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Was anyone else like this as a toddler?

Aecho

Aecho

Well-Known Member
There was a period of time when I was around 2 or 3 years old that I would wait for my mom to fall asleep and then proceed to tear the house apart every night. I'd put on my favorite movies, get into the food in the kitchen, make a mess in the living room (with one particular instance of me learning to make Papier-mâché and throwing it on the walls to make them stick). There was even an instance of me taking "vengeance" on my mom for not letting me have peanut butter before bed, so I waited for her to fall asleep and proceeded to take the peanut butter and spread it all across the house, including in her bed, sheets, and hair.

There were also times where I would run off from either my parents or from school field trips, causing a few instances of malls to lock down and whatnot. For instance, I ran off from mom at the mall, the mall had to lock down, and eventually they found me in a dressing room striking poses to the mirror. My mom wouldn't let me go on field trips because of it. I'd also walk out of pre-k class to roam about the school and entering other classrooms in the middle of class just to look to see what was going on in them. It got to a point where the school said I wasn't allowed back until I was on some sort of medication to get my behavior under control, which of course my mom refused to believe. She had to get me a psych eval just to prove I didn't need meds, where the child psyche said I might be on the spectrum (at the time of course the research on autism wasn't near where it is today, but if it had been I'd probably have been diagnosed with autism).

I've never met anyone besides my dad (NT or ND) that had a similar childhood. And no I do not have ADHD. Two different psychs have confirmed this.

Am I alone in this behavior?
 
I’m similar. The first instances you mentioned are what we refer to as “sensory seeking.” Getting all into things, smearing any substance, doing lots of wildly fun, thrillingly interesting, *active* stuff. When Autistics are sensory seeking, we tend to make epic messes, break stuff, etc. NTs aren’t like this, but when they have their own sort of very mild sensory seeking, it’s expressed as enjoying rollercoasters, wasabi hot sauce, etc.

The second situation you mentioned is called “elopement,” or wandering. It means we get either overstimulated or overwhelmed (too much social & sensory overload). This happens most often in people-y situations like school, or in a doctor’s waiting room filling up fast with people. Emotional dysregulation makes elopement more likely. “Bolting” can preceded the wandering. While wandering, one is in a shutdown state which is abrupt and deep, a heavy-limbed torpor... without true mental clarity, no clear awareness.... and trying to self-soothe with motion (walking). For some of us, this is just part of having fragile, reactive neurology in autism.

I still have elopement/Wandering/bolting. I wear a wrist band with an autism ID. My whole life, I’ve often suddenly found myself somewhere strange. Sometimes it’s dangerous. Twice I’ve been hit by a car, once I walked off a second story 25 ft high warehouse platform. Now, support staff help me identify which situations might be too much for me before going into them.

So yes, I can relate to sensory seeking and wandering.
Do you enjoy painting, modeling clay, sculpting, finger painting? Trampolining, swinging hard and high on a swingset? Sensory seekers often enjoy these things, and 5hey can even improve executive functioning and mood, done regularly.
 
I remember this one time when we were supposed to leave very early in the morning for my brother's Navy graduation thingy and in the middle of the night I drew a picture and glued it to the wall...with wood glue.
 
I've had a similar situation where I often ripped open toys and bean bags late at night just to see what was inside. 0-0 I never truly got in trouble for it though.
 
Warmheart said:
I’m similar. The first instances you mentioned are what we refer to as “sensory seeking.” Getting all into things, smearing any substance, doing lots of wildly fun, thrillingly interesting, *active* stuff. When Autistics are sensory seeking, we tend to make epic messes, break stuff, etc. NTs aren’t like this, but when they have their own sort of very mild sensory seeking, it’s expressed as enjoying rollercoasters, wasabi hot sauce, etc.

The second situation you mentioned is called “elopement,” or wandering. It means we get either overstimulated or overwhelmed (too much social & sensory overload). This happens most often in people-y situations like school, or in a doctor’s waiting room filling up fast with people. Emotional dysregulation makes elopement more likely. “Bolting” can preceded the wandering. While wandering, one is in a shutdown state which is abrupt and deep, a heavy-limbed torpor... without true mental clarity, no clear awareness.... and trying to self-soothe with motion (walking). For some of us, this is just part of having fragile, reactive neurology in autism.

