Do NTs flap their hands as well when they're really Anxious?

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I have a friend who I've seen flap her hands rapidly while talking to her classmate....I've asked her about it and she said that she can't help it because she's really anxious and she said it helped her released her anxiousness and be more in control

I also see her flap her hands and clap as well when she's very happy

Isn't this similar to AS trait? Do NT's do that as well??


Update:
I don't see her flap her hands anymore when she's anxious....she told me that she suffers from Social Anxiety that's why she can't help herself but flap her hands when trying to initiate a conversation to a classmate but she doesn't do that anymore
She still clap and flap her hands (like a butterfly) when she's very happy and excited....sometimes, I notice that she even twist her body when she's talking to people and she's very happy......though, sometimes I think she do it to hide her anxiety
She told me once that she would act very cheerful and put on a fake smile to hide her anxiety.....but then she also mentioned that her 'real' personality is an emotionless and insensitive girl (the opposite of what she's like at school)....,she only show her real side at home

She's considered very weird by her classmates and they say that she's 'too hyperactive'

Any comments about this??

Last edited by Niche99 on 23 Apr 2014, 1:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

No, NTs flap their lips when anxious.

That's a physical expression of emotion and isn't the same as the rhythmical and repetitive hand flapping when stimming.

To be perfectly honest, I don't remember seeing a whole lot of hand flapping going on with all the autistic kids I went to school with for years. I don't get why it's talked about so much, considering how little I've seen of it irl.

It probably is a rare stim, as most people on here don't quite understand, and confuse ordinary gestures with hand-flapping.

But I think early videos of autistic children doing this has made a lasting impression on the consciousness of the general public. I do it, but I also realize that among people with autism it isn't common, as most don't seem to do it.

http://youtu.be/TQY2oB3Rqdg?t=2m48s

As you can see in the video above, he is doing it by himself. No external social stimuli, seemingly unmotivated. And his whole body is involved.

Anyway lol, yeah people shouldn't obsess over it, if they don't do it. It's not important. And Lorna Wing even wrote that it's mostly people with intellectual disabilities and autism that do it the most and to an extreme degree.

Why I do it to an extreme degree is a mystery. So even rarer for a HFA. If one were to do that in public, not intentionally (unless they thought it was funny themselves, done so intentionally - which wouldn't be a surprise knowing people), it would probably end up on YouTube - it happened to a mentally ill man in my hometown.

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Last edited by Acedia on 22 Apr 2014, 8:54 am, edited 4 times in total.

I don't see hand-flapping, of the stereotypical "autistic" variety, amongst NTs. They do many other things with their hands, however.

Hand-flapping is quite stressful to the wrists, actually

Very dramatic NT's do it to show excitement but I can't say I've ever seen any do it when they're anxious.

I still can't picture what it would even look like for someone to be doing that....which I'd say is unusual with how often I hear about it on this forum. Do you know what it looks like? like someone just moving their hands around a lot or flapping them as though they are bird wings and it might be possible to fly away with them?

Could your classmate possibly have ASD?

I've never met one that does. But that's not to say it's not possible.

I've also met few autistic kids that do as well. And I worked in our school's special ed department for a semester and spent my last semester of Catholic school in special ed. They would mostly rock. A few of the nonverbal kids would flap their hands.

This. I've noticed that they do a lot of talking when their anxious

I'm an aspie and I never flap my hands.

I flap mine at the wrists. Usually when I am extremely upset/frustrated/overwhelmed, or occasionally when I am very excited about something. It feels involuntary; I don't do it on purpose, I just start doing it when some emotion builds up to overflowing in me. It's like a tension release valve.

I'm aspie, never done it. My step son is autistic and he's never done it. I have seem some "spoilt brats" do it in temper tantrums in the family, and they are NT.

I have never seen an NT do it except for my son.

I flap. I flap a lot. I will flap, then gnaw on my left index finger, then flap again. Especially when I am happy or frightened, and every time I have broken a bone.