasn't epileptic but still had problems. The school I was in was for kids with behavioral problems but it just made things worse. I can recognise now that a lot of kids there had autism but weren't diagnosed. When they had meltdowns, they would be locked in a cupboard and kept in there until they calmed down...I'd been in there a few times myself...

All in all...my childhood sucked...adulthood not much better

As a infant, baby, and preschooler: classically autistic, nonverbal, but with flashes of "awareness."

As an older child: Aspergian---somewhat heedless of other people's needs. Tended to monologue. Had only one "best friend." Threw temper tantrums in response to being teased--entertained the other kids. Was bullied pretty much consistently--sometimes rather severely, but not extremely. Was not an unfriendly child, though--sometimes pleasant. Even though got thrown out of class quite a bit, sought to follow the rules.

My childhood has two parts: before I moved out of state at age 11 and after. In my earliest years, I had lots of friends, was very active with other kids and tried to fit in with others in my class. However, I was very interested in collecting, being creative and inventing things from what I could find and take apart. I was tested in grade school and placed into the highly gifted category, which did not earn me social isolation there as it would in other places. I was even a tutor to other students who needed help in certain areas that they were struggling on. My sister has an opposite personality than me, so there was constant fighting between us growing up. Unfortunately, that allowed me to vent my creativity towards pranks that I could pull on her to my parents chagrin. Like the time I purposely broke some keys in the door locks of her car so she would be late to school that day. (This was way before you had the button keyfobs that could remotely open your car doors.) Ahh, life was good.

But alas, the good times do not last forever...

We moved out of state when I was 11 and everything in my life changed. Suddenly, I was the new "fat nerd kid" that became a constant target for bullies to pick on. (I had been active in sports before this point, but was not allowed to join any school teams because my family "was too poor to be here" per the school coaches.) The school tested me on my skills, but they did not have any type of program for kids like me, so I was left in with the rest of the students. However, my testing scores were released to the other students and they took it out on me for being so different.

I quickly gave up on trying to fit in where it was impossible for me. My focus switched to revenge tactics and I took my science skills into the dark side (ie. finding ways to use it against others, both defensive and offensive forms). I studied evil throughout history and tried to learn new tactics from it. The bulling got worse and I retaliated in kind when I could. I really did not come out of that phase until well after we had moved to another town five years later where I finished high school. The kids there were more wrapped up into their sports program than anything else, so I could work around them easier. I had very few real friends though. Most of my time out of school was spent studying or working on my different projects that I was developing. My eyes were on college and moving on with my life, not worrying about who I should take to prom.

Sounds very productive to me...and it led to your present career.

Thanks, KraftieKortie. It did scar me in the way I see certain people though, even today. Sometimes, I wish I did not have that issue to deal with.

Extremely shy and introverted. As I went through high school I learned to mask the introversion and everyone thought I was a party-loving extrovert which was exhausting and effected my health. Unless I'm comfortable around someone I am still that same shy person who barely talks unless prompted directly.

I have found, in the course of my life, that everybody I've encountered has "issues."

Happily accepted by neighborhood children ... found out I was different on the very first day of school when everybody started laughing at the way I talked. Apparently, I'd picked up a distinct Boston accent from watching TV, along with being unable to pronounce certain sounds. My parents fought the school to get a one-on-one speech therapist to tutor me at school ... and from there, I went on to become a foreign language expert, specializing in accents.

At about age 7, I proposed marriage to an actual Indian chief at a pow-wow. With a kind smile, he informed me that he was taken but to come back in a few years and pointed to his son. About the same age, I began teaching myself Spanish and astronomy. Went on to get a Masters degree in Spanish. Was reading astronomy books and magazine articles at the college level by age 8 or 9 ... that's basically remained as a hobby which is harder to participate in nowadays with all the light pollution.

Was into Star Trek as a toddler, still huge into science fiction, nowadays attend events in character as the mischievous Q.

...

You did great at age 7!

All I did, at age 7, was ask some person in the street why he/she is fat (I heard this second-hand; I don't remember the gender of the person).

You were pretty advanced then!

Well, kraftie,

You certainly seem way more advanced in social skills than I am, so you passed me there.

I've been known to innocently make highly inappropriate comments as a child ... and still do ... and am left wondering what I did to offend everybody. In one case (as an adult), I told a story and literally cleared a room ... we're talking both literally and immediately. I felt bad for the lady who had been hosting the party ... everybody picked up their coats and just walked out the door.

I really get the feeling that those people who left the party need lessons in flexibility.

As long as you were not deliberately offensive (which I doubt you were), I find that people should just "get a life."

I wonder if that Indian Chief's son was good-looking---maybe you would have had a great catch! LOL

And you dance divinely, too! I can't dance...I can only boogie.

I was shy but I am the oldest of 3 brothers very close in age and at the time a loving extended family so I didn't have the same anxiety/depression issues that I have now, I was a relatively happy kid outside of school. Withdrawal and all that started to begin around age 9 or 10.

I was happy when was by myself which was a lot because "free range paranting" was normal parenting and unhappy and bullied when I was not. My public school threw me out after 2nd grade not because I was violent but because it was legal and could not get through to me because nobody had any idea with what they were dealing with. I eventually was accepted back after two years of private school but I hated school until the last two years of college.