what kind of 'handflapping' might be autistic?

[mrsforgetful]

one son has ASPERGERS-so i am fairly familiar with the 'signs' however my 2nd son (suspected autism) has began hand flapping when excited this week (my other sone doesn't do this - and i know its not ESSENTIAL !!!)-Now i am well aware that i may just be looking for evidence and this may be nothing to do with it...but due to the fact that his school say he's fine and i have requested an 'observation' by paed i wondered if this could be something to 'back up ' my case- please be honest!!!!

To be honest I'm not sure. How old is he? DS1 doesn't hand flap but he's always kind of ridgid and jerky when excited. I think it's more a sign of sensory overload than anything - which is why autis tend to do it, but you can handflap etc without being auti iyswim.

my dd hand flaps too but not too much nowadays, since her communication has been improving. I dont know whether it is solely linked to autism as we have no diagnosis yet for our dd just that she has a global development delay. When I asked about it I was told it was because she couldnt express herself very well so when she was happy thats what she would do. Sorry thats not much help but Im sure others will have more info than me.

My happy easy going nearly 3 year old flaps her arms around when excited usually before jumping up and down!

Look for other things too like toe walking, poor eye contact, looking at things from the side of the eyes, focusing very closely on small parts of a larger object etc. My son didn't hand flap until about a year ago but he does it very typically autistically, like much of his other "unusual" behaviour, and it seems very much linked to over excitement, enjoying something a lot or sometimes, more slowly, just enjoying the sensation of perceiving movement visually.

Look for other things too like toe walking, poor eye contact, looking at things from the side of the eyes, focusing very closely on small parts of a larger object etc. My son didn't hand flap until about a year ago but he does it very typically autistically, like much of his other "unusual" behaviour, and it seems very much linked to over excitement, enjoying something a lot or sometimes, more slowly, just enjoying the sensation of perceiving movement visually.

Look for other things too like toe walking, poor eye contact, looking at things from the side of the eyes, focusing very closely on small parts of a larger object etc. My son didn't hand flap until about a year ago but he does it very typically autistically, like much of his other "unusual" behaviour, and it seems very much linked to over excitement, enjoying something a lot or sometimes, more slowly, just enjoying the sensation of perceiving movement visually.

Look for other things too like toe walking, poor eye contact, looking at things from the side of the eyes, focusing very closely on small parts of a larger object etc. My son didn't hand flap until about a year ago but he does it very typically autistically, like much of his other "unusual" behaviour, and it seems very much linked to over excitement, enjoying something a lot or sometimes, more slowly, just enjoying the sensation of perceiving movement visually.

Look for other things too like toe walking, poor eye contact, looking at things from the side of the eyes, focusing very closely on small parts of a larger object etc. My son didn't hand flap until about a year ago but he does it very typically autistically, like much of his other "unusual" behaviour, and it seems very much linked to over excitement, enjoying something a lot or sometimes, more slowly, just enjoying the sensation of perceiving movement visually.

Ooops! SOrry, got impatient with net not responding fast enough and clicked madly resulting in many postings!

Davros- ds1 has just started kind of clenching some fingers and staring at them. I hadn't thought of it as visual stimming. He's also going through a phase of watching the tv through a crack in the door.

I found his cardboard glasses with red plastic lenses yesterday - he was using them for ages. I've made an appointment to get him assessed for Iren lenses.

Jimjams - this is probably a rude question to ask, but how much is that going to cost? The appointment and then (if appropriate) actually buying glasses with the lenses?

We are looking at the gf/cf free diet, but the urine test costs £60!!! Which I feel is quite a lot for a urine test, and we probably won't be doing. Am going to give the diet a try though (although not til January - apparently it takes 3 months to really make a difference, and we will have a new baby by then, so I think it will be too difficult to assess ds behaviour at that time - so we will leave it a while.) Gives me a chance to see the pead first too.

TBH Oakmaiden -not sure. The person I'm seeing won't charge if we don't get the lenses - she is very good like that. I'll ask the cost when I meet up with her- probably next week. We're not going to be able to do all the tests with ds1 - it'll be guesswork really.

The urine test can be done for free if you can't afford the 60 pounds (hope that doesn't sound rude- not assuming you can't- just in case you didn't know). I would recommend it just becuase it is such a major change to the diet, such a strict diet and such a lot of hassle (especially if you buy things like breadmakers- and really you would have to as one that has been used for cooking wheat bread will be contaminated) that it helps to know that you need to do it. From what I've seen of responses to the diet it appears to be a very accurate predictor of who will benefit. For example a friend was told her son was unlikely to benefit - she tried for a year and a half- but nothing and no difference when back ont he diet. DS1 showed the fairly clasic profile and has benefited enormously- he is sensitive to tiny amounts. For example he went a bit funny last week, nursery asked me why (I had noticed as well). I'd used a different yeast to bake his bread- I checked the packaging and it contained a sorbitol derivative (banned on the diet). He's been fine since switching back to the normal yeast.

I can only describe my autistic son's handflapping. He holds his arms up, elbows in at waist hight and flaps his hands and sometimes rotates them. Spinning or rotating is another sign. My son used to often turn round and round with his eyes slanted to one side. He would do this in the swimming pool in his swimming ring too. Seems to have stopped this now. At the moment he will take a dishcloth and whirl it round or anything long in fact. Also spins baby toys, car wheels and so on. Had a rather messy incident with an egg whisk and his bowl of tomato soup on one occasion.

As others have said it is really all the symptoms together that usually add up to a diagnosis of autism.

ds's latest is standing with his legs slightly bent and feet turned out and saying "I am being a rocket" - he is just focussing on the lower part of a rocket with the shape of the splayed legs. Looking at a small part of something rather than the whole thing can be a sign.

Davros do you think handflapping is solely linked to autism, just a question! My dd is seen by one of the leading specialists for autism and he seemed very concerned about this(even suggesting Retts arrgh, but counted out). I just wondered how important this symptom was, if any of you can tell me. Sorry I must sound very paranoid.