Autism and Memory

I have been reading the book "The Reason I Jump", and I was very interested in the description given of the way memory is experienced and organised in people with autism.

Does anyone else on the spectrum experience traumatic memories as if they are happening right here in the present? I experience traumatic memories with all the attendant emotion (usually fear, panic and any pain) as if it is happening all over again, and this is also how Naoki descibes it. It seems a lot like the way people with PTSD decribe reliving their stressful memories.

Also, I also have memories organised in an odd way. Especially from childhood they are all sort of random, with big gaps where there should be memories of particular people or places there is nothing, but others are in incredible detail.

Just curious.

Parents
  • I am interested in what Longman and True Colors have said about how their memory works.

    I have an entirely non-language based thought process, visual, but also with music. Also I always think about many things simultaneously, and all the time. So I can be remembering things, working out a problem and arranging a piece of music at the same time (sorry if that seems a bit confused but it is very very hard to explain what goes on in my head using words), along with lots of other things, it's like a big mash up of pictures. I struggle to convert my thoughts into words because they aren't word-like in my head. I actually can't "see" words or numbers at all.

    I had trouble at Uni because I have to convert all text based material into a form that will work in my mind. This meant I had to do a lot of work, but it paid off in the sense that I know my subjects inside out and got very high marks. Plus it helped that it was science based. And, I've found that it is good to have a different way to think about maths.

Reply
  • I am interested in what Longman and True Colors have said about how their memory works.

    I have an entirely non-language based thought process, visual, but also with music. Also I always think about many things simultaneously, and all the time. So I can be remembering things, working out a problem and arranging a piece of music at the same time (sorry if that seems a bit confused but it is very very hard to explain what goes on in my head using words), along with lots of other things, it's like a big mash up of pictures. I struggle to convert my thoughts into words because they aren't word-like in my head. I actually can't "see" words or numbers at all.

    I had trouble at Uni because I have to convert all text based material into a form that will work in my mind. This meant I had to do a lot of work, but it paid off in the sense that I know my subjects inside out and got very high marks. Plus it helped that it was science based. And, I've found that it is good to have a different way to think about maths.

Children
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