My son will play with napkins/paper in the air, he'll explain that their ghosts or something else. I know he doesn't flap his hands around but I was wondering if this was considered flapping?
Not sure- but my son flaps all the time- he went bowling today and he flapped so mcuh I thought he would fly off! Sorry I can't help much- but I imagine flapping can come in less obvious forms than it does with my son.Hand flapping is another one of those behaviors I see as potentially having more than one "reason". The one thing I do see, however, is how, for Sam, this is very much simply another coping mechanism.
it was simply another way if blocking out and feeling calm. I believe hand flapping ranks in the "preferred" coping mechanisms for these children... that if spinning was not allowed, this was another coping mechanism the autistic child could easily revert to since it simply involves part of the child's body... and that, even mommy could not take away! :o) But, if you think about it, as with spinning, the flapping of hands creates an "illusion" of "parts being made whole". When you quickly flap your hands, it is harder to distinguish the fingers... the "parts" from the "whole". it makes them blurry and funny
his particular coping mechanism does not work as well as spinning for Sam and so, I believe this is why he prefers to simply "spin"... he never seems to be able to "flap" quickly enough to really calm himself down. For these reasons, I have come to the conclusion that hand flapping is nothing more than another coping with a scary strange world of the autistic child.
you could try visual aids if its a problem example
a picture card with a pictur of hands being put down and say quite hands or hands down
i personally believe it is beautiful
try it and see
i spin and flap with my children for many hours its very relaxing
i have even done it in a supermarket when people have been looking
they look at me then the focus is not my children
the problem is i have a voice and know how to use it lol
shell
Hmm, I think it might qualify as a stim but not flapping. Any one else?[QUOTE=babyboy2005]Not sure- but my son flaps all the time- he went bowling today and he flapped so mcuh I thought he would fly off! Sorry I can't help much- but I imagine flapping can come in less obvious forms than it does with my son.[/QUOTE]
OMG my son LOVES LOVES LOVES bowling. We have a you-tube video he watches all the time (10 plus times a day - seriously). I took him to a bowling alley because he loved the you-tube bowling clips, but he got WAY to over stimulated at the ally. We had to leave within the first 10 mins.
My dh always jokes that my son will fly away. He flaps so much!
I have just noticed that Branden does this when he gets really excited about something. Another thing branden does is run around in circles especially at church. When he first walks into his sunday school classroom he will start to run around in circles on the carpet and then aroubd the tables. He also likes to run in circles and fall down or just fall down for the fun of it. The teachers always look at me bc they are afraid he is going to get hurt but he never says ouch, he just smiles. It is very strange, but i let him do it bc it makes him happy.My son hand flaps when he's excited. He also uses objects like a lasso (hard to explain!) and I think it's just an extension of the flapping. He loves to wave napkins, washcloths, etc.My son used to flap and it was part of 'dramatic play' ie he would flap a kite, or piece of paper and it was a car wash or bats / butterfly wings so I felt it was pretty acceptable
He stopped doing this a couple of months ago- I think when we added the acetyl L carnitine, reduced L glutathione and upped the MT promoter.
My 4yr old makes these ghosts too! he prefers plastic bags and floaty things, he then gets exited and flaps - he calls them 'dementors' like in harry potter. Anyway I don't know if it's a stim but it's stimulating, the same way he likes to look at dust. Both make him excited and then he sometimes flaps. So I'm not sure whether it in itself could be considered stimming but sounds like it's bordering on a stim at least. [QUOTE=aries]My son used to flap and it was part of 'dramatic play' ie he would flap a kite, or piece of paper and it was a car wash or bats / butterfly wings so I felt it was pretty acceptable
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Yes this is the way he plays with these and also loves bats and does it with them as well. Most of the time I really don't care too much b/c I'm used to it but I don't want other kids to see him do this and think he's weird. (kids can be so mean,idk,guess I worry to much about the small stuff)He also has a younger brother and he'll do it too sometimes just b/c he sees his brother doing it.
It sounds like he is playing pretend to me.
Sometimes if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck...
My son is a handflapper. Although the older he gets I do notice that it is a little lower key than when he was younger. He will flap when he is excited,he flaps in anticipation for things he likes, he flaps when he sees things move on a computer screen or tv screen. His flapping now though is dne more with his fingers and down by his side more than it use to be. He only bends his arms and flaps when he is so excited he can't control hisself. And actually it is more of a fingerflap. Like very rapid piano playing. He also will stand on his toes and cross his eyes at the same time. The fingerflapping comes first. And depending on how intense he is the other things come after. Sometimes he will just flap his fingers, next stage of intensity is flapping fingers and standing on toes, next stage of intensity is flaping fingers, standing on toes and crossing eyes all at the same time.