Any teenagers who still hand flap?

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27 years old and I still flap.

I'm 33 and I still do it when I'm really excited. I just tell people I'm gesticulating wildly on account of being 1/4 Italian!

My Dad was 58 and still flapped his hands when he was very happy or angry or had an emphatic point to make. No one thought anything of it-- they just thought he was a very passionate speaker!

I would very much like to get rid of the urge to bang my forehead against walls when anticipating something stressful, though. I do it very gently but it still freaks people out. I try very hard to substitute pacing for head-banging. That bugs them too, but not nearly as much.

Sitting in the psych room in the ER, I pulled out all my eyebrows because the room was too small to pace and I knew banging my head against the wall would get me sedated in a hurry. It took six weeks for the eyebrows to grow back but did not upset anyone-- tapping my head against the wall would have done no damage whatever but would have had all the staff in an uproar.

Sometimes NTs make NO SENSE.

Moral of the story-- Stim and smile, and f**k 'em if they can't take a joke. A few years out of adolescence, anyone with any sense will have more important things than a little hand-flapping to worry about. Just try not to do it on a crowded bus, lol. Hope you can work out a more space-efficient stim for crowded places. I like hair twirling, finger-wiggling, head-bobbing, and bouncing on the balls of my feet.

Hair-twirling's innocent-- for girl anyway. I can pass the rest of them off as "too much coffee."

Over 30 and hand-flap shamelessly wherever I happen to be. It's usually accompanied by child-like squeals so people usually just think I'm being deliberately daft and let me off

31, sort of just started. I'm going through a stressful time so I do it deliberately when I'm nervous, to feel better, but apparently I have been unconsciously when very excited or upset--forever, in addition to jumping up and down. I never noticed, because I haven't been showing my feelings much for the past few years and nobody's commented on it.

As I like how it makes me feel, people are going to have to deal with it. In a long meeting when I'm nervous, I'm trying to tone it down to rubbing my hands together.

*Raises hand*

I try not to do it in front of people. If I'm in public and I feel overly excited I'll wiggle my fingers instead.

moved from In-Depth Adult Life Discussion to Adolescent Autism Forum

... Wait. Hand-flapping is an aspie thing? But. But. It's so fantastically fantastic. There is no other way to express that degree of excitement. I mean, now that I think of it, I've never seen an NT do it, but I seriously thought it was a normal gesture. I'm 17, I have been doing it forever. Every time I'm really excited or happy about something.

I also jump up and down and/or stand on my tip toes and/or start talking really fast, if it's Special Interest-related. I really doubt I'll ever stop. It's about as natural as smiling. I've never felt self-conscious about it enough to want to not do it in public (I've never quite realized it was odd), but I doubt that I could even if I did. I'm not usually that happy in public, anyways.

I was diagnosed as Aspie in 2000... I never really "stimmed" excessively, and it was never a problem, but I like the feeling of hand flapping... I just do it in private. I don't do it really that often but it's always kind of fun.

As for the toes, I never noticed myself doing that, until you brought it up.

I'll actually walk on my heels, but yeah, sometimes I flap my hands (involuntarily).

I still hand flap and I am getting old. It only happens when I either overexcited or mad, but I do it in private so no one laughs.

I still hand flap & I'm almost 18 :3 of course not in public though. I usually do it when I'm listening to a song that I really like or I'm excited for something :3

I'm 17 and hand-flap. Most of the time I manage not to do it in public but when I'm alone in my room or with close friends who I know won't tease me, I just let myself do it. Even when my face doesn't show how I'm feeling, my hands do.

It kinda feels like you've got an excess of excitement energy and you just have to let it out. As for walking on my toes, I've been doing that ever since I could stand, doesn't matter what I'm feeling.

I still do that and I'm a young adult (even though I don't feel like that) and yes it feels good doing that, but ppl don't like it.

I'm 17 and I still flap all the time, as long as I'm in my own home.