do autistic people remember their early childhood?

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i read on the net about autistic people remembering things that happened when they were toddlers. one even wrote she remembered things that happned when she was six months old!
me i remember the last stages of potty training, like using the potty instead of the toilet, and according to my mother, i matured at the same time normal babies did. i remember my older brother teaching me the word "goodbye" to say to his friends as they walked away, and i couldnt get it right, and again, my mother says i learned to talk at the same time normal babies did.
how far does your memory go, and what do you remember? and why is it that we remember better, when my short term memory is so lousy?

I don't remember much of my childhood at all, let alone my early childhood. I dissociated away from a lot of it, because well, it sucked.

I remember things that happened to me when I was a year old. I remember walking up the stairs and looking through the railings, pretending I was in the jungle. I also remember my mum and I writing my name, with her guiding my hand of course, when I was around that same age. I also remember the East Indian woman who tried to take me away from my mum. I was a little older and I kept on saying, "Mummy!" I was about 1 and a half at the time.

I also remember watching The Monkees when I was 2. I'd put my hands on the TV and try to hide the faces of the bad guys. I remember my mum cleaning the TV screen with Windex every three days. I also remember my love for music that I've developed at the time. The very first song I remember being played on the radio is 'Shangri-La', by The Kinks. I just didn't know the title of the song or the name of the band until years later.

I remember my sister being born when I was three. I remember being upset about all the attention that she was getting. I also remember that bog tin box of cookies that I got from my Grandpa and Nana for Christmas.

I remember watching Spider Man at the age of 4. I also remember playing with my cousins and watching Sesame Street. I also remember the not too happy things. The #2 accidents that my dad said I did on purpose, my mum yelling at me for having another isolated one a few months later. I'm lucky I didn't have those accidents every day. My parents would have physically abused me if I did.

I don't remember too much, probably because that's when my parents started noticing I was different from everyone else.

I have a lot of strong memories starting around 8 months.........not the hum-drum everyday things but times when we got ice blocks delivered......and the coal truck delivered coal via coal chute into the basement, riding on a trolley car in Chicago, etc. Nice old memories.

denny

Apart from a very small amount of very vague 2-second memories, I don't remember anything under the age of 4.

I can remember many different things from my toddler-hood and preschool years - sometimes I even astound my parents and relatives who have long since forgotten what I still remember. Of course, a lot of these memories were "aided" by seeing photographs and old videos, so maybe they don't count.

I voted "memory like most" but actually, I am not really sure what "most" people remember. It's not a subject that comes up too often, but the few times it has, it doesn't seem like my memory is so different from anyone else's.

I do know I tend to remember different, but not necessarily more, details than most people. I know this because it's common for me to hear "I remember [inset their memories], but I don't remember [insert my memories]" and then other people will tend to resonate with the memories of the other person, rather than with mine.

I can easily remember back to school days at aged seven or eight and looking at school photographs I can even remember their names. Earlier than that I can remember playing in a small (empty) plastic bath and the tingle from the static but that's about it.

I have a few vivid memories that are a bit earlier than most people (usually things I found either very pleasant or very frustrating) but globally I remember less of my childhood than most people.

It is a question that comes up regularly in assessments, psychotherapy, counselling, etc. and I also had the opportunity to compare my memories to those of other people my age. It turns out that I remember quite well the things I was doing (the toys I played with, the things I found interesting, later the books I read, the food I liked or didn't like, some activities I did, etc.) but I have almost no memory of my social interaction with anyone. The only exception is my grandfather, because he is a genius tinkerer and I have wonderful memories of him teaching me so many things (from wood working to electronics to fishing). Apart from that, it is very sparse. When I am asked what kind of parents my parents were when I was a child, I can't answer because I can hardly remember any of their behaviours. It is the same for my classmates in primary school; I have clear memories of my teachers but I can remember only 4 or 5 of the other children (for two of them, it is because they went on to middle school with me, the other ones are very vague and I only remember one or two events with them). I have more memories with my younger brother but it is still much, much less than most people have with their 1 year younger sibling.

I would be interested to know if anyone can relate with that.

I don't know just how young I was at the time but my first memory is of waking up crying in my crib and my mom coming into the room, picking me up and carrying my into her and dad's room. I am always impressing people when I talk of my memories of early childhood. Sometimes, when I first showed this ability for recalling things, my dad looked up information to confirm what I remembered. Nine times out of ten, I had it right.

I remember numerous events after I was 3. I don't remember much prior to that.

I have memories of being in my crib and being carried by my father as a baby and the house we lived in when I was 2. I have lots of memories from my toddler and preschool years.

It's interesting to me that this topic is on here, for I am working on a book dealing with my experiences of growing up with autism. I am including several sections about my earliest memories. My earliest memory is when I was 5 months old. There was a terrible storm with a tornado ravaging a neighboring town. The memory is actually quite clear and vivid.

I remember things from before a year old, from a year old, from two years old, three years old, and four years old. Not a continuous perfect memory, though. Just bits and pieces.

I can't remember much of anything before about 4 or so.