# Hand Flapping - autism? Can you look at my video please!



## kaths101

Hi, this is my LO during dinner, he doesnt usually make the noises, he was just getting frustrated with me videoing haha but the hand waving, finger twitching is normal for him at dinner time. Is it just excitement?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0BV43bPhk&feature=youtu.be

What do you think?


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## Kel127

It actually looks alot like what my son has. Its called Complex Motor Stereotypies. Here is a link https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neu...ology/conditions/motor-stereotypies/faqs.html

Does he do more often when he is excited or sleepy?
I have a video of my son's movements in a thread if you want to take a look. My son normally keeps his fists closed but alot of other kids do the finger wiggling like your son. We also have a facebook group called Motor Stereotp


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## kaths101

Thank you, do you have a link to your video? 

He Mostly does it at feeding times or if he is excited. He has done it from about 4/5 months old. He also has a little tic where he holds his breath for a second and then does a short little screech...


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## Kel127

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6sKU7WJtA&feature=youtu.be
This is the most recent video of my son.


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## lisa35

How strange, just watched your video Kel127 and Finlay has just started doing that with his mouth, he has always done that with his fingers though. He has just been diagnosed with autism. Will see if I can film him doing it because he does it quite a lot.


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## new_to_ttc

:shock: My son did that at that age, all the time! Literally if his hands werent doing something they were twitching and twirling. He's 16 months now and its not half as noticable, only occurs occassionally and he can keep his hands still now though they still twitchy when he gets excitable x


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## Kel127

Motor Stereotypy can be either autistic or non-autistic. My son is classified as non-autistic because he generally talks well for his age and is very social. 
This is not something that can be outgrown, its a life long problem. They would like my son to start occupational therapy to help control the movements. 
He does have other sensory issues that come along with his motor stereotypies. He is very sensitive to textures, and won't eat certain food because of the way it feels, and if there is too much noise he sticks his fingers in his ears to block it out. 
He is also starting to show signs of having OCD, which is usually linked to stereotypies. He can't have anything dirty, sticky, messy on his hands. I have to keep wipes on me at all times or he will have a melt down. He has to have things lined up in particular order and gets very upset if things get moved. 
Here is another video of a little girl who does more of a finger wiggle like your son. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvkCpOBtn2M&feature=relmfu


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## new_to_ttc

This is very interesting, my baby hates having messy hands and has to eat with a napkin so he can wipe his hands and mouth :shock: I thought he was just fussy :shrug:


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## Kel127

new_to_ttc said:


> This is very interesting, my baby hates having messy hands and has to eat with a napkin so he can wipe his hands and mouth :shock: I thought he was just fussy :shrug:

When he was 16 months, I thought that he was just fussy, and had his own little quirks, but after he turned 2 it started getting worse.


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## kaths101

What age did you start thinking hmm something isn't right? I think for about 6 months I thought his little hand thing was odd...

This was him at 9 months! (quite tame twirling)..
I'm still not sure whether it's excitement and the hand twirling is lessening. He only really does it in his high chair!

https://s950.photobucket.com/albums/ad350/kaths101/?action=view&current=CIMG6511.mp4


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## lisa35

Your video of the little girl reminded me of Finlay. He has also just started doing that with my arnaments too. 

He hates having his hands wiped with baby wipes but doesn't mind the dish cloth. He must not like the feel of the wipes


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## Kel127

kaths101 said:


> What age did you start thinking hmm something isn't right? I think for about 6 months I thought his little hand thing was odd...
> 
> This was him at 9 months! (quite tame twirling)..
> I'm still not sure whether it's excitement and the hand twirling is lessening. He only really does it in his high chair!
> 
> https://s950.photobucket.com/albums/ad350/kaths101/?action=view&current=CIMG6511.mp4

Connor's hand movements started at 6 months. He also only did it in the highchair when he was little. We thought it was cute. By 16 month we thought it was a little quirk he would grow out of. By 2 they had become more frequent, and more evident that they were involuntary movements. 
Here is video of Connor at 7 months. Please excuse the stupid commentary by me, this video was to capture him eating so well, not his movements. 
https://youtu.be/O1G_-7s60qg


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## new_to_ttc

George was 6 months in this video, and he had been hand twirling for long enough for me to be now talking about it. I filmed this for the other mams in the BnB Mayhems group to see his hand twirling as it was very noticeable all the time. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-zr11aXKs


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## shady567

Cute toddler!! My son used to do stuff like this all the time and although I was worried at the time, I am glad I listened to the people around me who said that all babies exhibit behaviors like this from time to time. So for what it's worth -- I wouldn't worry too much about it, at least not at this stage. If he's still doing it when he is 3 or 4, I'd get a second opinion.

As a mom who's been through thick and thin with a son who may or may not be on the spectrum, here's my two cents!:flower:


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## kaths101

Thanks well he is 17 months old now and it's almost stopped, he still waves his arms about when excited but the finger flicking etc has gone, and there are absolutely no other signs in the spectrum.

Thought I would update as I guess people might search like I did! I think I was just a paranoid Mumma. Enjoy their little quirks! :thumbup:


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## LoloShells

My little sister used to flap her hands in an almost *identical *manner to the little girl in that video, when she got excited. It lasted from infancy until probably 7-8 years old? If her hands were occupied and she got excited, her feet would do this instead. She is now a beautiful, normally developed 23 year old. I dont want mommies who see that video to freak out unnecessarily.


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## sethsmummy

Wow I didnt realise that the hand movements could be seen as un normal from such a young ago. Now makds sense to me why the eduction visitor looked at ds2 when I said "oo your flapping a lot today" when she was doing one of her weekly visits for ds1s autism review! Ds1 does a lot of these hand movements troughout the day and flaps when hes excited or annoyed.


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## MummyVeeVee

Hi all. I live in Australia and there is literally NO info on CMS here. Well perhaps there is but I've been searching and can't find a thing. So... I created a FB Group called Complex Motor Stereotypies - Australia, in the hope of getting in touch with people over here. Hope Admin doesn't mind me posting this on here  x x x


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