Six-Year Old Stimming?

Hello,
I have a six and half-year old girl who I have had concerns about, on and off, for the last year or two.  She is in Grade 1 and does not play much with the other children.  In Kindergarten she mostly played alone with animal toys, and only would go to other play centres when asked to by myself or the teacher.  In class, she will talk with other kids when they initiate conversation, but mostly goes about her own business.  She occaionally plays with other children at recess, but again, mostly plays alone.  I probably would chalk it up to just a personality style, like introversion, except for one bothersome behaviour.  When she watches, television (and many times when she reads) she holds both hands (one hand if she's holding a book) about shoulder-level and open and closes her hands quickly.  She can do this for about 20-30 minutes and then will get tired of it and stop (often turning off the TV too as though she loses interest if she doesn't do her hand movements).  I guess this would be a stimming behaviour, from what I understand, which is why I am concerned that she may be somewhere on the PDD spectrum.  My husband and I raised the concern with her pediatrician who she has been going to since she was born, and the doctor tried to assure us that there was nothing to be concerned about.  She thinks she has some possible difficulty with anxiety (she has some fears like loud sudden noises and is a cautious in most things) and possibey a little bit of  a nervous tic.  She felt that PDD wasn't at all an issue here.  She also said not to tell her to stop the hand movements, in that it would only make it worse.  When we have play-dates she does very well one-on one with a friend.  Her behaviour in that type of social situation, seems relatively normal.  So, its more in a large group setting, like school, that she doesn't interact.  So, I have days where I don't have any concerns (other than the stimming) and days where I worry like crazy. My husband thinks she is displaying "normal" child development and she just needs time to develop friendships.  She's also very smart (probably reads 2 years above grade level) and he thinks she just doesn't relate to the children her age partly for that reason.  The stimming behaviour is the red flag for me because I heard that it's rare in children who are not PDD.  Lately, she is talking back to me all the time too, which I'm getting very frustrated about.  Anyway, any insight you have,I would most certainly appreciate.  Thank you!

[gracesmom]

Follow your suspicions and seek further eval.  Your daughter sounds almost carbon copy of mine.  I think the "girls" really are not so much less common in having ASD as much as underdiagnosed ie..shy, independent, marches to the beat of their own drummer and various other things that are passed off as "Girl" things.  It took me repeatedly saying....no, I see something that you MDs do not...  You know your kids unlike any other person.  If you see a behavior that is alarming you (and this certainly has caught your attention) get 2nd opinion, 3rd.. until you are either convinced by a very real explanation of why it is NOT ASD.. or find someone willing to look deeper than a 15 min. check.  My daughter was tested by Psycologists, Psychiatrists...and they all said well, maybe, and then that she did not have ASD.  I persisted and countered every explanation they had until they actually gave her a test I originally requested at the very start (ADOS) and voila!  they were then CONVINCED SHE DID HAVE IT and praised me for not stopping my pursuit even though the PROFESSIONALS said no in the beginning.  Sorry for the run on but just my way of saying "don't stop" until YOU are satisfied with the end answer...

[mc2727]

Hi,
Thanks for your response.  Do you mind me asking what it was that made you so convinced about your daughter? And, also, since she is now diagnosed with ASD, what differences (positive or negative) this has make in her (and your) life?  In my daughter's case, I feel that if she does have ASD or something else, it might be fairly mild, and I worry about the negative affects of being labelled and wonder if they outweigh the positive of knowing what you're dealing with.  
Thanks!