Flapping

[George]

My son is four and a half and he sits on the floor and moves his legs back and forth like he is ridding a bike he also flaps his arms and moves his fingers as if he is typing, I know that a lot of children flap with their arms but have never come across the leg one, he does it when he is looking at a video he likes or watching his toy washing machine or looking at picture books or just staring at a plastic brick, he also does it when he is anxious, anywhere he can sit really.

 

When he can?t sit down to do this, if we are out , his walking style changes from a regular style to a very over exaggerated one ? kicking his legs out to the side, putting one foot directly in front of the other and wiggling his bottom ? reminds me of the ministry of funny walks. All this isn?t something I find a problem, it would just be good to know if anyone else has heard of the leg thing?

[littlenemo]

flapping is usually a hand and arm thing - those are the bits of the body that are most free to do such things - but there is no reason for it not to be legs too

 

Com's friend (dx: HFA) does a strange sort of flappy dance when excited or stressed which includes both legs and arms (in fact the whole body) but usually only uses his arms

 

my favourite stim is toe/foot wiggling - it isn't very obvious most of the time but Nemo misses it if I don't do it in bed!

 

Zemanski

[asereht]

My son always threw his legs around while watching tv.

At 14 he still does it at times and now he has very long legs!

 

T

[sharron]

k is 8 and he flaps his legs and arms all the time, little nemo l do the same toe/foot wiggling in bed have done it since l was little.

sharron

[tizzmeclare]

Our son flaps his arms and flicks his fingers alot of the time, especially when we are out.

 

He has never flapped his legs...but his walk does change when we go out. He seems to almost bounce with sort of bowed legs and stops walking in a straight line, and nearly always begins to talk to himself. Like you, this behaviour does not bother us, but it does draw stares from others in the street

 

Tizz

[bid]

Does anyone else sort of wiggle out rhythms with their toes and fingers?

 

I've done this since I was a child!

 

Bid

 

Oh, and my tongue, against my teeth at each side?!!!

Edited June 30, 2005 by bid

[Suze]

OH NO!....I DO THAT TOO BID!!! Does it mean something do you think ? I beat a rhythm with my toes and twitch my muscles too , in a strange synchro-nicity (probably spelt that wrong). If I think about it my body is never truly still ! Thats got me worried now.Are there any more muscle twitchers?

[Viper]

My husband constantly moves his legs, kind of from side to side like he is trying to knock his knees together. He did it a a school play where all the seats were joined and my DD had to tell him to stop as the whole row was rocking and people were looking at them. It drives me insane seeing his legs out of the corner of my eye while trying to watch a film.

 

I suspect he has AS and he agrees, he does it more when he has to sit for long periods, he is usually never still.

 

Viper.

[shell]

steven also flaps his legs about the doctor says that he is showing signs of restless leg which is where the legs wont stay still but i thought it was just part of his asd/adhd

[Hectorshouse]

I pace up and down when I'm stressed, can't sit still at all, and grind my teeth, which actually makes my jaw ache. Also I push the ends of my fingers usually my index against my thumb it has a dent in the end of it, one at a time and drag my nails overs the ends of my thumbs and palms, I think it was probably worse when I was younger, and this is a more restrained version ...

[~Jonathan~]

I do the muscle twitching thing, always have. I sort of twitch my chest muscles to music and to incidental music on the tv and in films. Also, to get off to sleep I get my body into a rhythm and sort of sway my hips, this has a soporific effect on me and sleep then comes easy. I make chord shapes on the back of my right hand with my left as I'm listening to music and play great long solos on my right hand and arm too. I am forever moving, my legs jumping up and down all the time. I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in 1999 but I believe that was a misdiagnosis, I'm sure what I have is instead AS. Oh, hello by the way. I'm new here

[phasmid]

steven also flaps his legs about the doctor says that he is showing signs of restless leg which is where the legs wont stay still but i thought it was just part of his asd/adhd

 

It is NOT ASD related, it is a syndrome all of it's own. Restless Legs Syndrome is a pain. I have it so badly that I am on medication for it ( it is actually for Parkinsons which I DO NOT have). It has caused no end of rows when I have been taken into hospital or been to GP and seen a locum in the past. They have wanted to take me off the tablets. So I have to sit there and fill them in on the background - specialist sleep clinic and the tests they ran etc. Most of them sit there and go "Oh!"

 

Mine is extreme, arms and legs going crazy all night! I was filmed overnight once and they showed me the video the following day. I was running a marathon every night and never left the bed! No wonder I was knackered most days! Add sleep apnea to the equation and I was blooming zombie!

 

If it is realy bothering you (and him) see your GP - look it up on the Net and take something with you, most of them have less of a clue for it than they do ASD's!!!