Complex Motor Stereotypies ie hand flapping

[vixen1]

Hi all,

My son's stereotypies have been increasing recently and I worry (for him) that it's starting to make him stand out from the crowd.

He usually, jumps (or hops on his knees), simultaneously flapping his arms, clenching his fists and grimacing.

He's not necessarily Autistic (still under investigation) though not sure if that makes any difference to the outcome of the stereotypies.

My question is, will he grow out of it? It just seems to get worse and more noticable as he gets older and I'm really worried he's going to be mercilessly bullied for it.

If he doesn't grow out of it is there anything that can be done?

Thanks

AFAIK, stereotypies like you mention are often a sign of increased emotion.

Stimming provides sensory input that he needs - could be yelling, repeating certain words, I think thumb-sucking probably comes in there...

You probably won't stop him doing it, because he needs to sensory stimulation, but you can encourage him to do it in a more socially appropriate way. Obviously, if he does it to help with an emotional need then dealing with the reason is the best way to stop it. In real life, however, you can get all sorts of fidget toys, "chewellery", worry beads/dolls etc that will be less noticeable and/or more understandable to others.

You don't mention how old your son is, but I assume there's some kind of transition coming up, I would guess to either Primary or Secondary school? That's may be one reason why he's stimming more, so maybe there's some books you can read together?

HTH

Purplepidjin - thanks for that, it does help. My son is 3 and although he has no major transitions coming up, we have been thinking about schools lately and I guess that's got me thinking. We also have our next Specialist appointment in Dec which has also got me thinking...

He's had chewellery before because he went through a stage a few months ago of mouthing EVERYTHING. It hadn't occurred to me that in the future, when he's older, he could maybe try and replace the flapping with something else involving a fidget toy - that's really useful to know.

You're so right about an increase of emotion - he does it when he's happy about something so there's no chance of me trying to avoid that situation! Actually, as an instinctive "mother" feeling, I like it when he does it because I know how happy he is

Thanks for the advice, it really helps x

I'm glad it was useful :)

I'm not a mum but have worked with teens with ASD etc for 5 years, and this really worked well for a lad I worked with who hand flapped when he was anxious - pretty much all the time. It got to the point where his hand was red and sore from hitting his teeth! It worked especially well when we used the toys as a reward, because he got to choose, which gave him control. He was 13 when i knew him and he managed to get it to the point where one time he forgot to take a fidget toy so he played with a spare plectrum I had in my pocket lol

I'm glad yours is a happy stim. The happy moments are the ones we treasure, even when we're just staff