What behaviors did you have as a toddler?

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jep1980
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12 Dec 2011, 9:06 pm

Can anyone please give examples of behaviors associated with autism that you had as a toddler, and please let me know what diagnosis you have? (eg. scripting, echoing, stimming, speaking or lack of). I truly appreciate any feedback I receive.



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12 Dec 2011, 9:13 pm

I don't know, I wasn't recording my own behaviors when I was a toddler! I do remember running around and making noises as I stayed in my own head.


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12 Dec 2011, 10:10 pm

pacing in circles w or without music
organizing toys
wouldn't talk to preschool teachers or other kids
started talking at normal age but did a thing where I only said each new word once, then started talking in complete sentences when I was 2ish
quick to startle at loud noises
pulled at itchy clothing, tags, seams, etc

Diagnosed with "borderline Asperger's" at 23



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12 Dec 2011, 10:13 pm

My mother considered me the perfect baby, but the hardest toddler ever. My brother was the exact opposite.

I was excellent at memorizing books read to me and I fooled people into thinking I read at an early age until I was given a reading test. I could also talk at 9 months and I was speaking pretty well for my age, of course, that didn't mean I could communicate. Around the age of three, although I was developmentally ahead for my age, I sort of started to plateau and mostly stopped developing for a couple years causing me to start lagging behind a little and then I was diagnosed with Aspergers around the age of five.

One of the main behaviors that led to my diagnosis though was putting things in my mouth that I wasn't supposed to. Back then, I liked to use all five of my senses for everything, including taste.



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12 Dec 2011, 10:21 pm

When I was a toddler, I could talk, but I was mostly quiet and only spoke occasionally. I was introverted, but interacted with people I knew well. I also knew my name and responded to it for the most part. I flapped my hands a lot. Speaking of hands, I got upset if they were dirty, I hated having stuff on my hands. Clothes were super itchy, and I sometimes threw fits in crowded places. I have Asperger's.



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12 Dec 2011, 10:25 pm

according to my parents

I was a spinner
I was a flapper
Didn't speak until after 4
Lined up toys
Cried alot and for a long time.
Very picky with food.
Bothered by bright lights
Was picky with clothes
Had screaming fits if someone was cutting my hair. Going to the barbershop was "hell"
My favorite toys spun.

One person diagnosed me with autism
The other with aspergers as an adult.

I think they are both correct as in I could see why both would come to their conclusion. As an adult I am high functioning. I've crossed lines I thought I would never cross and continue to improve in areas that seemed hopeless in the past. So...I'm close to being an aspie.



btbnnyr
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12 Dec 2011, 11:00 pm

My mother tells me:

Lining up piles of dirt
Stacking blocks
Reading
Memorizing
Rocking
Melting down every morning before preschool
Shutting down everyday at preschool
Not noticing people
Not speaking
Not gesturing
Not moving around much



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12 Dec 2011, 11:27 pm

I was not diagnosed with aspergers until I was a teenager.

I could speak very well and talked way too much about topics that nobody cared about.
I was very attached to my mother and would cry when she left me.
I threw horrible tantrums. I had very poor motor skills. I had trouble cutting and could not hold a pencil correctly.
Playing with other kids was difficult and I did not know how to share.

I learned this from my mother.



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13 Dec 2011, 12:44 am

According to what I have read about myself and what my mother has said. I had ritualistic behavior and I seemed to have OCD behavior, I also wrung my wrists, I avoided eye contact and would look around when people speak to me, I wouldn't tolerate touch but yet I didn't mind being touched by my parents, good with puzzles, no speech and I said single words play skills below the age level, I didn't seem to understand speech unless my parents sang to me, got upset with lot of chaos and too much noise, held a pencil and scissors wrong, problems with sharing but yet my mother tells me I always shared, problems with change, and I remember I liked putting things in my mouth and liking things the same and needing to sit in the same seat and playing with my toys the same way.


Diagnosed with autism when I was 2 or 3 (which my parents didn't buy) and then with AS when I was 12.



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13 Dec 2011, 12:45 am

banged my head on the floor, then cried cuz it hurt, repeat, repeat, repeat
gagged myself with my fingers and did not have the ability to figure out if I pulled my hand out that I would stop gagging
very picky eater
did not like to be held
meltdown often
held my breath until I passed out when I got mad
late walker
late talker

as an infant, I had colic (crying non stop for hours on end)
and the only thing that comforted me was being wrapped tightly in a blanket

diagnosed with pdd-with classic autistic traits when I was 8


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13 Dec 2011, 12:57 am

Typical HFA presentation; these I know for sure:

Aloof to most people, other than my mother
Lined up all of my stuff
Counted and sorted stuff rather than played with it
Developed speech late, then had poor speech with problems with pronouns
Was mild mannered, easily led, and passive to those I wasn't aloof to
Early walker, and exceptionally good with motor stuff

I then changed to something resembling AS after I got my speech locked down with therapy (6), and then went on with the obsessive interest.



