Heh, ya, I do that in my sleep 2 and appear to be the only 1 in my immediate family, its really 1 of the very few things that I do that I suppose could be like residual or whatever little expression of HFA I left and still exibit.
The leg thing I think is far more common, and I understood it to be a way to force blood thru your legs, not sure about that 1 so much but many MANY people do that, its quite normal.
I would say that feeling insecure in a situation might be a trigger, but the ultimate reason for these behaviors is sensory. People can have sensory needs even if they don't have autism. I doubt your kids picked up this habit from you -- they wouldn't do it if they didn't need it.
To better understand your family's sensory profile, you could use this checklist:
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html
Good luck with everything.
I have to constantly move, whether I am standing , sitting , or laying down to go to bed. This has been a habit of mine since before kids. One of the things I do in bed is either shake or kick my foot. Abby is the same way in bed. She always kicks her foot and her feet like mine have to be out of the blankets.I did this every night as a child. I used to wrap my arms around my pillow like I was hugging it and bang my head against it all night long. A lot of times I remember counting my head bangs...I went well over 100 times a night. My dad passed it along to me and my brother, my sister missed out on it.
I think I remember stopping the need to do it everynight arounf 10 years however, I did it randomly into Jr. High. Now, as an adult, I am almost 29, I have the urge to do it only when I am sick or really, really restless.
I also have a constant motion. I chew gum a lot too. I also rock, more like a sway, I dont think anyone thinks it looks unusual. I leg shake and now everynight before bed, I rub my feet together.
I am a big stimmer. It never hit me until I had my dd though. She stims with her hands when she is excited. She rubs her thumb over all of her fingers and tenses her jaw. I was worried about it when I had no idea what is was. It was also the main reason I considered asd.
I eventually learned about sensory dysfunction and saw so much of what my dd and I do. We are a lot a like. I also saw so much of my family, my Dad, brother, nephew...son of my sister that was not affected.
It probably did get passed on, but, no big deal:) At least that stim, as unusual as it is, is only at night:) I loved the way it made me feel and there is nothing wrong with it. My husband deals, he does not let me rub my feet on him and that was dissapointing...I liked it. But, I deal with snoring too...its give and take.
I was just wondering if any of your children or even you do this when they/you are sleeping? I am an admitted body/head rocker when I sleeping and a leg shaker when I am sitting. I just can’t keep still. If I have to force myself to keep still, I eat tons of gum. For some reason a part of my body has to be in perpetual motion. Don’t ask my why though. I feel really weird if I have to be completely still. Sort of creepy and crawly-ish feeling. Can’t really explain.
I have read that it’s due to insecurities etc and that it’s very common in children. I don’t consciously feel any neglect or have other issues. Apparently, most children outgrow this by age 10. Well I never have and both my 13 NT daughter and my dx 6 year old son do this too and we sleep together in my bed. So most nights, all 3 of us are rocking/rolling away. Did I pass this horrible habit down to my children? My husband doesn’t do this and never has.
I have read it is a common behaviour in autistic or developmentally delayed children, so I understand why my son might do but not me or my daughter and me a 40 yr woman.
I hope my children will outgrow it. It’s an impossible behaviour for a partner to put up with in adult life.
My son rocks his head when hes going to sleep or if hes tired during the day or over stimulated in noisy crowded areas usually. He used to do it ALL the time before bed but he stopped doing it so much and replaced it with something else. Ive read (this was before any dx) that if the child dosnt stop head rocking/banging by age 4 you should get them evaluated but i dont know? I know that made me worry and watch if it disappeared which it didnt but I always thought it was sort of cute before. Altho I thought alot of things my son did were cute/or just him that I later found out were red flags or symptoms of asd and believe it or not im still learning new things!