What on earth is dd doing?

[Blossomhill]

I have noticed that sometimes when dd (6yrs with communication disorder) is speaking to someone she will also draw the words she is saying with her fingers ie Hello and then outlines with her index finger.
Anyone else come across this? I find it really freaky tbh.

dd sometimes does this with pictures. She is 4 so can't write, but will draw a picture in the air if she doesn't feel like speaking

alex has been actually TAUGHT to do this during his BRAINGYM sessions...does your DD do braingym?

funny u should post this as yesterday he was doing exactly this with my SIL who is a teacher...and she was the one who told me that they do excers=cises exactly as you describe-particularily using two hands...to help the co-ordination.

p.s alex still has no firm diagnosis... just acknowledgement that he has a very short attention span...poor sequencing skills...poor spacial awareness...impulsive...and a very literal understanding of language.

thought of u today when i saw a bottle of wine with BLOSSOM HILL on the label!!!

I honestly think she just does it MrsF as she does it so often. I may check with school though.

Have missed you as haven't "spoken" in ages or seen you on msn. xxx

yes...i'm still around...i lurk alot...i got put off posting after all the nasty threads a few months back....lost my confidence to ramble on as i do!

Aww MrsF What posts were they?

but i do understand how it freaks you out....alex has a habit of grabbing our faces when he wants us to look at something...and that 'niggles ' me...but in this case i am sure it indicates 'something' significant about his communiaction probs...

I used to do it! And until I was much older than your DD. Just generally at home or with close friends though I think. And I have no SN whatsoever.. no then or now! (Believe it or not, lol!) It was just a habit. I could easily slip back into doing it now if I let myself.. I have no idea why. I never thought of it as SN-type behaviour though.. just a quirk.

SJ x

it was a few months back...not worth dragging it all up again...but due to my (what i believe to be AS etc)...i took some posts very literally...very bluntly...and very much to heart...NONE of the posts were directed at me...but i am very paranoid...and have since then worried that i have upset people...or that my life probs are too trivial to mention....you know...but every now and then i get 'drawn in'!!!

i still LOVE mumsnet....and still useless at MSN!!! (it freaked me out how fast the chat flows on MSN! I could not keep up! I also found it too invasive....agin my paranoia creeping in!!!!)

SJ - Well quirky definitely defines dd

Ah MrsF, you know how much you are loved on here!

oh...and me and the boys still love writing invisible letters on each others backs-with a finger.

reminds me that the other day i asked leigh to write a number on my back...and he wrote 3309!!!!(again his aspergers has it's humerous side...as anyone else would have written a number like 1 or 9 or something....but not leigh!!!!)

Welcome back, MrsF!

I did this as a child BH and i still do, i dont know why its just something that ive always done.

Mrs F you have to come back on Special Needs we miss you a lot-make it your new years resolution

My ds does this all the time as well, I suppose it does look a bit strange to others. I also sometimes say a word, and then see it as its spelt too, although since coming on mumsnet I've occasionally started to spell words out on an imaginary keyboard. Way too much time on here I reckon

Mrs F I love reading your posts, glad to see you back

Really Mcwoozy?

I am wondering if it's asn thing or just a dd thing? So hard to distinguish sometimes!

I do this too, it's part of my OCD and although I can generally keep a lid on it, I have real trouble controlling it sometimes - particularly when I'm stressed. I also used to have the urge to finger out the notes on an imaginary clarinet when I was listening to music - people think you're really weird when you do that!

Oh wigwam i do that!

Only when i hear music i try and play the tune on an imaginary piano!!!!!!

Didnt realise it could be part of my OCD, very interesting

Wow this is interesting! I did know that I have/used to have OCD traits.. (but didn't think of them as that at the time when I used to do them most.) I used to have to keep checking things over and over.. or when I was a kid, I used to have to touch a lamp post as I walked by (really wound my mum up).. used to smell everything (my DD does this!) and also look at the the bottom of a mug/cup before I would drink from it!
And I said I didn't have any SN??!!!

SJ x

Gosh... when I listen to music I... drum
(hubby is a drummer in a band)...
I must remember not to wear the new MP3 player on the bus, as I sit there with my hands moving up and down then crashing into imaginary cymbals in mid air... weird....

I found this when I was learning something, e.g. thought of everything in French when it started clicking and the same with shorthand and copy typing!!

Do you think it's sn or just her? Sorry know I have already asked but really intrigued why she does it.
Another thing that really intrigues me with dd is that although she has a language disorder (and still cannot have any kind of conversation that is more than 1 way) in the spoken way she is brilliant with the written word.
For example she can read and comprehend anything (we were worried she was hyperlexic as she read from about 3 but she can answer text about what she has read) and if you was to give her a sample of text with grammatical errors she will correct them Doesn't make any sense at all. Maybe where she lacks in one area she makes up with another.

one of my ocd things is symetrically pressing down/lifting each finger/thumb from thum to little finger...on each hand...getting faster..OR CIRCLING MY FEET...remember even doing the foot thing as a child...used to sit for ages twirling my slipper round and round my foot ...rarely knocking it off....

BH...wish i could say if your DD does this as WE do or as a NT child....for me i have lost sight of whether anything i do is NT anymore!!! !!! My keyworker spends alot of her time with me trying to convince me that much of what i do everyday/or think about everyday....is how the majority do or say things...however...they are finally agreeing i have ocd...and therefore see my questioning simple things such as when i wonder if they the way i cut runner beans (my favourite question!!!!!!!) with SCISSORS (!!!) ooops! Now YOU all know!!!!.... is 'normal'...i 'question' EVERTHING i do...i feel like a camera watches me constantly...judging me....and i therefore feel that is what drives me to 'check' everything.
However...i am LUCKY cos i am able to check maybe only once or twice...i know many have to repeat eactions far more. the only time i check far more is when i have lost something (frequently!)...i will seacrch/turn out/create chaos....in the same drawer/cupboard/room etc...repetatively....6 or 7 times...and end up having panic attacks....usually can only stop if i find the offending item....or get someone else to agree that the item is NOT where i am seaching (its as is i cannot be sure on my own)....and often i will even forget what i am searching for...but feel compelled to continue...as i feel i hhave wasted time/made a mess for no reason- unless i find /remember what i am looking for....

and so it goes on.......

so BH....maybe post on a non-SN thread...i do that sometimnes.....under the guise of...."does anyone do this.....????".....i did that once about computers on a chatthread...it was good to get replies from people who do not know me...sometimes cos we have SN 'tinted glasses' we 'see' things a certain way...and it is good to get 'ifferent prospective'....howvwer....i deep down have a theory that all those NT's out there who do what us SN's do...aren't NT after all!!! I know i should see that if a NT does somthing i do that should mean i am NT ...but no...i cannot help but feel THEY are SN!!!!

sorry to ramble!!!