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JoelFan
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29 May 2015, 8:26 pm

Hey gang, I was wondering if anybody could share some of your experiences during your childhood years and if you had been diagnosed with Aspergers at the time, the reason why I'm asking more about Aspergers then Autism or a general childhood is because Aspergers is considered more higher functioning. So I really like to know if you guys had some of the same issues as some of us whom have (classic) autism did.

Share only what your comfortable with and thank you


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kraftiekortie
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29 May 2015, 8:30 pm

Before the age of 5, I was classically autistic.

Most of my memories of that time revolve around the smell of vomit--and being SCARED all the time.

I was stuck in something I could not get out of. I had no idea how to feel pleasure. And I could not create pleasure for myself until I emerged out of the classic autism at the age of 5 1/2.



screen_name
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29 May 2015, 8:39 pm

I'm not really sure what you would like to know, but here are some random things that might be what you are looking for:

-I didn't cuddle as a baby and cried until I was put down
-early on, my parents thought I was deaf. They took me for hearing tests periodically throughout my childhood just to keep checking.
-I started speaking at age 2, but only echolaically
-I began speaking more conversationally after I started reading, at age 6
-my 1st grade teacher put me in a cardboard box for the duration of the school year
-I wasn't allowed to be with the rest of my class (aside from lunch, p.e., and recess) until 5th grade
-my first friend was in 3rd grade
-she was my only friend until some of her friends became friends of mine in 7th or 8th grade
-I couldn't handle touching people--it felt like waves of electricity through my body
-I went to a LOT of various appointments trying to get a handle on what the heck was wrong with me or various solutions to various guesses of diagnosis (Aspergers came as an adult)
-I obsessively played with duplos well into middle school, always the same way: sort into four colors, make a yellow rim around the base plate, then red, then green, then blue...repeat. The damaged pieces went last.
-I loved to swim
-I loved gymnastics and did cartwheels instead of walking anywhere I could get away with it
-I hummed 100% of the time :P


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So you know who just said that:
I am female, I am married
I have two children (one AS and one NT)
I have been diagnosed with Aspergers and MERLD
I have significant chronic medical conditions as well


kraftiekortie
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29 May 2015, 8:43 pm

That's abject abuse--putting you in a cardboard box in first grade.



screen_name
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29 May 2015, 8:55 pm

It's still legal where I live. :(


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So you know who just said that:
I am female, I am married
I have two children (one AS and one NT)
I have been diagnosed with Aspergers and MERLD
I have significant chronic medical conditions as well


MollyTroubletail
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29 May 2015, 8:58 pm

I refused to speak to anyone (elective mutism) except to my sister, and then only in a secret language.

I made no sounds at all, neither crying nor laughing, even if I was hurt. My facial expression remained blank.

I ran away and hid from people if they greeted me or looked at me. I wouldn't make any eye contact.

I wouldn't participate at school and crawled down under my desk to do my own thing during classes -- usually to read a book at a much higher reading level than what the class was doing, or to play silent games that I'd made up.

Despite never participating at school I got straight A's on tests in every subject. Because of this and the fact I never made any sound, teachers learned to just ignore me and let me do whatever I wanted. Soon this made me believe that I was in fact invisible.

I enjoyed hiding in tight dark spaces: school lockers, closets, cupboard under the sink, laundry basket, narrow space behind the furnace in the basement.

I had an awkward and unusual gait and body posture. I had an unusual way of sitting down also: cross-legged, leaning forward till my forehead touched my feet, arms folded inside my rolled-up body. Rolled up like a hedgehog.

No expressive body language. Showed no reaction if another child hurt me. Once in a while would retaliate and hurt them back, but without speaking or showing any face or body reaction.

I would never bathe, brush my hair or change my clothes unless I was forced to.

If parents punished me it would have no effect and I'd keep on doing the same thing I was just punished for.



JoelFan
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29 May 2015, 9:18 pm

Hey screen_name, I'm sorry what I should have said if you had friends if so what was your social life like were you understood or not or if you were bullied what your school life was like what your family life was like. more or less a back story a life and time kinda format if you will.


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boredome
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29 May 2015, 9:33 pm

Umm. I don't really remember much of back then because it is a long time ago and I forget things, but this is what has remained in my head...

When I was really young, like a baby, my parents / relatives say that I didn't like to be around anyone but my parents, and if someone else went to hold me then I would be distressed and thrash around. And apparently when I saw the faces of other kids in picture books then I would cover my face with my hands. This anxiety has followed me to this day, I still don't like being in situations around people by myself.

School was painful to experience, I hated having to learn everything they taught us because I thought it was boring and stupid, I hated the monotony of it, I hated how everyone seemed to be, I don't know, it was just depressing. I never did any of the work if I could help it, but I remember getting good grades on the tests and stuff so it must have stuck in my head somehow. The main thing that made it bearable was hanging out with my friends during recess and after school.

I got informally diagnosed with selective mutism after a while, because I didn't talk a lot in conversations, and would sometimes just ignore people when they asked me things. I was generally a very quiet and meek person. The other kids seemed to be pretty tolerant of my differences, letting me sit in silence while they did group activites.

I became very sad when I was in fourth or fifth grade, I don't remember exactly when. It was school that was sapping the life out of me, it's hard to explain exactly why but I just really didn't like it. So at the end of fifth grade I left public school and became homeschooled. This solved one problem, but it introduced a lot of other problems at the same time. Because I no longer went to school and had a place to see the other kids, I lost all of my friends pretty quick. I started spending all of my time alone in the house with my parents, and my social skills took a hit. Being alone all of the time made me a very bored and frustrated person, and this made my sadness worse. Despite all of this, I kept being homeschooled for a very long time, up until the eighth grade I think.

Sorry for the wall of text. But yeah, that's pretty much my life


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