How to bring back childhood memories?

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Hello guys,

I have a formal diagnosis of Asperger's, but the docs weren't sure as I didn't have enough data from my childhood. I'm going to have my second assessment with another doc next week and am trying to be more prepared this time. I don't have anyone who I could ask how I behaved as a child - my mom is in total denial and she is the only person I could have asked. Still I managed to pull out some details from her, which might be or might not be sufficient.

Could you help me how to remember things I have long forgotten? I am planning to go through old photos and visiting the places I grew up, but I'm not sure anything will pop up, the landscape changed so much since then.

A cookie dipped in tea?

Nah, I never did it, it will ruin the crunchiness. But if you meant eating or drinking food I especially liked or disliked in childhood, it might work. Thank you!

Events especially traumatic ones can trigger memories ....then occasionally those can trigger others when your mind goes back to that time and issues around those events and their memories .. less trying to remember and more letting the memories flow back to you ?

I remember the traumas pretty well. I'm looking more for sensory issues for example. As an adult I have them, but I cannot remember how I was as a little one. And that's nearly impossible

This might be hard to get a grip on . But have read somewhere that every experience you have ever had is recorded on engrams is the brain . The connections to those engrams may get a little rusty as time. Passes but they do not go away. Engrams are formed from the 5. Or 6. Senses , may or not include the emotions but surely emotions have triggers aswell . As aspies live in a world. By facts . Emotions may color facts . But I think that is more a NT. Function. And this is in no way a reference to any lack of emotion by aspies . But I do think aspies see facts more distinctly , in my humble opinion .

A remembered scent can trigger a flood of memory. If locations have only been renovated, what remains may also work. You might also try old contemporary music and film. Writing your history in chronological order will at least highlight the gaps to wonder about. There may be school or other records.

Can't help you there. I have more childhood memories than the average person, and I don't just remember how I was as a child but I also remember how everyone else in my family were as children too (the people who I grew up with of course).

Are they repressedor have you just forgotten them?

Possibly memory repression is a self protection mechanism .

Attempting to retrieve past memories is more likely to result in your mind fabricating false memories.

What about old school reports, or old doctors notes? Could you try looking your teachers up on Facebook?

interesting thing .... not having had to fabricate memories, if am believing there is a chance that at
5 yrs old eating beef
liver caused me to regurgitate the vile stuff . gave me no doubt as to how , it caused my tastebuds to revolt . about that same time was getting fed cold hotdogs as a snack . Causing me to politely be eating 2 bites aand then disappear into the basement . At which time would deposit the the half eaten hotdog meat far underneath the furnace . So as to hopefully think they would never be found . several years later was tasked to cleaning them up . Which surprisingly did not mind as the dry air underneath there had dessicated them to a point of being hard as a rock .
but cannot tell you if i deposited them anymore than five times .There were no particular incidents to trigger these memories Other than this thread and its posting. And a distaste to hotdogs . Unless they are cooked and in a bun and some condiments .

Thank you guys!
So far I tried photos, visiting my hometown, eating what I liked as a child (ah it didn't taste like my mom made it for me), drawing as I did it almost every day, listening to old music and now comes the movies.

What I miss is the period before 7 years old.

My hometown helped me to remember I loved to peel cortex from trees and I never let my wounds (from falling) to heel as I also peeled the scab. When I mentioned the trees to my mom she immediately said "you can't do that, it will make the tree sick, this is what I told you". I was a very obedient child, so I almost always stopped doing something even if I liked it when people told me. So this is the other factor, suppressing.

A year ago when I read an article about Autism and looked up the syndromes, I was pretty sure I have never stimmed or rocked side to side. But I decided to give it a chance and keep a close watch on myself whether I do it. And surprisingly I noticed I stim a lot and in extremely stressful situation I rock like crazy from side to side or back and forth. And the memories just flooded and I started remember everything, when and who asked me to stop because it's noisy or makes them dizzy etc.

