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

Thomas has many repetitive behaviors and many stims. The experts say because he has some social skills and because he makes good eye contact sometimes that he is NOT autistic. What do you think?

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• autism
• spectrum
• disorder
• PDD-NOS
• ASD
• repetitive
• behaviors
• stims
• tics
• ticks

[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!

[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..

[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]

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

[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.

[momtosonwithasd]

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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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