Highly active in early childhood?

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This link "What is Asperger's Syndrome?" on WrongPlanet.net says: -

"Many children with AS are highly active in early childhood, and then develop anxiety or depression in young adulthood. "

This is very true for me. I'm wondering what 'highly active in early childhood' means for other people with AS?

For me I remember in childhood being extremely hyper, not at all shy, completely ignorant of any kind of social customs, and basically being outspoken and brutally honest all the time. The depression and anxiety started to set in around 12-14 years old as self-consciousness set in, then realization of my differences and obsession with computers slowly replaced any social instincts. Went downhill socially from there... but uphill in other ways as NTs indulged in binge drinking whilst I studied my special interests. =)

But you could take out the "with AS" and still have a true statement...

Young children are more active than older children. And, if you are prone to depression, the most likely time to get it for the first time is during the teen years.

I'm not really sure what 'active' really means but I don't remember being hyper as a child. I remember being somewhat quiet and shy and spending lots of time playing by myself.

Before the age of 10 or so I remember sorting my legos before I would build anything, figuring out the fastest way to count the change in my dad's coffee can (eventually someone got me a change counter), and playing hockey (which I think I equally liked and disliked). I had one good friend who I would sometimes play with after school. I am told I was very well behaved.

After about 10 or so (ealier?) I started getting interested in computer programming. I know now that I kind of drove my parents up the wall talking about it all the time. Still pretty well behaved and quiet in middle/high school. (Except a year and a half where we lived in a new town/school... I think we moved back because if how poorly I was doing there).

For the most part I've always been a bit shy/soft spoken and certainly not hyper. I cant count the number of times my parents told me "We have guests over you need to come downstairs and socialize". Maybe I've always been a little anxious but I was never really depressed until about my second year of college where I realized that even other students and professors didn't share my computer programming interest as strongly as I did. Woohoo life story complete!

(PS: still on the fence as to whether or not I have AS so take my story for what its worth)

Yes, that describes me.
As a young child, I would go up to strangers, adults, and just start talking, even leaving the table sometimes in cafes to go and sit with another family, apparently.
I did some quite inappropriate things as well, I recall. I seemed to have a habit of upsetting other children, however, and ended up alone usually during school breaktimes and the like. I even went to a child amateur dramatics group, but even there, I had issues interracting and couldn't fit in. I find it astonishing that my parents didn't see this.

Once I hit 11, and went to secondary school, depression set in. I had been abused however also just prior, so I guess it was assumed it was totally down to that, but it wasn't. At secondary school, I really noticed my differences and isolation. I was lucky in that there was usually just one girl who would act as a sort of protector to me and who would try and calm me down when I got upset by how the others reacted to me. Even the teachers seemed to consider me odd, and would look at me strangely at times. I lost all interest in doing my work, developed anorexia and focussed only on writing and reading poetry during this time.

I have always wondered at how I was so seemingly outgoing as a child, and yet now I am riddled with social anxiety and have become more silent than talkative and don't attempt to even make friends anymore.

@oceandrop
what a perfect description of my childhood...
you really seem to be on to something there.

Apparently I was always running when I was really little. Just running around, with no apparent reason or purpose or game. I used to climb and swing (and fall off of) the banisters on the stairs--it was like a jungle gym....Until I got too big to do so without breaking things (I did break things....got in trouble for it) I used to jump/climb all over the furniture (like couches and chairs and tables--bookshelves do not work well for this purpose).

I didn't talk to people very much until I was approaching/in early adolescence. I didn't know how. I had nothing to say and I didn't tend to have much interest in conversation. Throughout my adolescence I struggled to understand what conversation was about and how it worked. I still find these things difficult, although I have a better idea of the rules of verbal interaction.

I only developed anxiety a couple of years ago--around 23, when I became more aware of myself and of other people (and how different I was), and could link up past, present and future to string events together into lifelong themes.

And NT toddlers aren't?

One thread says Aspies are placid quiet toddlers. Then you see another thread saying they aren't. I think there is no telling really. Toddlers are all the same, NT or Aspie. Some are quiet, some are hyper. In fact, most toddlers are highly active. They cannot sit still and are always shouting and yelling. This is why I don't like small children around me - their highly activeness agitates me. They must all be Aspies then.

I was. My mom says I would litteraly "bounce off the walls". I was super skinny because I was so hyper. My original diagnosis was ADHD.

I got more hyper as I got to about 8, right up until I was about 13. I used to like videoing myself, using an video camera, and I'll stand it on top of the desk in my room and film myself going mad. I seemed to get very excited when I was being filmed. I think that was just showing off though, like most kids do.

Nope. I've been extremely shy and low energy my whole life. I can literally count on one hand the number of times I've been hyper or overly excited.

That's me! I was very active when I was little. I was always running from one place to another, and I was very mischevious.