Thomas stims and hand flaps...is this autism?

[Annique]

Not all autists are alike, so he might or might not be autistic. Maybe his stims are expressions of emotion like happiness or anxiety. Some click pens or chew up half their fingers, others wave their hands I suppose. Different motion, same purpose.

[newmoonmaster]

My son arm flaps when he's excited.. He doesn't have autism. He also rocks.. I think he inherited this stuff.. I rocked until I was about 15 to calm myself. I still find myself craving rocking when I need to calm down.. And my uncle flaps his arms when he's excited and he's 40 years old and the president of a major radio network. Neither of us are autistic, we just have "quirks"..

[emu143]

Have you ever gotten him evaluated for ADD or ADHD? It's very possible that he has that. I have ADHD and when I was a child I used to do (and still do) repetitive behaviors like that, but it was because of the hyperactivity, not autism. I'm in college now, but I still move like crazy. I have to bring a stress ball to lecture courses or I go insane.

[momtosonwithasd]

Please GOOGLE ASD. hand flapping, spinning, rocking, stimming of any kind... stacking, lining up things, basically having OCD IS a sign of ASD.

[Amy2838]

@emu143 High functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome are often misdiagnosed as ADD. My son's early years were wasted (denied proper intervention) because doctors in my area are so uneducated and ill-informed about the diagnostic criteria of HFA and AS. He could have (should have) had accommodations, but was instead treated like a criminal by schools and the rest of the community because they felt justified in their harsh criticism and unfair expectations.

[emu143]

@Amy2838 I'm so sorry to hear that. He couldn't get accommodations for ADD?

[HroseG]

Has anyone seen the video of the little girl with childhood schizophrenia named Jani? She stims by hand flapping and rubbing her palms which is something commonly found in autism as well.

The stims look very similar

[amy617747803]

he hand flaps and rocks back and fourth i think it is but i am no doctor get him check by a doctor to make sure

[tashiep1]

hi

my son does similair things and is in no way on the autistic spectrum . he has motor steroetypy and nothing more. do not worry.

[gorramdoll]

occasionally, non-autistic people stim. sometimes they are people with no disability; other times they are people with intellectual disabilities. 10% of non-disabled children stim and presumably stop stimming when they get older.

On the other hand, I think that medical professionals sometimes rely on stereotypes when they are diagnosing people with ASDs. They assume that all ASD people are cold and distant. Some ASD kids can be affectionate and even enjoy eye contact.

[happynurse63]

Agreed!

Ben is cold towards most adults (even me), but towards other children he is very social, most times too much so. He gets grabby (not in a mean way) and aggressive and doesn't know when it is enough! I am very careful to watch for other children who don't understand and often pull Ben away before another child gets frustrated and lashes back at him.

He is 8 years old now.

[instagasm]

the "experts" you talk about are full of shit. pardon my language.he may not have CLASSIC autism. but he is in the autism SPECTRUM which is a very wide range.

[belinda9696]

My son is 10 years old now. He has "mild" autism and my pediatrician did not diagnose him with it. I took him to a neurologist to get it diagnosed. He also gave good eye contact and smiled like a typical child, but his speech was delayed and he could sit for a long time doing one thing. He also liked to line up blocks and cars instead of building with them. . But otherwise he acted pretty normal. He is in a typical classroom at school but has an aide. made A/B honor roll in 4th grade.

[icareful]

It really is just a mild form of Tourettes, so you have to tell him gently to try to do that less and less. You let him shake his wrist muscles, for a long time and now it's going to be hard to stop. Read about habit reversal, but he can develop another habit. It's easier to get rid of a habit within the first 20 days and it can be in any muscle group he uses most. The area that feels tense needs to be rubbed or he'll flick the muscle, shake it anything to relieve the tension. Buy Threelac.

[tanyatsoutsos]

Hand flapping is a fairly typical sign of autism spectrum disorder, and it's very rare that a neurotypical child performs these stimming behaviors. Get him into therapy as soon as possible and he'll be fine! ;) Seems like his speech is much better than most autistic children's at this age, not too terribly delayed.

[waarce]

My son has significant stimming behaviors, is verbal, but speech delayed. He is aggressive and goes around saying incoherences. Your son, maybe Aspergers or PDD-NOS. However, he seems to be playing appropriately with his toys, has back to back engagemement with you so I'll say that he does not have autism in the classic sense, but may be in the spectrum. His verbal skills appears not to be delayed.

[stupidvids0]

get him checked fast,

my friend has

the hand flapping and he talks slow

every once and a while he gos into a super flapping mode and is really noisy dont let your child get like him

[lordpasternack]

The thing with autistic traits in individuals is that they are on quite a long sliding scale - from the most profoundly affected, to those who lack even a pinch of any traits. There's no real cut and dry distinction between "normal" and autistic.

Many individuals (myself included) have noticeable autistic traits, but are "normal" enough to get by and not stand out too much in the social arena. I'd probably just keep a casual eye on his quirks and leave him be until anything else pops up.

