Hand-Flapping

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OK maybee I didn't hold anything when flapping.

Yeah I've recently taken the AQ test and I do have autistic traits. When I put 2 and 2 together it makes sense. However I'm quite good for passing for a nuerotypical nowadays except I runaway when people want to maintain friendships with me.

It can be both, depending on the reason for it. It can also be Restless Legs Syndrome (which can happen in the day too, not just the night). And a lot of other things. When I'm unable to sit still, it can be some combination of autism, (undiagnosed) mild Tourette's, and akathisia (a side-effect of my nausea pills).

Of the three, akathisia is hands-down the worst, it feels like torture and moving only relieves it a little. People given nausea meds or major tranquilizers (same general family of drugs, different doses usually) have been known (if akathisia isn't explained to them) to bolt out of emergency rooms before with no clue why they just take off running because they can't sit still and feel terrible. In extreme forms (which I used to have when on the very high doses given to psych patients) it can even cause a person to be violent. I voluntarily cut my dose of nausea meds in half just to be rid of it. (I can't take the kind that are really the same as major tranquilizers because I have had too many anaphylactic reactions, but even one of the ones I do take has similarities to them in some of the side-effects.)

Oh and I flap my hands and everything but I'm dxed autistic so you probably weren't asking me. For whatever it's worth, I know lots and lots and lots of people diagnosed with AS who do it. Some even never did it until they started hanging out with autistic people and then "caught" it from the others. (The same thing can happen with Tourette's, and it's a known phenomenon with autistic children as well, it's been used as an excuse to separate autistic children from each other under the "you're a bad influence on each other" theory... yuck.) Others have always done it. I've even seen a bunch of people sit around comparing their hand positions and the like as they flapped. (There's a great deal of variety in both finger position, and direction of the actual flapping -- up and down and side to side and things like that.)

Thanks for the reply. That was very thorough and interesting!


-Mallory

This is something I've done since I was a child - or at least as long as I can remember. It happens when I'm not paying attention to it, though I'd say moreso (but not necessarily always) when I'm excited about something. It can happen when I'm holding something or not, and sometimes it's quite vigourous. I often get up and pace and flap my hands, especially when I'm thinking about something difficult or confusing.

I conciously try not to display this tic in public, but I'm not always successful. In professional contexts, it sometimes requires concentration (though I usually do something else, like bounce my leg). When I've been caught doing it - which is relatively frequently - I have tried to explain it as shaking out hand cramps or loosening my wrists. I'm not sure people buy that, because I'm usually surprised when they notice (I don't realize I'm doing it) and I probably come off as pretty embarassed. One or two times, I've even told people it's a tourettes style tic, though I've never been diagnosed with anything and have never had a vocal tic.

I have never been diagnosed with any kind of ASD and I'm 32. Is it possible this is something I should be concerned about?

I didn't realise pacing was related to AS? I pace far to much.

I hand-flapped pretty incessantly when I was younger. I don't remember how old I was when I stopped doing it in public, somewhere in the 8-10 range maybe.

Now I have pretty much "trained" myself only to do it occasionally in private. Most of the time I am doing other things like bouncing my leg up and down (I am actually doing this right now even though no one can see me), which can annoy people but somehow doesn't freak them out the same way.

I used to have really complex hand-flapping motions that I can't remember any more -- I literally "lost the skill by not using it" if you will.

Oh, I pace quite a bit, in fact my "natural" state might be considered to be sitting in front of a computer but I have to get up and pace around from time to time. Pacing doesn't seem to bother people that much though. A lot of my family members pace and I'm sure they're neurotypical.

It is an ASD trait that some people with an ASD have and some with an ASD do not have. This means Aspies can have it too. One of the diagnostic criteria a person with Aspergers MAY exhibit is:

(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)

Complex motions - I can relate to that. My wife once caught me doing it and asked me if I was trying to cast a magic spell.

I don't hand flap, but I have other repetitive mannerisms. I personally do more finger-twisting.

For as long as i can remember i flap my hands and jump up and down when i get excited. It can be for movies, while playing video games, or listening to music. Alot of times when i listen to music i daydream, like when i do my homework, and before i realize it ill be up jumping around/pacing in my living room. Im 13, almost 14 and control most of it in public, though some of my friends notice me shake or flap my hands when we play COD and stuff. Should i talk to my doc about it?

I use to hand flap more than I do now, but I never walked on my tip-toes. Now I clap a lot and pick at my nails/rub my fingers and hands.

I don't hand-flap, but I do walk on my toes a lot. I've noticed that I do it around my housemates sometimes and I've tried to stop, because toe walking makes my gait kind of awkward. When I was a kid I walked on my toes so much that one of my achilles tendons is permanently shortened.

i do if i get REALLY excited. I try not to if there are other people around. Sometimes I can't help it though. If I am over stimulated and have access to water I do a hand flapping thing underwater where I relax my fingers and move them through the water fast. My fingers flutter in and out with the water and it is very soothing if I am stressed. So yes, at times, though i try not to.

"(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)"

I don't think I do any of that. It's hard to remember if I did when I was a kid but now and I think then I'm more likely to be very still and not move at all.

I'm diagnosed with Asperger's and I admit to having short bursts of what can be deemed "hand flapping" from time to time. It's weird. I never do it when anyone else is around, but if I get really, really happy or excited about something, I can almost *feel* the happiness/excitement bubbling up and just overtaking my body and I have to do something about it, so I usually shake my hands while holding them up near my face (and they are facing upwards, so it's "hand shaking", not really "flapping.") I can imagine that this is the way a lot of people with autism feel whenever they are happy, too, so I'm glad that many of us can articulate this feeling of over-happiness for the people who can't and consequently get stared at or chastised for expressing it.