Signs of autism in your childhood

As a child, I created rich imaginary worlds and directed play with my siblings, where I would instruct them how to act out my stories. I pretended it was' the front room theatre company'. I liked the feeling of control it gave me. I continued to enjoy imaginary play beyond the age it was considered stereotypically appropriate. Around the age of 12 or 13, I was pretending to explore imaginary landscapes with individual friends and then documenting these adventures through writing and drawing.

I wrote stories constantly, filling notebooks with details about my worlds, drawing maps of them, and even creating my own languages, drawing sigils and badges, writing lists of common names and their meanings, and coming up with folk holidays and traditions.

I focused on intense 1-1 friendships throughout my childhood rather than a larger group. Our activities were mainly creative based, such as devising magazines or making dolls houses. One of these friendships ended abruptly in primary 5 and I did not understand why. I struggled to successfully interact when friendship groups became the norm in later secondary. I tended to get on better with people either older or younger than me, rather than my peers.

I was bullied in primary one to the point that my head got hit off a stone wall and I lost consciousness, but didn't tell anyone because I just accepted it as part of school life. Also a classmate once threatened to tell on me because I was 'colouring in the wrong way.' We were told to colour in a square. I had divided the square into 4 sections and coloured each one in individually. I was terrified of getting in trouble so I watched everyone else and copied how they were doing it.

I was called an 'old soul' often as a child. This seems to be a common thing for many (but not all) autistic people.

I couldn't cope with all the after school activities and going to play at a friend's house. On one occasion my mum had to come pick me up because I was hiding under my friend's bed and wouldn't come out. After that she stopped all my extra curriculars because she saw it was too much for me.

I collected semi precious stones and pottery from the beach, and arranged them very particularly, and got annoyed if people moved them.

I didn't understand good-natured teasing (that marks you as part of a group). I took it that I had done something wrong that made me stand out and took care to never do the thing that got me teased again.

Edit: I was also sensitive to the (carbolic!) soap at my nursery and had to bring in my own special soap. 

As a child, I created rich imaginary worlds and directed play with my siblings, where I would instruct them how to act out my stories. I pretended it was' the front room theatre company'. I liked the feeling of control it gave me. I continued to enjoy imaginary play beyond the age it was considered stereotypically appropriate. Around the age of 12 or 13, I was pretending to explore imaginary landscapes with individual friends and then documenting these adventures through writing and drawing.

I wrote stories constantly, filling notebooks with details about my worlds, drawing maps of them, and even creating my own languages, drawing sigils and badges, writing lists of common names and their meanings, and coming up with folk holidays and traditions.

I focused on intense 1-1 friendships throughout my childhood rather than a larger group. Our activities were mainly creative based, such as devising magazines or making dolls houses. One of these friendships ended abruptly in primary 5 and I did not understand why. I struggled to successfully interact when friendship groups became the norm in later secondary. I tended to get on better with people either older or younger than me, rather than my peers.

I was bullied in primary one to the point that my head got hit off a stone wall and I lost consciousness, but didn't tell anyone because I just accepted it as part of school life. Also a classmate once threatened to tell on me because I was 'colouring in the wrong way.' We were told to colour in a square. I had divided the square into 4 sections and coloured each one in individually. I was terrified of getting in trouble so I watched everyone else and copied how they were doing it.

I was called an 'old soul' often as a child. This seems to be a common thing for many (but not all) autistic people.

I couldn't cope with all the after school activities and going to play at a friend's house. On one occasion my mum had to come pick me up because I was hiding under my friend's bed and wouldn't come out. After that she stopped all my extra curriculars because she saw it was too much for me.

I collected semi precious stones and pottery from the beach, and arranged them very particularly, and got annoyed if people moved them.

I didn't understand good-natured teasing (that marks you as part of a group). I took it that I had done something wrong that made me stand out and took care to never do the thing that got me teased again.

Edit: I was also sensitive to the (carbolic!) soap at my nursery and had to bring in my own special soap.