tic or stim....

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How do you tell the difference between a tic and a stim? My son is not particularly stimmy persay. When he is excited he may jump, but that isnt a daily occurance. Recently, he started this rapid hand or finger flapping for maybe 5 seconds at a time. he also was smacing his fingers on his tongue, but I reminded him of germs on the hands and he has stopped that for the most part.

I thought it was a stim, his speech and OT teachers asked me about it today and said they thought it was a tic. I had never thought of a tic before? So, how do you know the difference?

In his life, he has done things like run his hands along a fence or wall when he was younger (2 1/2ish), but that was short lived and easily redirecetd. He has made some throaty noises, a noise a boy in his pre school made (this was about 3-4yo) but has stopped that.

He can repeat what you just said or what someone else just said if he is stressed or overstimulated.

When we tried him on Zoloft he became very hyper and would do things like run and flip upside down on the couch. But since he is off the zoloft for about 6 months now that is gone.


He can hum video game tunes or make the sounds the characters make while playing...
I am thinkinf of htings that might have been a stim or tic, and that is pretty much what I come up with.

So, what does this sound like to you? I am more interested in the hand flapping, he did it in karate today a few times too.

If it is a tic, do I take him to a neuro?

editing to add my so is 7yo and dignosed HF Asperers and ADHD.

Do you think your son can control his hand and finger flapping? From what I know, a tic is an involuntary motor movement, while stims are not. Therefore, if he can control his hand and finger flapping, it's a stim rather than a tic.

I could be wrong though, but that's my understanding of it.

Hope that helps.

Hmmm...I havent asked him to stop. I figure it is a stim, and it wasnt hurting or bothering anyone, so why say antyhing? I did ask him to stop tapping his tongue and he has. I might cathc him every now and then but it isnt bad.

So, should I ask him to stop flapping?

If it isn't harming him or anyone else, and it isn't having a negative impact on his life, then whether or not to have him stop it is a matter of personal preference. However, there is the chance that it could interfere with his life if it attracts negative attention from other people (for example, bullying from schoolmates). I guess you just need to weigh up the pros and cons of trying to make him stop, and maybe talk with him about it, if you think that would be appropriate.

Just my thoughts, i'm not exactly a trained psychologist...

Thanks,

I am just wondering, if it is a tic, do I need to take him to a neuro? Or should I leave it be? My son is homeschooled, so I am not worried about classmates teasing him, and his homeschool freinds and his other friends are all fine with him. He did do it at karate today, and his speech and OT mentioned it, so I am wondering if I should look into it at all!

You're very welcome.

Hmm... Do you think his speech and OT would know whether or not he should see a neuro? Maybe you should ask them, they might be able to refer him to one.

Just wanted to say a big 'congratulations' on homeschooling your child, you sound like a very caring parent! I wish someone had homeschooled me, school was hell.

It's probably a stim. (I also flap my hands and flick my fingers.) I think it's a tic if he has no control over it and doesn't enjoy doing it.

I dont think a speech or OT are qualified to diagnose tics...but being that they brought it up to me, I figured here was a good place to ask. The speech and OT are shocked my son has Aspergers casue he is soo wonderful in his 30 minute sessions with them, so I THINK they came up with tic casue they dont see him as a spectrum kid. I told the OT I thought it was a stim. He does it more now, it started off only when he was jumping or excited...now he will do it while watching TV, doing school work, etc...

I am going to just keep an eye on it, might make him neuro appt, but not sure yet!

Looking Lost,

I am sorry that you had a rough experience in school, so far being hmeschooled, my son has been sheileded form NT kids picking on him. He has a lot of freinds and is very social and happy kid, I hope to keep it that way. I can only imagine him in a class of 28 kids and him flapping his hands in his seat or flicking his fingers on his tongue really fast...I am sure that woudl go over big!

thanks all!

Thanks.

I hope all goes well, feel free to come back and give an update on how things are going- no pressure though.

sounds like what I do what with my hands as a stim (minus the tongue part...) for me its a stress release/tension release which I can control if need be but it can be very stressful on me to stop it and I can stim with my hands/fingers without thinking/controlling it because my attention is focused elsewhere. sometimes when im trying to suppress it, what I can't suppress comes out as a short intense and largely uncontrolled movement. I do have lots of tics, twitches, jerking movements in my body though my hand movements are definitely a stim for me.

Those sound like stims to me, but thats my worthless opinion. My daughter seems to have very little control over some of the stuff she does and doesn't seem aware of most of it till you point it out to her. Some of it she is aware. Hands in the yogurt? Aware. Standing and jumping instead of sitting at the dinner table? UNAWARE. I can't count the number of times I've said, "DD5! Sit in your chair while you eat dinner!" (bounce bounce bounce) "I AM SITTING IN MY ... Oh..." Then she sits but is up again and bouncing 30 seconds later. She also hums, clicks, and rubs her hands over surfaces, twiddles her fingers... I'd try to redirect but at a certain point it becomes pointless, she just finds something else. The tongue clicks are the one that is most like a tick, they just occur, and they are super subtle, during conversation. If I said something about them, it would be way past the point of even being able to point out to her when she did it exactly. I tried once or twice and the end result was , "no I didn't" so I gave up. Mostly she is just constantly moving, wiggling, fingers, hands, almost has the appearance of writhing sometimes. The only time she is still is if she is engaging in a special interest like video games or a tv show she likes and even then she still might be humming or doing something with a finger or two. She has actually lost weight recently and I think it is because she has gotten super picky over and uninterested in food and she is just constantly wmoving like thism aside from burning calories it is hard to eat if you do nothing but wiggle. I think it's got to do with starting kindergarten and all of the stress associated with it.

Tics are assessed by psychologists, not neurologists. Most likely, the neurologist would check him over for an identifiable neurological etiology and find absolutely nothing. (Unless you have reason to suspect that he's actually having myoclonic seizures, or if his 'tics' showed up suddenly after a bout of strep throat.)