Who else really,really LOVES hand flapping?

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I've never seen anyone else flap their hands, so I don't know id what I do would constitute hand flapping, but when I get scared, confused, frightened or excited or im trying to say something I can't articulate I hold my hands in weird angles and move them around and I do find it pleasing.

I love to hand flap and walk on my toes when I listen to my ipod

As a child I was ridiculed for flapping my arms, but it’s something that I love doing. So, instead of stopping I kept it secret. I have kept my shameful secret for 30 years with out telling a soul. A secret which I break here tonight!.

I flap when I get excited and I go into a kind of trance and I visualize even more exciting things, and so I start flapping even harder. I find it very enjoyable, it’s a bit like having my own rollercoaster that I can jump on any time I want.

Tonight I asked my self the question ‘Why do I flap?’, and as usual when I have a question I turned to the internet. I found stuff on Asperger’s, and I found this web site.

I don’t know if I have Asperger’s or not, but a lot of the stuff mentioned sounds a lot like me. I am obsessive about my projects and I waffle on about them at length to people who are being bored to tears. My two main obsessions at the moment are computing (3d graphics, AI) and psychology.

Unlike an Aspie though, I am a social animal and always make new friends easily and I enjoy social situations. Mind you I was very socially withdrawn as a child, I think people (social interaction, sociology, psychology, etc) may have become one of my obsessions.

Am I Aspie?

I don't really flap anymore, but i remember doing it a lot as a child. One time i was flapping away ( was a transition from something to reading) and my teacher came over and told me that it wouldn't cool me down. My hands were pointed at my face so i guess she thought i was hot and was trying to cool myself down.

Another instance was more recently ( 4 or so years ago). The family went to Penn to visit my aunt, and we went to some cavern thing. For some reason I loved the place ( haven't really been interested in rocks or the like since like 2nd grade) and flapped through the whole tour.

That being said. When I'm at camp I've noticed when around the autie kids, i tend to display more apsie like qualities. Like my toe-walkings a lot more pronounced, i rub my head a lot more when excited.

I used to hand flap alot! But now I clap my hands excitedly or when I'm really happy. I sometimes hand flap too, often when I don't realize it. I've never been teased for it, though.

My little brother also hand flaps/claps, but only when I do. He's NT, though. I think he learned it from me.

IIRC enough hand/foot flapping would result in a pleasurable numbness, but I've to used other forms of movement such as toe/foot/finger patterns in public for so long I hardly remember flapping anything before this thread. Although, I will admit to head ramming/banging when I've become emotionally overwhelmed on two occasions in the last five years the last of which was at least a year before I heard/read anything about the spectrum.

My daughter flaps when she's happy, so also jumps up and down.

I do this hand waving thing when I'm stressed, frustrated, thinking, overwhelmed, etc.. generally all the unhappy emotions. Basically my hands are flat and held out from my body and I wiggle my middle finger back and forth rapidly (though all my fingers are out so its not a vulgar gesture) and with my other hand all my fingers wiggle and not just one. Usually I alternate hands. For me I guess its a sort of pressure relief valve for negative feelings. I also rub my fingers and thumb together or flick my fingers, or wave my hands side to side. When I'm nearing meltdown or shutdown mode, I rub my fist against my forehead back and forth with my eyes closed. My children tend to leave the room at that point. LOL

When I'm happy I tend to keep my fingers flat and just have them out there without the wiggling. I also posture one hand against my chest when its not doing anything. I'm not really sure the motivator for that yet. I sorta just... notice it there sometimes.

I used to flap my hands quite a bit when I was younger, but I don't do it too much now unless I'm frustrated or upset about something so I don't know if I'd say I enjoy it. I suppose I enjoy the stress relief it gives when I do it but not the situations it's caused by.

I've also, for some unknown reason, started repeating stuff I hear on the tv or talking back to people and using my hand like a puppet. Does that make sense? Like, imagine if you put your hand inside of a puppet with a moveable mouth. I do that mouth moving motion in time to what I'm saying without a puppet on my hand.

Does anyone else do that or have they done it in the past?

I don't flap unless I am really anxious, but I make patterns in the air with my fingers or toes all the time. I have learned to do this very small so that no one will notice it. At times when I can't be fidgeting, I just imagine that my fingers are making the patterns. I make 5-pointed stars a lot, and I make V patterns.

My son loves to flap! He flaps when he's happy, he flaps when he's sad, he flaps when he jumps and he flaps when he's mad.

Flapping makes him feel good, that is clear. I wrist flap, closed fist, under extreme stress. It dissipates the tension.

I'm not a flapper.