flapping hands

[wonderinglonely]

My DD (4.5) likes to flap when she is 'reading' (or being read to)and when watching TV. She likes to find something to flap with i.e. a floppy object! She would have flapped her arms a bit as a baby when excited, but not to any noticeable extent (I think).

Picking up 'a flapping thing' as she calls it has developed over the last year or so.

She was a late walker and has benign hypotonia. There are still a few issues there (and may always be) but she joins in with all activities at school, albeit cautiously with PE etc.

She is very articulate and getting on well at school with reading/writing. Her teacher has not mentioned the above and DD says she doesn't do it at school.

She does seem to have an incredible imagination and can amuse herself for long periods.

From what I can gather, she has days where she plays in a group at school and other days she plays alone (in the playground).

Should I let it go as a phase, or is it indicative of anything else?

We had a lot of worry with the late walking and I don't want to be OTT, however, if there's something I should be doing...

thanks. I would be grateful for advice.

I'm guessing your concern is that hand flapping is something that people with autism do?

TBH given all that you have said about your lovely DD I would not be at all concerned.

It is a very common thing that young children do, and mostly they grow out of it.

My parents' friends DD did this at about that age, and was also a really late walker and rotten at PE at school - she has just completed a PhD at Oxford

Don't worry too much.

It may be linked to the hypotonia-children who are hypotonic and/or hypermobile often do extra motor movements for sensory input to judge where they are in space (proprioception) basically because they dont receive sufficient feed back from their joints. They will often do it when they are concentrating (interesting she does it when reading). She will probably just grow out of it and fine other ways to compensate. If she is otherwise ok with no concerns I really wouldnt worry about this as an isolated thing.
HTH

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the input.

We await an OT appointment anyway (she was finding dressing difficult though this has recently improved) so I will maybe mention it then. The hypotonia and the associated issues have taken up so much of our thinking, I have not mentioned the flapping to any of the professionals to date.

I think once you become aware of one issue with your child, it is easy to become conscious of anything which seems unusual, but may in fact be (sort of) typical 4 year old behaviour. Isn't it strange, while I want to think of her as unique, special and a one off, in some senses I just want her to be the same as everyone else! She is definitely of a dramatic disposition though and has a ridiculous vocab. for her age. I have also learnt a new word, proprioception!