When did your symptoms appear?

Post Reply New Topic

at 10 or 11 it was made super obvious to me, yet I was never attempted to be diagnosed back then. In second grade big time, I noticed I had a very different unique 'conversational' (or lack thereof) style. Yet people always liked being around me so it worked OK way back then before the young children got all into thinking they're big people socially, at that first age I mentioned

_________________
Turn away from all the things of men- Turn away from the old deeds of sin- Turn away (,follow me,) ta never feed what's been- Turn away -- Jesus
the five senses are overrated
So, what is this relating thing you speak of?

I think I first noticed in 4th grade (about 9 years old). I tried out soccer for two years. I couldn't understand why all the other kids were able to talk and get along with each other so easily. I would have like to become friends with some of them, but I had absolutely no clue how to go about it.

Thinking back, I showed symptoms pretty much as far back as I can remember. When I actually noticed it:

At age 7, I realized that I spent a lot more time daydreaming than most. I was told that my handwriting was horrible.

At age 8, I noticed that I didn't like to socialize with most people. I preferred to hang out with a few other outsiders.

At age 11, I noticed that I didn't fit into anybody's social groups.

At age 16, I noticed that I was clueless about how people saw me.

Young. By 2cd grade I was getting in trouble for doing things that other kids suggest I do. I didnt realize they werent being friendly and would just do it. It seemed to confuse the teachers because otherwise I was well behaved.

By 4th-5th grade I remember sitting at my desk trying to puzzle out how the other kids managed to form groups and socialize during unstructured class time or recess.

By 7th I knew for sure I'd been spotted in some way and just had no idea how it had happened or why.

I remember thinking deep thoughts about the world before I could talk. I didn't talk until I was four, but since no one else was concerned about it neither was I. As early as I could remember I couldn't stand to touch anything. This is the one objective thing that set me apart from my family and everyone I knew.

My mother and Father seemed predictable and functioned well; I convinced myself that whatever physical. social, or behavioral problems I had were just part of childhood and one day I would be normal the way I perceived my parents.

The fact that my mother was always predictable and kind made me believe there was order and fairness in life. This optimism was stronger than any obstacle I encountered for most of my life. Naivety, yes. Belief in magic, perhaps. But it worked for a very long time.

I don't know if it is possible to have that kind of optimism, in today's world.

Sensory issues almost from birth, in fact my mother said it was hard for her to sleep I was so active before being born. I was over reactive to light, sound, darkness. I had sleep issues, food issues, late language, late socialization stuff, meltdowns. I had repetitive behavior, wander off, fearless...like holding in on to moving car bumpers. Pretty much non-stop since birth. I got sad thinking of it because there are too many things to list. I got nothing normal about me except I had a strong body and could play sports although I got hurt alot and had hand eye stuff when it included a ball...and not good at rules. Good at wild unsupervised, extra physical xsports. Kind of making me sad thinking about it..

I think that my very first symptom (apart from being a very quiet baby) must have been hyperlexia. If my mother remembers correctly, I used to lie in my crib and lecture people with complete sentences long before my first year. Which must have been an expression of my general motor clumsiness too as I first started walking around 9 months, then went back to not walking until I was an year and a half. Must have been a nightmare, I still haven't learned how to walk without tripping on even ground.
Sensory difficulties didn't emerge until I was about 4 or 5. General shyness has always been present, I remember very clearly being bullied by other children as early as kindergarten.
Ever since I could remember I have preferred the company of adults than of peers and a book than a party.
So it has actually started to show very early, only nobody paid enough to recognise that these were not normal traits and there were no opportunities for diagnosis at the time anyway. What I noticed first, however,and others didn't was that I positively hated loid noise during parties, it made me cry and throw tantrums. Must have been around my 4th year.

Around 7-8 years old I began to see how I didn't do the same things (social activities, game-play etc.) as everyone else. I was well aware of being an alien from another planet (although not in those terms) back then and that's been constant ever since.
In retrospect I was also stimming quite a bit but since no-one had a name for it back then I was just a fussy, sulky little brat who did some weird twitchy things.

Becoming aware of actual symptoms that were capable of being described individually and were directly related to various behavioural/societal difficulties didn't come until maybe 15-18 - but I only became aware of all this being AS a couple of years ago (I'm 59). Between 18 years old and then I was my very own punch-bag, and it's a relief to get that particular monkey off my back.
I was wrong: it's not my fault.

