Diagnosed Late? Let’s Talk Childhood Signs

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Hi folks,

I was diagnosed autistic at 44 — and it still feels surreal to write that. Looking back, the signs were there, plain as day. But somehow, none of them registered with the adults around me.

One early giveaway: around age 9, I started unscrewing cassette tapes and flipping the reels so they’d play backwards — permanently. The sound was muffled (the tape head wasn’t reading the recording side properly, just the underside), but I was hooked. That warped, ghostly quality fascinated me. I even made compilations of songs I wanted to hear differently. It felt like a kind of time travel.

In a way, life feels like that now — revisiting old things, hearing them with new ears.

Mum was worried, understandably. But I noticed some of her records used reversed audio too. So I’d throw it back at her: “Mum, don’t listen! It’s backwards and it’s bad for you!” — as if I were warning her off her own music.

Did you have signs like that, in hindsight?

Were you obsessed with odd mechanics or peculiar sounds?

Did your hobbies involve strange-but-logical tweaks that only made sense to you?

Did you quietly try to rearrange reality in small, clever ways?

Or was it more about not fitting the expected mould, without knowing why?

When did you first realise something was different?

What early signs now seem blindingly obvious?

Did your family miss the clues — or just not know what to do with them?

Were you the quiet one, the quirky talker, the explainer-of-everything, or the kid hiding in the loos at lunch?

And did anyone else feel like animals — especially cats — understood you better than people did?

I’d love to hear your “how did they miss that?” moments. Humour very welcome — we’ve earned it.

— Mike (@MikeCheque)

Cool, I never knew videotapes could do that.



No.


No.


No.


I didn't. The child social services realised it for me.


None. I was the anxious, hyperactive kid.


Not really.

Yet I was diagnosed with Asperger's so f*****g early in life.
Sorry, I know this is a thread for people diagnosed late but I do feel so left out on sites like this being the only one who was diagnosed in childhood even though I didn't have any speech delays or obvious signs.

When I was a young kid, people noticed I had weird anxiety issues and behaviors but thought it was just part of me being a "future artist". I loved drawing cartoons, especially animals because of Disney and Looney Tunes and stuff. That was before the furries ruined everything. Or the anti-furries, I really don't know.

I think I did try once to reverse a cassette tape but I had trouble putting it back together and figured it probably wouldn't have worked, anyway.

When I was a kid I had friends, did well in school except for math and phys. ed, and was usually happy. But when I became a teenager I didn't know why I suddenly had to give up everything I liked as a kid. I was not good at socializing and relating to other teens. I was treated like garbage because cartoons were supposedly all I cared about. I was also becoming fascinated with anime but was afraid to let others know for some reason and this was before Pokemon or whatever. My anxiety got really bad. I developed emetophobia and at school my whole world just seemed to revolve my fear of vomiting. I'd say things that were stupid and inappropriate and wouldn't know I did until my mother pointed it out. When I was around 15 my mother lectured me a lot, saying I should know better at my age, and that I should have other interests besides cartoons. I asked her why I was so different. Nobody seemed to know the answer, even though I saw many psychologists and got tested several times.

It's like I knew how to be a kid, but never how to be a teen. Teen's lives are supposed to revolve around being social and peer relations and their superficial appearance. I would stay in my bedroom and role-play with stuffed animals and dolls because it was so much easier and more enjoyable than socializing with real people.

When I was a kid I loved swimming and would bounce around in the water a lot. I guess that was an early sign of autism? I didn't flap or rock or spin, but I loved how differently my body felt in the water. Instead of this overweight blob that could barely stand up straight on land.

Like many if not most other aspie females, I not only didn't get diagnosed until I was an adult, but my whole life had to hit rock bottom before I was.

Was THIS a sign of autism: I'd unpeel the wrapper on crayons and place the "raw" crayon on the top of a heat register so that the heat would make it "bendy." I loved doing this but it was short lived because my mother found out and forbade it. I then snuck a crayon on a register, but my sister outed me, and again, my mother forbade it, and being an obedient child, I stopped altogether -- but melted wax fascinated me. I just had to accept that the experimenting had to end.

Also fascinated by window shades, the kind that roll up all the way into a cylinder, and they have a pull cord (these were the only type of shades decades ago, not like the fancy cordless ruffled ones of today).

Nobody suspected autism when I was a child, but I was known as the weird one, or the ARTistic one.

I displayed special interests that completely consumed me. Basically, any creative projects I did would be related to my special interest and it would dominate any conversation I had. I'd infodump on strangers and relatives.

I lined toys up like a military inspection.

Even as a teenager I wobbled between high-masking and being unable to conceal fixation on special interests.

Somehow I made it to adulthood before the topic of autism came up, due to a coworker who's husband worked with autistic kids.

I feel like a lot of my behaviours were screaming autism even if my dad trained me to mask well.

You got us all curious: What was this special interest?

@MikeCheque
Maestro Mike,

thank you for your engaging post;
My childhood signs and how they were missed are humorous, but also pretty standard
- I was fully into my special interest; computers from age 10 onwards. (i.e. you could set me next to one and not have to bother with me again till bedtime...)

How did they miss this:
Single mom trying to work 2 jobs, train to become a nurse, and manage 2 kids. She was extremely happy I was like this and never saw this as an issue...

kind regards,
Kada

Were you obsessed with odd mechanics or peculiar sounds?
I am not mechanical at all. I was and am obsessed with barking dogs in a negative way.

Did your hobbies involve strange-but-logical tweaks that only made sense to you?
My hobbies were not different than NT’s but they dominate my time more than most.

Did you quietly try to rearrange reality in small, clever ways?
In dumb ways.

Or was it more about not fitting the expected mould, without knowing why?
Exactly

When did you first realise something was different?
As long as I can remember.

What early signs now seem blindingly obvious?
After 2nd grade my school told my parents they could not help me and gave them two options. Home school him or send him to a private school. It was not because of behavioral problems, they literally could not get through to me.


Did your family miss the clues — or just not know what to do with them?
Nobody knew anything about autism thus no way of knowing they were clues. Sure they made mistakes out of ignorance but they were teachers and knew smaller classes were better so they sent me to a private school and that helped a lot. I am forever grateful to them. Many parents of my boomer peers tried to beat the autism out of them.

Were you the quiet one, the quirky talker, the explainer-of-everything, or the kid hiding in the loos at lunch?
Quiet one.

And did anyone else feel like animals — especially cats — understood you better than people did?
I am that rare autistic person who has no interest in animals

I’d love to hear your “how did they miss that?” moments. Humour very welcome — we’ve earned it.
I have always been very interested in the weather. Back in the 1960s they did not have the technology they do today. The local TV weatherman literally drew the weather map with chalk on a blackboard. Every night I would recreate the weather map for my dad when he came home from work.

One time as an adult I asked my dad if besides me and my siblings he had sired any other children before my parents got married. He said “Not that I know about”. I repeated that story at a family dinner. At this point they had been happily married for decades, them cheating is a thought beyond my comprehension. I thought that people would get a chuckle of out of that story. The look on my siblings face and slaps on my hand and “shusss” from my brother disabused me of that notion.

Dinosaurs, military vehicles, different animals, etc.

When I was a preteen I started collecting G1 My Little Ponies. I would have them all lined up on my bedroom desk. I even had a baby Sea Pony floating in a small plastic aquarium.

In the 90s MLP was replaced by Troll dolls. I adored them. I would not only have them lined up but I'd arrange them according to their size, age, and occupation.

I still have many collections but I worry about compulsive hoarding, even when I occasionally give some of it away to the thrift shop.