Attaching a time frame to images that roll up in your head , can be difficult , but suddenly as you get a reminder image , then you can figure . You prolly were not playing with with pet elephants or something ridiculous , as a baby
So. A degree of reason is involved in letting memories roll forward , and no need to criticize potententially erroneous
Memories , just let them make connections , and let your own mind validate the memory , when that happens you can start to connect Time frames , My mere writing this technique could possibly askew you real memories .
But after a short time . It is clearly a issue of your
mind playing connect the dots . One thing can lead to another and almost as silly as it sounds , you almost never know , what’s gonna trigger this connection of dots . Just am aware to me , this goes on consciously when am not stressed or anticipating some other stressor .. It is so much easier when your just passing time ,doing something unrelated . Must be prepared not to let the bad memories unhinge your emotional state . Which is not condusive
To just allowing memories to flow . Past Things have there place . In the past , I feel .
And I would echo dearones advise on methods to induce recall .

I was diagnosed at 56. I was able to find school records--written reports from my teachers (not very flattering). I also ask my mom. In your case, don't address the autism directly, but ask her simple behavior question about relationships to other children (where you social) or things that made you angry or frustrated. But autism in women is different than in men, so you may present more socially anyway. You can also interview anyone that knew you in your childhood.

My earliest memory was at around 2 years 3 months old. It was a traumatic event. And the details were rather vivid.

You may want to PM, MountainGoat, because I believe his memories go back even further to an even younger age. He may have some tips on retrieval.

I do not know if I can help you. But I will take a try.

First the basics:
There are five stages to sleep. These are called: Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, and REM sleep. Non-rapid eye-movement (NREM) sleep is divided into stages 1, 2, 3, and 4, representing a continuum of relative depth. Stage 1 & 2 is light sleep. Stage 3 & 4 is deep sleep, which is sometimes referred to as slow-wave sleep (SWS). Rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep is sometimes referred to as Stage 5 sleep. REM sleep is defined by the presence of desynchronized (low-voltage, mixed-frequency) brain wave activity, muscle atonia, and bursts of rapid eye movements. “Sawtooth” waveforms, theta activity (3 to 7 counts per second), and slow alpha activity also characterize REM sleep. Each sleep stage has unique characteristics including variations in brain wave patterns, eye movements, and muscle tone. Sleep cycles and stages were uncovered with the use of electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings that trace the electrical patterns of brain activity.

One of the primary functions of REM sleep is brain housekeeping. It takes all our experiences from the day that are stored in short term memory and moves them to long term memory and then wipes short term memory buffers clean.

In my humble opinion [IMHO}, when you think of your consciousness, you are describing your primary mind. But in reality you have two separate independent conscious minds. The primary one is the one that you know. But the other one is hidden. For lack of a better term it is your REM mind. This mind has experienced all your memories and doesn't just sit idly by during the rest of day and night but learns. It is extremely fast and seems to move at light speed. Most people do not even know it exists.

There is an old idiom called “sleep on it”. This phrase was coined and has been around at least since the 1500’s. It means, “to postpone a decision until the following day so that one has additional time to consider it”. I would probably phase it as, “A person goes to bed thinking about a problem and in the quiet of their dreams a solution appears and they wake up the next morning afresh with the answer.” I find this idiom to be quite true.

So my recommendation is to sleep on it. Turn your hunt for early memories over to your REM mind and let it search for them for you.

So how do you do this? Well you will need to get a good nights sleep. For me around the 4th or 5th hour of sleep, my REM brain will have performed its housekeeping function and decided to come out and play. It will answer all types of questions, even ones I didn't ask. At this point, my primary conscious will begin to wake. I have to force it to get up. And then I collect the many thoughts from this consciousness and write them down as quickly as I can. I cannot let it go to the morning because by then the REM mind will have completely done its wipe to short term memory and I will be unable to remember even what I asked it.

So over the years, I have learned techniques to train my mind and harness this stage of sleep. [I scatter blank writing tablets around the house at strategic locations. Blank 3” x 5” writing tablets work best for me with fine black felt-tip pens.] Whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, I jot notes of everything I can remember and then I go back to sleep. Sometimes even when I am awake, the information data stream does not stop but continues even while I am writing notes. But then after a while, I return to bed and a few minutes later, my mind explodes into more thoughts. And a short time later, the buffers have again filled up and I automatically wake up and jot down some more notes. This can go on for hours; sometimes I go through this cycle 3 or 5 times per night times then my mind becomes rested and I stop my restlessness and finally I return back to sleep until dawn. When I wake up, I collect all my written notes and scribbles and read through them. I then stand in awe for a while. Next, I take my notes and transcribe them into the word processing file. It is like my mind can fabricate the missing puzzle pieces of a vast puzzle.