Published on 12, July, 2020
The next phase of my ASD assessment is taking place in a few days (Full Developmental History). As a result I have been thinking quite a bit about my childhood.
Some memories are prompting incredibly vivid recollections of smells (the inside of my mother's jewellery box, the wooden floor in the school dining hall). In some cases physical sensations are triggered too (how it felt to wind up my musical box).
A couple of things have really surprised me:
Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
I was visiting my (NT) twin brother a couple of months ago - our childhood came up in the conversation - I can remember everything about where we lived when we were little (2-5 year olds) - every tiny detail, the places we went, the local area, the shops & library, the parks, places we played, describe all the houses - even draw a plan of our old house, the infant school, grass & flowers, the brick walls, the trees - the smells, the colours, our toys - everything.
My brother has no memory at all - we're 52 now.
That's really interesting, especially as you are twins. Perhaps it's partly because those of us who are autistic notice much more detail about things in the first place. In my case when thinking back to childhood previously all these detailed memories were shut away. It's as if a wall in my brain has just been taken down revealing a hidden compartment of memory!
I was amazed that my brother had nothing - no memories at all - even though we had spent that time as small boys being together 24/7. I was expecting to be able to share his memories - especially as you can look around the old area on google maps to refresh the data.
It's this sort of thing that reinforces the feeling of being very different from everyone else.