Well I've seen a video of myself at 2 years old. Apart from the really bad Beatles mop I was aloof, clung on to my mum like a koala and didn't make a sound. I've also been told that I got into routines when I was much younger. I did the usual lining things up and wailing at the slightest change, usually when I had to stop doing what I was doing because the family was going out. And when I was a bit older I didn't like to share my toys. "No, mine!" *grabs toy that doesn't even belong to me*.

I'm sort of oblivious, so I didn't notice that something was off with me until I was near 30 and I realized that I had driven off all but one friend I'd ever managed to make and had no idea why. However, I have felt different since I was a kid. I just blamed it on other things. I have a few minority cards to play.

Looking back now though, I can recognize that I've had symptoms since I was very young.

Eye contact - 3 months
Sensory sensitivities - 6 months, probably earlier
Poor coordination - 10 months (when I walked but had never crawled)
Need for routine - 1 1/2 years
Repetitive behavior - sometime in my first or second year
Nonverbal communication issues - 1 1/2 or 2 years
Social difficulties - 2 years (I did not display interest in other children. Other social problems became apparent later.)
Obsessive interests - 2 1/2 or 3 years

These are based on my parents' accounts. The early ones, like eye contact and sensory issues, are just estimates.

I was 8 when I recognized these behaviors as signs that I was fundamentally different from other people. I was aware of things before then, like that I flapped my hands, hated loud noises, and didn't like playing with other children as much as they liked playing together. When I was 12 I falsely concluded that I was fundamentally different in a bad way.

The earliest symptom I remember is when I was 3 and I was new in my classroom and I wanted everything to stay the same, even a slight change would set me off. I even remember I would come into the classroom and start moving things back to the way they were on the first day I was there. Then I started to get used to it and stopped. I also noticed then I was different than the other kids and I was at daycare where I got kicked out when I was four.

At age 5 I noticed I liked colors matching.

At age 6 or 7 I noticed I wanted to do things a certain way and I couldn't stand doing it differently. It felt too weird.

At age 7 I noticed I talked different

At age 8 I noticed I hated jeans and I wasn't as good at things like everyone else and it was also when I saw I wasn't good in groups and social groups. I also noticed I didn't do good at other friend's houses and when we be at other peoples houses visiting, I preferred playing alone. I also hated my skin touching each other when sweaty so I used to dig in my arm pits.

At age 10 I noticed I was clumsy and weird and people read me wrong because they had the wrong perception about me. I also noticed I talked loud.

At age 11 I noticed I had narrow interests and obsessions and preferred talking about them over and over.

At age 12 I learned my sense of touch and feel wasn't normal and that my brain ran too fast.

At age 14 I noticed I didn't do very good eye contact and I had a hard time looking at people when talking to them. I also noticed I couldn't tell the difference between joking and someone being serious. I also missed sarcasm and teasing.

At age 16 I found out my social skills were poor

At age 17 I learned I was very naive, couldn't read people nor pick up on social cues except I was in denial then. I didn't want to believe people weren't direct and wanted to continue to think they were being stupid and wanted me to read their minds.

20 when I noticed I didn't understand personal space but mom set me straight then so I was over that trait fast when she gave me the arm length rule.

22 when I learned I didn't like unexpected hugs or touch

24 when I noticed I had a hard time with human sense of danger but I know now.

Now looking back I can see more but back then I never noticed. I was 17 when I realized I didn't understand other kids growing up so I did stuff to them and couldn't understand my actions or their reactions.

I can remember once when I was very little my mom telling me to look in her eyes and being amused that my eyes would dart back and forth instead of just looking. I can remember things like that and yet I can't remember whether I took my pills with dinner.

I wasn't diagnosed with being on the spectrum until much later in my teen years when my dad pointed out that what I was experiencing sounded like classic autism.

However, as a kid I remember having those moments. I went through a complete and totaly cat phase when I was a kid. Actually it was any animal phase. I learned to mimic bird calls and talk to the birds, I learned how to hang out with my cat...even ate cat food. I always felt somehow connected with the animals more so than I did the kids at school.

My very first introduction to school was not a good one my bullying and isolation happened really early and I am being serious on this, happened in my Kindergarten years. I was isolated. I wasn't verbally teased until 2nd grade. Kindergarten and 1st grade was a lot of seperation and isolation and not a lot of kids wanted to hang out with me.

Some of it...kind of was...well I was weird. Why would anyone want to hang out with the kid who pushed a kid down because he was teasing a bird? Why would you want to hang out with the kid who talked to the soil and made a bunch of bird noises? Who walked around like a cat?

So yeah. I did a lot of socially inappropriate things and was immediatedly isolated because I was different.

I was bullied as early as kindergarten too.