Photos from Childhood suggest I am not Autistic

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It's true that AS isn't diagnosed until later but not necessarily that symptoms aren't noticeable from a young age. I have a diagnosis of Asperger's and I spoke on time and have normal intelligence but there were noticeable symptoms from a young age. My preschool teacher told my mum I was in my own little world and had strange behaviour right off. I wasn't diagnosed until 13 but I was assessed and monitored by the school and diagnosed with other things (motor skill deficit, ADD, specific learning disorder) way before that and like you said school documents show my difficulties but so do my early pictures, I look really unsocial in the vast majority of them.

OP, I think it's the preponderance of the evidence that matters.

Theres a Video of me when i was 2 playing with my Sister, we were playing with barbies, her barbies were combed, kept and well held and mine was, handled badly (probably because i was 2 and she was 5) but anyway, we both had toy cars with our barbies and she made her barbie ask 'would you like to come to my house' and i was able to make my barbie say 'ok'

so i was able to make back and forth play with toys with my sister at as young as two.

i dont know if this contradicts my aspergers, but nothing else really fits, so my Psychologist sticks to the Aspergers Diagnoses until something else comes up.

Edit: in the video though i didnt look at my sister, i just looked at the doll. i also made little to no facial expression

I played like a normal little kid. My social reciprocity symptoms did not become really pronounced until I was a preteen.

This is probably a morbid way to get this kind of experience, but I've closely examined photos of many autistic people all over the spectrum, because I have to search for them to put them on the memorial, and edit them so they fit into the space and look decent. I look for pictures because that's an easy way to make the point that these were human beings who deserve to be remembered.

I've certainly noticed that some autistics don't smile when they look at the camera... but it doesn't seem to be too strongly related to the severity of the autism. A few of the ones with severe/profound intellectual disability, who might not have understood what a camera was, weren't smiling; on the other hand, some of the less posed-looking photos showed some pretty big grins on those faces. Some of the awkward Aspie types are more or less just showing their teeth to the camera rather than smiling, even though their stories make it obvious that their disabilities were not particularly severe.

Working on that project has really taught me just how varied the presentation of autism is, how different we all are from each other, and yet how much of a common problem we all have when it comes to prejudice, neglect, and abuse. It's a depressing way to learn that lesson, I suppose, but it would be more depressing if I just tried not to think about it.

Ever see the movie, “The Breakfast Club”? One of my favorite lines was: “I think your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling”. LOL.

Actually, I now think my dad is also on the spectrum. He has extreme sensory issues. He has executive functioning issues. He has lots of obsessions (far more than I). He has impaired social interactions. I could go on and on. We have a lot in common with the exception that I am not authoritarian and my kids were never scared of me.



That’s something I didn’t know. Do you have a source for the above (so I can read more about it)?



I love to swing as well. My wife and I were walking my dog (which is my favorite activity) through the park the other day and a swing was empty. I told my wife that I felt like swinging, but I felt a bit odd doing it (i.e. a 50 year old man swinging with a couple of young girls seems a bit creepy). Anyway, she encouraged me to do it. It was fun.



My parents are older these days and don’t remember much from my childhood. Prior to my diagnosis, I sat down with my parents to review my history. My dad’s main comment was that he didn’t think too highly of the Psychologist they sent me to (during 3rd and 7th grades). LOL.

By the way, I agree that you cannot dismiss a diagnosis based upon a photo.

I agree with others that pictures don't tell the full story. If you are looking at someone, you might not be looking in their eyes anyway. If you are looking at the camera, maybe it's because you were constantly told to do so. I know I HATED my picture being taken, but everytime I complained I got a big spanking…so I learned to "look at the camera and smile" because many of the first pictures I remember vividly having tears in my eyes after a spanking for "not looking at the camera".