do autistic people remember their early childhood?

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I couldn't give either answer to the poll, because I have very little memory of my childhood. My memories only become clear from about 9-10 on. So my siblings talk all the time about things I used to do and say, and I'm just clueless. It's strange.

I have a very clear memory of being at an outdoor pool at 3 years of age. I was with my father and brother and my older brother was in the 'big kid' pool while I was in the kiddie pool. Since I was quite tall, I could never really submerse myself and show off what a good swimmer I was. I decided when dad wasn't looking to go into the shallow end of the big kid pool and see if I could swim around the shallow end. Well, let's just say I sunk like a stone and remember thinking "oh dear, how am I going to get out of this?" After about 30 seconds my brother alertly pulled me out in a panic and I couldn't figure out why. After all, I was a "good" swimmer and would have figured it out. I can still remember it was a sunny day about 25C out, which was hot where I grew up as a child and how cold the big kid water was compared to the kiddy pool. I checked out the pool and my memory was nearly 100% accurate (and the pool desperately needs maintenace too )

So, to answer the OPs question, yes I have very clear memories from 3 onward and some unverifiable ones from as early as 6 months If that 6 month memory is true (and all evidence points to yes) it was the most incredible feeling in the world, like I was in Heaven and have never experience such overwhelming joy before. No wonder babies smile so much! I also had what I suspect were memories of a past life in the 60s and 70s but nothing can conclusively prove or disprove it.


I wonder that too. Many (all?) the people I know will swear up and down that for example a store or restaurant opened in 19XX while I will tell them "no, it was actually December 7, 1987 at 11am". Every single time I can research it I have been correct, without exception! People must assume I just look it up: they can't believe I can literally remember details like that just like they happened yesterday. Note to any NTs reading this: having such a photographic memory is a TERRIBLE thing overall though because you can NEVER forget the bad things done to you in the past no matter how hard you try!

I read something on this topic a few months ago, actually:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/asp ... and-autism

I am always startled by how little my siblings remember of their early childhood, especially since I can remember all sorts of things back to age 2 or so. I remember the lime green Volvo station wagon and its brown-and-tan interior, for example. My parents traded that car in a couple months before my third birthday.

this is an excerpt from the link you posted.

We cannot make sense of our beliefs about life because we have too many early memories?
This is a lame attempt to pathologize something that we can do and they can't.