Early signs of Autism

Post Reply New Topic

I was on youtube (looking for music) and found this video. My question is... is this accurate?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHAp9n9AxXw&playnext=1&videos=XP4Lj7K-O80&feature=grec_index[/youtube]

My take is that some kids flap, and others don't.

Yes, I know that. I'm obviously not being clear here... is that considered hand flapping in the video?

Double post

Last edited by CockneyRebel on 09 Aug 2010, 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That doesn't really seem like flapping, to me. It seems more like excitement.

That's what I thought. Don't most kids smack their stomachs like that when they're excited?

I think so.

I flap my hands when excited, people with ASD do it more often than normal. If I was telling someone early signs of autism I would go for 'lining up toy play', fecal smearing, head banging and toe walking, people telling you 'there is something wrong with your child' (lol) which are all things I missed with my autistic daughter as I thought they were normal and the people were overly critical.

I don't pay much attention to what other people have to say about my children, because I've found most people are insanely paranoid. My babysitter once said I should take my 2 year old (at the time) daughter to a child psychologist because she likes her blanket a certain way.

However, she does flap her hands, line things up, bang her head, and toe walk. My son does all these things, too.

My son flaps like the girl in the video. And he usually flaps when he is excited. I didn't view it as "hand flapping" because he was flapping his arms (I'm AS too) but it's apparently lumped together that way.

There's so much misinformation out there....

I used to work as an agency worker in nurseries and all of the small children would flap about like that when excited. It's just what toddlers do. I think if they did it when they were being quiet and calm then it might be considered hand-flapping in the sense that people mean when they talk about Autism.

Thank you! I used to work with 2 year olds in a daycare, and they all did this... except the two Autistic children.

I guess more than anything, I was surprised to see someone call that hand flapping.

I assume that the child in the video has since been diagnosed, or the parent wouldn't have put it up ... but, overall, I have to agree with the posters here that say it does NOT look like autistic hand flapping and it DOES look like a normal toddler movement. Great way to get more parents panicked ... sigh.

That's my take too -- though it's not unlike what my son used to do. His hand flapping is much more obviously in his arms and hands now that he's older. So I guess this could sort of be a very young, precursor to more typical hand-flapping.

My son started at 1 yr of age, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling fan and flapping his hands. My husband thought that it was because he was frustrated because he had low musle tone and was a late walker. He actually did stop flapping from age 2 to 3. He had started walking, and was too busy exploring things. When he started pre-k at age 3, he started it back again, and still does it---he is now 5, and does it when he is really excited, and he also does it when he talks sometimes.

As for the video, that just looks like a kid showing excitement. My son's flapping is much more pronounced than that.

That's interesting. My son only does it when he is excited. It's one of the first things that people notice that's "off" about him. But it's usually also men that ask if it's "normal". I don't have a lot of experience with young children so I wouldn't know either.

Some of the people that work with him call it that too.

Here's another, what is different (sincere question)?:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDuAugAykcc&feature=related[/youtube]