[needsmospeed]

I work in the field of behavior modification, focusing on individuals with autism. to clear up some confusion on aspergers and high functioning autism(HFA). the difference lies in the time in which speech was developed. for those with aspergers speech developed on course with the typical child and for HFA it was delayed. if there is any reason you feel that your child might have any deficit, contact your doctor. let them rule out any physical reasons (seizures and such) and get a psych review

[faerinn]

Anyway: I hope that  you find experts that can help Thomas, so that he gets the support that he needs. With or without the diagnosis.

[faerinn]

Autism Spectrum Disorders are hard diagnosis to make though, cause the symptoms can vary a lot from child to child. Some clinicians don't diagnose Autism if the signs aren't clear enough, because of the consequences of such a diagnosis for the further life of the child/adult. And, Asperger is very difficult to diagnose because of the lack of a good, consistent, universal definition. It isn't clear at this point if Autism and Asperger are one and the same, or a different dissorder.

[faerinn]

I'm a master student in clinical psychology and know a lot about developmental disorders. Off course I'm a student, so I don't have the field experience, nor can I give you a diagnosis without the proper tests and alone on this video. It seems though that this could be on the Autism Spectrum and maybe: "Aspergers Syndrome": social response and speech is normaly developped in this group.

[PROPHETPAUL3]

Two of my children flap and so does their dad they have all had intervention services. I went through child find for an evaluation and DDRC works with the baby. Two of my other children have IEP's through the public school and their services. They have all come a long way.

[waldhunde]

My son has eye contact too, though he has autism.

[threeredheads]

I am going through the same thing. Months of specialists and no diagnosis yet. EI denied us as my toddler passed the age level but she does many things tht your son is doing. It feels like we are alone at times. Did you son get diagnosed yet?

[motheroffire4]

@threeredheads, thank you for your comment. I have heard from literally tens of people who are going through this exact same process. No diagnosis on the spectrum as of yet. My son has been worked with since he was 11 months old. He has been fortunate to get so much therapy, but unfortunate because the therapy has worked so well, and he has improved so much, that the experts have mistaken his improvement for "not" being ASD, but language delayed. Frustrating, yes. Stay strong!

[georgiapeach1959]

lining up objects is a sign and also the rocking and hand flapping. Get him evaluated asap. Early intervention is the key!

[MOMOF1JAKE]

Classic preliminary signs. What a gorgeous little boy!

[lacymay2008]

YES HE IS SHOWING SIGNS OF AUTISM

[missangie29]

He is very cute first off ..Autism no not to me anyway Thomas at this age would sit by himself not look or respond to anyone or anything, he laso had no speech at all, You son seems very responsive when you talk to him Thomas never responded to me or anyone, he shows a trait which i am also told is excitment by flapping his hands but apart from that he seems fine .. take a look at Thomas on my channel ..best of luck x

[motheroffire4]

I saw your son and he is adorable! Your son seems to be more on the low functioning side and my son seems to be more on the high functioning side. I believe that he has Aspergers Syndrome, which is different than traditional autism. Thank you for your post..

[optifog]

I'm 19 and stim almost constantly but I don't meet the criteria for any PDD, or mental retardation which is also associated with it, though I may have ADHD. Many people who don't have autism or low intelligence do this, and some people think it's part of sensory proecessing disorder, which isn't an official diagnosis yet. If it causes significant impairment and isn't part of a PDD or mental retardation, it's called stereotypic movement disorder.

[tigergrr33]

When i was his age i used to flap my hands around like that, just because i thought it was fun. Now I'm a 12 year old seventh grader and I'm fine. I don't really know the symptoms of autisum... but i hope sharing that with you was a sliver of helpfulness

[jenn26jenn]

What a cutie! I have 3 kids with a PDDNOS diagnosis. It is common for kids on the spectrum to have better eye contact and social referencing with those they are around all the time. I notice he didn't pay much attention to the other child, but he seemed better with you. I noticed when you said, "Bye, I love you," he ignored you, but he was engaged at other times. I definitely see an ASD but as long as you are treating his deficits and issues then it really doesn't matter what you call it. :)

[marcelbas]

You will rarely find kids with Asperger's who share all the traits associated with Asperger's :-)

There are plenty of people with Asperger's who have a great deal of empathy and who have command of most of the skills that make social interaction natural. Their ability to adapt to social situations will seem great. And that's a great blessing for them. This makes them less dependant. But they will exhibit the other symptoms. They will be off-beat, out of place, overanalytical, feel different.

[mtmomma]

Hello I left a response at cafemom also. ;-)

Take care,

Angie

[theresak1025]

i would need to know more about your son to know if it is autism but the hands flapping is a sign

[AisForAutism]

Thanks for sharing w/CafeMom. I'll respond there.

Joanna K-V

A Is for Autism, F Is for Friend