What does hand flapping look like?

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My 10 year has recently started seeing a psychologist because of his emotional difficulties.

The psychologist thinks he might have Asperger's. She asked me if he flaps his hands. I suppose he does, but since I've been around him constantly for 10 years and he also has ADHD, I'm not sure how to distinguish between "hand flapping" and just his idiosyncratic body movements.

Any help would be useful

thanks

This:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOU_sWT4tdc



I'd turn off the volume to play this because it makes the annoying farting sound.

Thanks

My son has been doing that since he was very little. He used to walk around the house when he was a toddler saying "Shaking the hands, shaking the hands."

he doesn't say that anymore, but he frequently flaps. I've always chalked it up to his ADHD.

Hmm... I guess I do some hand flapping myself. I didn't know that. I mostly do it against my shoulder so that when my fingers hit together it sounds kind of like a zipper with every hit.

This information is very good to know.

These kids seem way too young to predict developmental delays. They just seem like normal kids to me. I don't get it. They didn't seem unusual, most of them. The one stimming seemed profoundly autistic. The other nonverbal child, too, seemed on the very low end of the spectrum--they were both noticeably autistic and OLDER. The babies? No way. They seemed like normal babies. I think we're going to get lots of overthinking, overreactive parents that become convinced their kids have autism.

I don't believe you can clearly identify autism before the age of two-years old nor should you try. I would be wary. Many kids flap their hands, enjoy spinning, notice details in a toy and appear not to notice someone near them because they are so absorbed. Some kids hyperfocus on objects because they want to not because of autism. Again, I think we're going to see an enormous leap in diagnosing autism if we are relying on these common behaviors. It doesn't seem right. There is such a developmental variance in kids in the 0-3 years. We need to tread cautiously. What could be worse than misdiagnosing babies?


anyone agree?


equinn

um, my son isn't a baby. He's 10 years old and he STILL flaps his hands.

I'm not sure what your post is in response to? perhaps I've missed something?

My son used to hand flap but hasn't in a long time (he's 7). It was subtle, he'd hold his arm away from his body and do it a little bit slowly, like a backwards wave. There are types of stimming with the fingers, you wiggle or flicker your fingers in front of your eyes.

Having a stick in your hand and just turning it around backwards and forth in something best bescribed as a shutoff with thumb in your mouth.

Or whatever you can twist fast enough like a fork, knife or spoon. Preferably making a series of sounds. And splatting the walls.

I don't like hand flapping and stimming. Why do we use this language when describing someone with autism. When I'm nervous or very stressed--I might hand flap--who the heck knows and who cares. Does this mean I'm autistic? Why do we call it hand flipping and stimming?

It is what it is. I don't think of autism as hand flapping--not at all. My son might have done this--don't even recall. Sometimes he does that backward wave thing when he's thinking--very rarely. It's like saying that deaf people walk with a limp or on their toes or sideways. Or, that blind people twist their necks in a rapid movement. What would we call this? Maybe kneck wringing? Does it really matter? Why pick out these characteristics and attribute it to autism? I don't recall the rain man flapping his hands. Was he a hand flapper?

Maybe this is just an anxious response and has nothing, really, to do with autism itself.

The more someone is nonverbal, the more odd mannerisms become part of that person's repetoire of responses. Most of use language to express feelings and desires. People with communication issues use gestures. Deaf people use sign language. We don't say deaf people stim do we?

Where did the term stimming come from? Honestly, I despise that term--stimming. It sounds like a neighbor to masturbating. I think it's almost sinister to refer to children stimming. I've read about some parents talking about how their child stims and letting them stim at home or in private--odd. My son is who he is--all oddities and uniqueness are him. Why do we tease out these movements and gestures and call it something as if it is shameful? I think it contributes to the intolerance we have towards someone who is diffferent. I say this because these are the behaviors that are not tolerated. Many children are medicated and scolded and ostracized for this stimming and flapping. It contributes to disciminatory behavior towards autistic people. It is their way, whatever it is, and we need to think of the person with autism as a whole person--not as a person who stims and flaps. How about understanding autism as processing the world differently? Could it be that simple? The physical behaviors, gestures, are simply manifestations of someone who process the world differently. We would never suggest that beethoven flapped or stimmed? What about Einstein? How degrading and dehumanizing, really. It's so 2007. I don't recall Hans Asperger coining these terms? It must be a modern development.

just my 2 cents.

equinn

? It's a trait that many autistics have, that's why it's being discussed. I don't think anyone here is saying anything negative about it. I don't hear anything sinister or shameful in the word. And I never tried to stop my son from hand-flapping.

I found this site really helpful when I was wondering if my daughter may be on the spectrum.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/video/glossary.php

I think most of the children there are younger than your son but it may help give you an idea.

erased.

Wikipedia's page on stimming

Stereotypy is used among professionals but is often confused with "stereotype" which is entirely different word.

I have to say I do agree with equinn. I had never heard of the word stimming before coming here, and masterbating ( sorry) was the first word my head assosiated with this word. It took me a while to work out what you guys were all talking about.
My son J does do all these things flapping when excited ( not often though) and he does other things for comfort, when thinking, when tired and when excited. Theses are just j things, well so I thought, I didnt know they had a name and had never really sat down and closely monitered all of them until the evaluation process. I have only ever tried to discourage one of J's quirks in public only because of the negative feedback he may get and the oztrasizm(is that even a word lol) that he may encounter at school. Everything else can stay and he can do them/it till his heart is content. If I have an itch I scratch it, tuff luck if anyone else gets offended thats their problem not mine. Sorry guys I just went right off subject.
my 2 cents too!

I think the problem with "stimming" is that it is the nervous system's way of shutting itself down when a person can't cope with a situation. At that point, the person becomes even more internal and even less able to deal with the offending situation in a proactive way.

I think the best thing we can do is to teach our children to self-regulate the way they process sensory information so that they do not have to resort to repetitive (not to mention socially odd) behavior- using proprioceptive input to regulate the brain and clear their thought processes instead of cloud them.

I never heard of the term "stimming", or the correct term, self-stimulating behavior before I came here; flapping, rocking and whatnot isn't a part of these. Rubbing a soft piece of fabric is "stimming" as it feels nice (naturally, I do this).

Flapping and whatnot are repetitive motor mannerisms that are usually due to internal emotions in the individual that exhibits them, whether positive or negative. It doesn't feel like self-stimulating behavior when I rock, it's a bad thing when I'm doing it.