I still have elopement/Wandering/bolting. I wear a wrist band with an autism ID. My whole life, I’ve often suddenly found myself somewhere strange. Sometimes it’s dangerous. Twice I’ve been hit by a car, once I walked off a second story 25 ft high warehouse platform. Now, support staff help me identify which situations might be too much for me before going into them.

So yes, I can relate to sensory seeking and wandering.
Do you enjoy painting, modeling clay, sculpting, finger painting? Trampolining, swinging hard and high on a swingset? Sensory seekers often enjoy these things, and 5hey can even improve executive functioning and mood, done regularly.
Click to expand...
I remember really enjoying swinging really high on swing sets (haven't been on one in a while) to the point where the contraption would almost tip over. I also really like spinning around in chairs really fast. Not really into sculpting personally, but I usually wring and flap my hands really hard to "reset" them in a way I guess.

I've never really wandered into any really dangerous areas, though there were instances where I got lost and when I realized I was lost I started panicking. I was like 18 when I was walking around a forested area in a rather large park, ended up tripping into a puddle of mud, and finally after about an hour of frantically trying to find my way out, ended up on the complete other side of the park in a neighborhood covered in dried mud. My mom didn't let me walk on my own after that.
 
Ameriblush said:
I've had a similar situation where I often ripped open toys and bean bags late at night just to see what was inside. 0-0 I never truly got in trouble for it though.
Click to expand...
I've taken apart computers and electronic toys for the similar reasons. I think I actually broke a few things because I couldn't remember how to put them back together. I would always get into stuff I wasn't supposed to just because I wanted to see what was inside. I would look through other people's things, mostly my mom's stuff. I was banned from her room for doing that. Didn't stop me though, that's how I learned to be incognito about my sleuthing.
 
SchrodingersMeerkat said:
I remember this one time when we were supposed to leave very early in the morning for my brother's Navy graduation thingy and in the middle of the night I drew a picture and glued it to the wall...with wood glue.
Click to expand...
Well you had to make sure they would admire your artwork somehow, right?
 
Aecho said:
There was even an instance of me taking "vengeance" on my mom for not letting me have peanut butter before bed, so I waited for her to fall asleep and proceeded to take the peanut butter and spread it all across the house, including in her bed, sheets, and hair.
Click to expand...

So how did your mom sleep through you putting peanut butter in her hair?
 
My eldest brother did, often.

I joined in with his mess and perhaps was satisfied with that because I never initiated it.


Definitely wondered off out of school.
Strict Roman Catholic nuns and an already bewildered and scared five year old.
Not a good combination.

I went walk a bout often.
 
I often went to explore the woods behind our house. I somehow NEVER got lost. I knew those woods like the back of my hand and knew my way back. I could be in there for hours. My mom was adamant there was a pedophile or serial killer hiding in them all the time and forbade me to go into them alone...but I did anyway. And I came back unscathed every time. Sometimes my mom would send out a search party for me and have me taken back to the house and punished. I really wish she would have backed off and let me be a kid once in a while.
 
My mom would have burned my butt up if I had acted like that. All she had to do was give me "the look" and I knew I better straighten up quick.
 
I can't remember much at toddler age, but at about 3 years old I remember needing the toilet and not telling anyone but just standing and letting it flow. Also, the landscape looked flat and had no depth, I saw the pattern of fields in the background as a huge bridge. As a young child I had a lot of frustration meltdowns, hated having to hold an adult's hand to cross the road, I was aloof and didn't like hugs or seek affection. I didn't understand that I was supposed to do things with people, for example, if my family was getting ready to do something or go out, I had to specifically told or I wouldn't pick up on it. I also had this thing where I'd suddenly dash from one side of the room to another, including when someone was talking to me. I also liked to play by mixing various substances that I found round the house, and I loved music.
 
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