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When you were little what were some obvious signs that you had asperger's/autism?

I didn’t know I was on the spectrum until I was 31 but thinking back there were some signs,I was and still am a toe walker and even asked my psychologist if that can be a sign of being on the spectrum and she said yes,my family use to think it was funny that I walked on my toes and my grandmother use to call me her ballerina,i also was a wanderer and I use to walk out of my kindergarten class a few times and when I was a toddler I escaped out from the backyard with my Labrador at the time and walked as far as to the primary school near me,I also always had my interests especially in collecting and while a girl who likes my little pony and barbie may not seem out of the ordinary it was and still is a big interest of mine and also when I was around twelve my dad had a big talk to me about how I shouldn’t let other people know that I still like dolls,I have always been considered shy and had eye contact issues for years and also struggled with the feeling of being different from my peers but I couldn’t figure out what it was,another thing came to mind was when I was a kid I couldn’t stand the flash of the camera and use to cry when the flash went off,but sadly I went years not knowing why the other kids thought I was weird and also I didn’t seem to like the same stuff they did or why I didn’t care about being trendy or liking something because it was considered “cool” but I have gone over the thought about what if I knew earlier that I was on the spectrum would it have helped or considering that I was getting severely bullied and also getting abused at home would that information have made my life a lot worse?,I guess maybe finding out later was a blessing in disguise because I might of not at that time be able to accept it as I can now and that it was for the best I didn’t know until later.
 
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No one knew I had Aspergers as a child and even after it became public in 1994 it wouldn't be until I was in my late 20's in 2001. Typical when you're female. But even as a kid I had some unusual problems. I didn't learn to tie my shoes until I was 9 or 10 years old. I had such a bad time keeping up with the other kids in phys. ed class that I went to see a physiotherapist who tested me by seeing how I well I could catch a ball or play a game of hopscotch. I had anxieties and fears that were considered strange but people dismissed at it being just a part of my being an "artist". I could read and write extremely well for a kid my age but had a bad time with math. I would had friends as a child but tended to get along better with the younger ones, and I preferred role-playing with my dolls and stuffed animals than interacting with real people, which continued into my teens and even young adult years. When I first remember reading about autism it sounded like a scary and terrible disease that made kids unable to speak and were confused and frightened all the time. For most of my life if you told me I might be a "little bit autistic" I would have thought you were crazy. But since my diagnosis with Aspergers and learning how female aspies tend to act, I knew it had to be true. And that was a good thing because I had gone for so long not knowing why I was this way and there were no real answers.
 
my earliest memory is that of feeling different, standing on the outside looking in, not really connecting to people, not understanding social interaction, finding social interaction very artificial, living in my head,
 
didn't speak until 4. folks took me to a kid shrink, who tried to engage me in conversation, with no success. finally, he got down in my face and commanded, "TALK!!" to which I instinctively replied, "NO!!!"
 
my earliest memory is that of feeling different, standing on the outside looking in, not really connecting to people, not understanding social interaction, finding social interaction very artificial, living in my head,
omg same social interactions do seem very artifical and I can totally relate to feeling different. (when I was small I was convince I wasn't a human being and instead a cat from outerspace disguised as human)
 
omg same social interactions do seem very artifical and I can totally relate to feeling different. (when I was small I was convince I wasn't a human being and instead a cat from outerspace disguised as human)

I pretended that I was a ram in 2nd grade.
//
I was never diagnosed as a child (parents adopted the "He's just a boy" delusion, which I am paying for in adulthood), but some clues were mimicking characters that I liked growing up such as Data from Star Trek: TNG. I was very much fixated on toys such as Legos and Erector sets, and I could get lost in them to the point where I would lose track of time.

I craved concrete rules, and I didn't understand abstract social interaction concepts, but I loved learning about different classes of warships, and from the 4th to 6th grade I studied WWII to the degree where I read biographies about Hitler and Stalin because I wanted to figure out how that war started in the first place. I felt more comfortable talking to adults about topics that my peers weren't interested in, and as such I was bullied relentlessly for being a nerd for 9 years.

I think this is a good place to leave off; I don't want want to post a giant wall of text.
 
Are the short, stubby fingers really an autism thing? I certainly have short, stubby hands, not just stubby fingers. People always commenting on my tiny hands..

Not for me, I have large hands, for a woman, with long fingers. I always felt like a large breed puppy that had to grow into their paws! Too large for my wrists, and I didn't know where to put them, photos of me are awkward. They look nice now, but my fine motor skills are poor. I can write well, which is amazing for a Lefty, but it's rather tiring.
 
There are no videos of me when I was little, but my parents say I spoke late in life. I was very shy. From early childhood to this very day I've always wondered why I thought so differently than other people. I would be so focused on one thing. For example when I was about maybe 5 years old while watching the movie chitty chitty bang bang I became so obsessed with designing a car like that, one that could fly. I still remember my unbelievable confidence.
 
There is a videotape of me when I was 3 years old and the signs of autism could not have been clearer. I learned to read at that age, and that’s almost all I ever did. When I wasn’t doing that, I was fixating on my obsession with cars. I would run them down a toy track and watch the wheels spin. I would memorize the makes and models of the cars, and whenever we went out, I would ask strangers about the kinds of cars they drove. They thought it was adorable. Later, I became obsessed with people’s house numbers and would recite those of family and friends when asked.

In preschool, I was by myself all the time, reading in the corner. The teachers tried to get me to play with other kids, and when I did, I didn’t get along with them. I think if I wasn’t an only child and my parents had someone to compare me to, I would’ve been diagnosed a lot sooner.
 
Not for me, I have large hands, for a woman, with long fingers. I always felt like a large breed puppy that had to grow into their paws! Too large for my wrists, and I didn't know where to put them, photos of me are awkward. They look nice now, but my fine motor skills are poor. I can write well, which is amazing for a Lefty, but it's rather tiring.
I have the opposite,I have small hands even by women’s standards but I have long fingers and small wrists,but I struggle with motor skills aswell and even now my handwriting isn’t the greatest.
 
It is SOOOO obvious looking back! My elementary school principal did suggest it to my parents but they got angry at her!! I never used to actually 'play' with my toys... just sorted them.. Still do! Before my friends would come over, I would set up all my Littlest Pet Shops (I had over 100 of them!!) into their families and houses and I had a set group of animals that were mine and I got upset if my friends took them! I never had a problem with sarcasm though, because of my mom! (Everyone we know says she is the queen of sarcasm!)
 
At three and four I could play entirely by myself for hours on end. And perhaps more noticeable was the fact that I did not even speak in entire sentences until after the age of four. And like so many others, I was quite a pickey eater. My parents used to make fun of me when I'd prefer to smell something first before tasting it for the first time.

And of course, I had to learn and struggle to look people in the eye. Something I seldom did as a small child.
 

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