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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Arm Flapping!

22 replies

1Maggie · 22/05/2004 21:40

Hi, Just wondering how many other toddlers/babies flap their arms when excited. My little 25 month old grandson does. As I have read so much about autism I thought I would do some surfing and apparently it is 'normal' behaviour. I would still like to hear from other parents though!

OP posts:

BlossomHill · 22/05/2004 21:50

If my memory serves me correctly it depends on how often and when they do it. Normal children do this when excited but I think with some autistic children they do it all the time/to excess. Your grandson would need to have a lot more traits then this though as just flapping arms wold def. not signal a problem. HTH
I was worried with my dd who does have special needs but was seeing the development paed. My dd flapped her arms and the paed. said that it wasn't a problem as she only did it when excited!!!

coppertop · 22/05/2004 22:04

Hi there. I have a little boy of nearly 4 who is autistic. He used to flap a bit if he was excited or frustrated but it's not something that all autistic children do.

As BlossomHill says, flapping really doesn't mean anything by itself. There would need to be other traits present in order to really consider autism.

throckenholt · 23/05/2004 10:31

mine all flap their arms when excited (nearly 3 and 16 month old twins) - I never thought it was something I should worry about !

Ghosty · 23/05/2004 11:04

My 16 week old DD flaps her arms when she is excited ...
DH says she is like a pet ... if she had a tail she would wag it ...
Great ... so we have a pet baby

Jimjams · 23/05/2004 11:59

My ds1 hasn't ever arm flapped- and so I thought he couldn't be autistic. He is though - well and truly. He used to shake when excited - or if sitting down would shoot his legs out in front and tremble. Now he kind of jerks up and down as if he needs the toilet. All this is his variation on flapping.

language/behavioural/play problems are far more indicative of autism than arm flapping!

Hulababy · 23/05/2004 12:40

My 25mo DD often gets very excited and flaps her arms about in a giddy manner. I am not concerned about her at all. I think it is just a natural reaction to jump about and flap about when giddy isn't it? Never thought it'd be anything to worry about.

Original poster

1Maggie · 23/05/2004 18:50

Hi, Thanks for all those comments! It was just that I don't remember my daughters doing it and have not seen grandson's friends flapping arms when excited. Many websites connect it with autism. I do feel much happier now. I think I spend all my time looking to see if anything is wrong particularly after all the controversy over MMR. I don't recall that bringing up my daughters was anywhere as stressful!

Thanks again for the reassurance

Maggie

OP posts:

Jimjams · 23/05/2004 18:56

Does he do anything else that worries you 1Maggie? My mum didn't thinkk my son was autistic at 25 months (although I did- but she'd worked with older very severe autistics and he wasn't like her epxerience of it) but she did think that something wasn't quite right.

Handflapping in itself is nothing to worry about, but I just wondered whether there were other things that then made you notice the hand flapping.

Original poster

1Maggie · 23/05/2004 19:06

Hi, There doesn't appear to be anything else - his eye contact is ok. He is not withdrawn at all. I think some of the other characteristics are playing with one particular toy, not very communicative etc. He does not seem to have any of these. Compared to one or two of his friends his speech is not as advanced but I know they all develop at different rates and I think he is concentrating on his motor skills first! He does say many words. For instance he did not want his hair cutting and had to be taken out of the barbers! He kept saying 'hair no!' So his understanding of everything you tell him is fine. He also talks away - perhaps on the phone- in some sort of jibberish with the odd understandable word thrown in. Don't recall my daughters talking in some 'foreign' tongue before they spoke English but again I think it is just childish babble.

Bye for now

Maggie

OP posts:

Original poster

1Maggie · 23/05/2004 19:10

PS I am just a born worrier! I never take anything for granted. It was just that the arm flapping is something he does when perhaps watching Pingu on video or just generally when he is excited. Having never seen it before I put 'arm flapping' into google and was shocked to see lots of sites on autism. I have then looked for other signs but not seen any!

Maggie

OP posts:

Jimjams · 23/05/2004 19:31

ds1 used to go rigid for teletubbies The biggest signs in a young child are things like pointing late (after 18 months) or not at all, not sharing things of interest with parents, not being able to copy, not being able to follow a point. My son used to show me things of interest- but not to the extent his younger brother does - but he didn't do any of the others- still can't really point/follow a point/copy very easily and he's 5 now. He wasn't really withdrawn and was/is very affectionate.

My mum used to think ds1 was a bit obsessive compulsive as he was a bit manic about lights etc.

Jimjams · 23/05/2004 19:32

My younger son is a bit of a late talker - speech is still very unclear (he was in 2 in january) but he's defintely not autistic! Probably best not to compare boys with girls

Davros · 24/05/2004 13:38

My son with autism also never hand flapped, until about a year or so ago that is, and now he's turned it into an art form! He never tip toe walked either but he had little eye contact and no attachment plus non-existent communication. A lot of "autistic" behaviours are exactly what other chldren do but its the degree to whcih they do it, how few other behaviours they have and that they don't move on having tried something out. Mine had SUCH repetitive behaviour, I know other children will open and close doors etc, its all part of experimentation but he did little else and could spend hours doing it.

Fio2 · 24/05/2004 13:47

BlossomHill what are your daughters problems? My daughter has special needs and also hand flaps but isnt autistic, she only does it when excited or very happy. She has a global development delay (and other)

Hand flapping can mean 'I am happy' but I cant say it. It doesnt mean 'I am autistic' it is just a characteristic of autism but on its own is just hand flapping, think others have already said this!

Jimjams · 24/05/2004 14:07

And also whether they can leave the repetitive activity. DS2 occasionally does something repetitive but its easy to redirect him- if ds1 is in the middle of something- he is impossible to redirect.

BlossomHill · 24/05/2004 21:42

Hi Fio2 - I have just answered your thread re. schools and explained a bit about dd. Dd has a language disorder/impairment dx at the moment and is 5 in August. She is doing really well at her new school which is a langauge unit attached to a mainstream school. My dd does have a few mild auti traits but not enough (ITMS?). I am always looking for things and analysing dd even though we have had autism ruled out. Apparently though language disordered children do have grey overlaps with AS so I suppose it makes sense really!
Fio2 how old is your dd? BlossomHill

Jimjams · 25/05/2004 08:44

I think ds1 has been reading this thread. He's started bloody hand flapping LOADS- started yesterday! It seems to be the new stim of choice. Mind you its better than what we call arched back (and my mum insists on calling "stiffies" FFS- at least I won't have to listen to her syaing that anymore ).

coppertop · 25/05/2004 08:46

Sorry Jimjams but ROFL at "stiffies"!

Cam · 25/05/2004 14:53

Mums, hey Jimjam, sometimes they just don't get what they are saying do they?

Fio2 · 25/05/2004 14:56

rofljimjams

blossomhill she is 4 but will be 5 in Nov. She has auti traits too but is not autistic, I think it is the lack of communication that causes it -like you say..Nice to meet you btw

BlossomHill · 25/05/2004 20:28

Fio2 - Nice to meet you too - Blossomhill

Annie12 · 27/05/2004 19:59

Hi, I don't know a lot about autism but is it possible that a child of 2 years can appear and act quite 'normal' and then by the age of 3 regress? Or would you definitely know by age 2 if the child suffered from autism?

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