Tamsin
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13 Dec 2011, 1:41 am

Edited: Reworded list.


* Anti social
* Would cry and/or hide and/or look away if strangers talked to me
* Did not have imaginative play
* Had certain movies that I would watch every day for weeks on end
* Would reenact whole movies, with precise quotes
* Would sometimes speak in quotes or repeat what others said
* Separation anxiety (maybe not a sign of Autism, but I would scream and cry whenever my parents left for work or dropped me off at school)
* Aloof
* Stacking/organizing objects
* Avoided eye contact
* Learned to read before starting school
* Obsessed with books. My friends got mad at me because I never wanted to play with them. I would go over to their house to see what books they had.
* I think I flapped my hands as well.
* Not sure if this is "normal" or not as I have very little experience with toddlers, but in videos I have seen whenever I talked it was always very quietly and most of what I said weren't actual words. Even at 3 years old I would be like "amfjnosihuehjhbnsland" and make noises but not say actual words. I also mumbled a lot.
* As a baby/toddler, whenever I heard a loud noise I would cover one ear with one hand (right ear, right hand or left ear, left hand). Sometimes I would drop to the floor as well, like I was trying to hide from the noise.
* I also seem to remember seeing on videos that when I was busy stacking video tapes my parents had to call my name several times before I looked in their direction.


There may be more but that's all I can remember for now.



Last edited by Tamsin on 14 Dec 2011, 2:29 am, edited 3 times in total.

AlastorX
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13 Dec 2011, 5:24 am

Ok, I don't remember objectively but, from what others told me:

I started talking a bit late (not so late it would be abnormal though) and it were full sentences
I was obsessed with colors
There were songs and books I listened to, or wanted to be read to me over and over and over again
Certain objects fascinated me (I liked going to museums, and once there was abstract sculptures exhibit which was not large but we spent two hours there, because I was just walking around fascinated with those sculptures)
I was very difficult to put to sleep
I was extremely afraid of people with long/er black hair for some reason
Sometimes, I was unresponsive and I kept talking on and on about certain things (I have it taped)
And, for the life of me, parents were unable to teach me certain things (shoelaces) I figured them later by my own while, on the other hand, I was very, very good at remembering things.

None of things seemed a big problem at that time, the problems got more visible as I grew older and had to interact. In my country, compulsory education begins at the age of 7, before that there is kindergarten which is optional. I was there for a year, it wasn't working very good, so mom pulled me out and after that, I was home-schooled (until 1st grade) and it went great.



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13 Dec 2011, 5:47 am

I lined up all of my toys
I flapped my hands
I flicked my fingers in front of my eyes
I didn't babble
When I did learn to speak (on time) words were few and far between
I span myself round a lot
I didn't respond to people (Mum thought I was deaf)
I rubbed myself along the carpet to get 'burns' because it felt good
I was oversensitive to clothes
I hated getting wet
I took everything literally and didn't understand tone of voice
I rarely cried (as an infant)
My animals had to be lined up in a specific order at bath time
I had massive 'tantrums' which we now know were overloads
I didn't interact with other toddlers
When playing, I repeated the same actions over and over again

There's more but I can't remember it all (Mum told me some, I saw the rest on baby videos). I was diagnosed at 19 with Asperger syndrome, however several professionals have suggested that I fit the criteria for classic autism as a young child. I have also been told HFA by some people... I get so confused!


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13 Dec 2011, 6:23 am

Rolling objects (apples) through the sand.
Having a routine
Lining up objects (usually cigar wrappers or shells) and sleeping next to them.
Flapping.
I did a lot of rolling on the ground and put my feet up against walls.
Acted like a cat. Later I acted just like a dog. I did not like my fingers, I wanted paws!
Screaming (but was really quiet when not)
Not looking at people or wanting to be near them.
Having a koala grip to my mothers neck.
I went through a biting phase.
Didn't want to share my toys and screamed and grabbed other toys off kids at playgroup.
Cried when siblings forced me to play with them.
I didn't play, was more a prop.
Didn't babble but was late to speak.
Was late to walk.
Could not get my own food from the cupboard. My mum said I'd look ill and she would ask me if I'd eaten and I'd shake my head.
Hyposensitive to pain, touch, sound, you name it.
Oh yes, I was absolutely obsessed with puzzles and could draw really well for my age. All I did was draw, all that mattered to me was to draw. Cats with wheels as feet. That was the perfect world for me.


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13 Dec 2011, 8:03 am

My parents say I was a typical toddler, looking back.


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