'When did you first realise that you were 'different'?'

Don't know if it was an indication of ASD, but finishing an entire set of Encyclopedia's aged 5 and asking my parents about covalent bonds might have been an early one.  I read anything back then.  Fiction, fact, everything in between.  I never had dyspraxia.   In fact I was the kid they couldnt keep in nursery.  I went out of childproof gates, over 9ft walls, over a couple of wooden gates.  i was the nightmare kid that could manipulate a situation and then spring free from confinement.  If I didnt manage to escape i'd just hide out somewhere in the playground.  im sure they were all close to a nervous breakdown for the year I spent there. ;)

Special schools didn't really exist back then (70's) and my parents even to this day have a view that their is nothing wrong with me, so going to a school for gifted children was never going to be on the books.  What they did do was ensure my life was rich with experiences, like holidays abroad for a month, speaking languages abroad, trips to museums, etc.  So I cant really complain.  But in school it wasn't good.  Outside school I made do.

I will have to disagree about special schools not existing in the 70s.

I was sent to a 'special' school in 1972.  It was special in the sense that we were all emotionally damaged.  The head of the school was a psychiatrist ( he had his certificate behind glass in his office).  The school had no academic curriculum.

Sorry, I should have been more specific.  I was referring more to schools catering for children with above average IQ.

So was the point of your school psychotherapy?  Did it run alongside normal curricuum?

Sorry about the special schools bit.  I kind of assumed from your inferrence that the school was of the hospital variety but didn't want to push on the subject in case it had been a far from good experience.  I know the term special runs the whole spectrum from gifted to borstal, or did back then.  Nowadays it seems from an educational context to describe the place that you send people with learning and attention disorders.

The word 'special' has multiple meanings.  

In my case the 'special' school was an alternative school to conventional schools.  I was badly bullied in normal schools so I refused to attend school for several months.  So I was sent to a special school.  The word 'special' was actually used to describe this school.  It was in the grounds of a major hospital and most of the staff were nurses.  

I was only nine years old when I started there.  And some dodgy things went on in that place.  Although I was too young to understand it.   Overall I enjoyed my year there.

The word 'special' has multiple meanings.  

In my case the 'special' school was an alternative school to conventional schools.  I was badly bullied in normal schools so I refused to attend school for several months.  So I was sent to a special school.  The word 'special' was actually used to describe this school.  It was in the grounds of a major hospital and most of the staff were nurses.  

I was only nine years old when I started there.  And some dodgy things went on in that place.  Although I was too young to understand it.   Overall I enjoyed my year there.

Sorry about the special schools bit.  I kind of assumed from your inferrence that the school was of the hospital variety but didn't want to push on the subject in case it had been a far from good experience.  I know the term special runs the whole spectrum from gifted to borstal, or did back then.  Nowadays it seems from an educational context to describe the place that you send people with learning and attention disorders.