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.
When I was trying to recall things about my childhood for the assessment, I was quite surprised to realise that I have almost total recall of primary school age (steps up to the portacabin that was our classroom, playground, the parquet in the school hall), but middle school is a black hole. I can remember almost nothing of school ages 8-12.
Wonder if it's due to more social and/or academic demands being made on you from age 8 onwards... If you can remember things from age 12 upwards this is probably not the case. Do you have any theories about this?