When you speak do you use hand gestures?

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Yes, hand gestures are normal and are a part of body language. SOme aspies have clumsy, exaggerated or weird (unusual) hand gestures. This is known as clumsy, gauche body language and is an aspie trait (see Gilbert's Criteria, scroll down to "non-verbal communication problems") . I have this. If people are commenting a lot about your hand gestures and maybe laughing at and mimicking them than you may have weird ones too.LINK

Last edited by daydreamer84 on 14 May 2013, 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

yes now you mention it my friends like to mimic my hand gestures, i do use them a lot, perhaps they are a little unusual, i dont really have anything to compare with.

No to both, I don`t believe its an aspie trait, although I am actually full Autistic and not aspie. I never use my hands but I might tear up pieces of paper or draw something to explain a subject. I use "sorry" for when I am truly sorry. I hardly ever say it when I walk into someone, they usually say it .. but I think "they" are NT.

As far as I've seen many NTs use hand gestures that are culturally learned and shared and that have no deeper meaning than an exclamation mark. I've picked up a few from documentaries, it's like memes. It's not a bad thing. That's not the only that's going on with my own gesticulating though, as it is to create a picture in the air of whatever I'm talking about too (and I love that so many others also do that ). If you get laughed at (ranging from good-natured amusement to bullying) when gesturing then you're not using them in the same way NTs do. That's not a bad thing, as it helps with communication (as long as the other part can read it or isn't distracted by it ) and it feels good.

To the guy who said his arms just hang down, gesturing (sometimes) when talking does not mean you can't do that too when not talking.

It's not an aspie thing, but if you're not a visual thinker you wouldn't try to shape your thoughts like that to show to the other person and autistics are more often visual thinkers (it's apparently pretty rare with predominately visual thinkers in the general population).

Unless someone ask for a direction, then I use my hand/finger to point... but other than that... nope, not at all. Never really made sense out of all the hand gestures I have seen from other individuals.

Edit: Oh yeah... I'm a visual thinker too.

Not all visual thinkers do that, in case you guys didn't get the point. It's a personality thing.

Making unusual/weird gestures (different from NT's) OR making no ( or fewer) gestures IS an aspie trait. It's a non-verbal communication problem. Making gestures while talking in general is not (it's very normal).

Yep! Though I wonder, do you mean it's an aspie thing to make gestures when not talking? Isn't that just stimming then? (edit: haha sorry, I read it as you thinking gestures was NT-only) Mine is very much not a non-verbal communication problem as it can work as communication. I might just be a problem if it doesn't work (which I guess is depends on who you're trying to communicate with).
Face it, I just explained why NTs think it's weird.

Also we are in general less able to become culturally assimilated - so as NT-gestures comes from learning whatever everyone else is doing and we don't do that, yeah it might look a bit weird.

Not very often, unless I find it necessary to use hand gestures. An example is when someone would ask me where something is, and I would point at it if I know.

Yes, I use hand gestures a lot. I'm not trying to illustrate anything in particular with it, my hands just move because they do and have always done. It's only conscious when I am trying to illustrate; making the little pinchy gesture with index finger and thumb to emphasize a very small amount of something, for example.

I use repetitive hand gestures a lot. For example, I usually use the same gesture when saying a particular word. I "talk with my hands" so much that my family has threatened to used duct tape to stick my hands to my sides.

Btw I got a book on bodylanguage, gestures and how it works when I was around 9 because I didn't have/use any bodylanguage at all. My family didn't know then that I'm autistic but they gave me a really good upbringing with things like that anyway. It's learned, that kind of gesturing.

I almost never use hand gestures when I'm speaking. My psychologist told me that she viewed my lack of hand gestures as a symptom of autism. It's my understanding that people on the spectrum tend to use frequent but unusual hand gestures or not use them at all.

I don't use hand gestures much. I understand and use some like pointing at something if I want someone to look at it but I never use the random flailing around for emphasis that others use.

When I'm talking I never know what to do with my hands. I have to conciously think of what to do with them or else I will just wring my hands and crack my knuckles. I don't use any body language or hand gestures at all when "put on the spot" (like when someone else starts a conversation with me).

I catch myself, saying I'm sorry.

And, I feel that hand gestures help me to keep track of what I am saying, like mnemonics.

It's sometimes difficult for me to talk or think, and stay physically coordinated. I feel that I will lose my balance, if I become distracted.

When I had my truck, it was probably best that I drove alone, if at all.