How can I help him?

Hello,
I have a 2 and half year old son who exhibits some autistic movements, but has no delays.  He is extremely verbal and social and has an incredible imagination.  He has met all milestones on-time.  He began talking and pointing at 11 months and walking at 13 months.  He has lots of little friends and makes excellent eye contact.  His language skills are actually advanced for his age.  He began hand flapping/ wrist wringing  and doing this thing with his fingers when he was excited around 22 months old.  In the last few months it has continued to worsen.   He now does it when he's excited, worried, interested or watching something.  He continues on with whatever activity he is engated while it's happening, but sometimes his eyes sort of lose focus in the midst of it.  He can stop if we ask him to, but as soon as he regains focus on whatever activity he was doing again, it begins again.  We've seen a ton of specialists who say he is a normally developing child with some quirks.  He doesn't display any sensory issues other than these movements when he's intrugued.  Other children are beginning to notice, and he's becoming self-concious, but yet seems unable to make it stop.  Does anyone have any ideas what this is?  Can he have Aspergers but still be really social? Is there anything I can do to help him stop these movements?  TIA

[LondonDad]

He sounds fine to me and he has seen specialists who have confirmed the same. I'd enjoy your wonderful child and not worry about what it "might be" because there is nothing to suggest anything is wrong.

[specialmom]

Hi,  I agree for the most part.  
However, I have a son with Sensory Integration Disorder who is now 5 but wasn't diagnosed until 4.  He also met every single milestone and early and seemed very social.  He went to preschool at 2 1/2 for one half day a week and his very astute teacher noticed a couple of things and we had him evaluated then.  They didn't see enough then to say if he had this delay.  A year later, it was becoming clearer.  After another evaluation, he did have sensory.  He was different at home than at school.  He had this wrist and hand thing you describe.  Our ot said it was because of some tactile things going on as well as it 'felt good' to him.  (He's been in ot for a year and stopped doing it completely).  Anyway, lots of sensory things can look just like boy stuff----  spinning, bumping, crashing, etc.  Lots of kids have sensory issues but cope just fine.  Mine didn't as time went on.  He's doing great since OT started and he is much happier now---- so intervention made a world of difference.  Delay doesn't have anything to do with intelligence.

but you sound like you've researched this so not to worry.  I would just try not to make a big deal out of the movements.  I'm surprised kids are noticing this already.  Usually kids don't pay that much attention to other kids at that young age as they are so engrossed in themselves.  I wouldn't try to stop them for now.  It just draws more attention to it and may make him more self conscious than he was before.  Good luck.

[Chetters]

Thanks for the replies.  Specialmom, maybe I will request an OT eval just to be safe since it sounds like it has helped your son a great deal.  I used to work in early childhood sp. ed. so I understand the power of early intervention, which is why I'm desperately looking for answers, because with answers/cause comes intervention and I don't want to waste time.

Londondad, I'm REALLY enjoying my son, but something in my gut tells me something is wrong and it's hard to turn that off ya know.


Thanks again!

[specialmom]

I really believe that mother's have these warning bells inside of us.  It is worth listening to them and finding out for sure.  You have a background in special education which makes you even more aware.  I can not say enough about early intervention.  My son went from very sad, insecure and basically unable to function in preschool to a boy who makes friends easily, confident boy who goes with the program pretty well.  He will never be just like the other kids but he isn't too far out of the box anymore.  

Your son is very young---  but an ot eval wouldn't hurt.  Like I said though, it wasn't clear what was going on with my child until he was a little older than your.  Perhaps read about sensory and what the symptoms look like and watch him.  I would be happy to answer any questions about it as I made it my mission to learn everything I could about it for my son's sake.  I wish you the best of luck on this journey and you're doing the right thing for your son---- you are an excellent advocate for him!

[shaz71]

Hi i agree with specialmom that a mothers intuition is always right but because he isn't doing it dramatically he won't get noticed, he is only 2 and half maybe wait and see how he goes.

My daughter is also 2 and half and does quirky things, but she does get noticed as she does it loudly and has to be first, she is very head strong, she will bite, nip, pull hair, kick, push to get what she wants, she licks things but more because she is a dog i think it is her way of coping outside the house or when strangers are there and the funny thing is all my girls have done this. She mirror immages everyone it makes everyone laugh no one as seen a child do it so accurately, normmally children tend to copy their mums, not everyone around them, even strangers. She also has a few ocd things going on, the cushions have to be the right way up, the doors, cupboards, gates have to be shut, she even told my eldest daughter who is 14yrs old to put the lid on the pickled onion jar correctly as it wasn't straight, even covers have to be the right way, or something as to be put back correctly, she seems very intelligent for her age, her speech is still unclear but i can understand her most of the time, she is also very head strong, and her tantrums well that is another story, talk about major everyone knows she is having one and i am talking the whole supermarket and they can go on up to half hour, so sometimes there are behaviours that children learn to help them be comfortable with their surroundings, my daughter also flaps her hands and tiptoes. I am keeping a close eye on her as my middle daughter is also doing a lot of autistic things she is 7yr old. She saw a psychologist who sent us away with parenting class because me and her dad split up, but why would that cause them to be hyper for years and also school work be two years behind and to lick things and have sensory issues with shoes and areoplane fanatic and dinosaurs since the age of 2, also cling to people since the age of 2 even strangers, i do think she has dyslexia not been tested but her work says it all still reversing letters and numbers, she can't read, was unable to take her test due to being unable to read the questions, she is impulsive, hurting other children and saying mean things, immature, poor memory, still touchy feely and that is what the teacher says, but because she is one of the younger ones in her year they said she will grow out of it and it could be normal, so again i am stuck, they both shout as if deaf and sometimes mishears but nothing wrong with hearing, so just keep an eye on them that is all you can do until the school realise there is a problem i am stuck, they both have reflux the younger one is on medication. Good luck, sorry for rambling on. Sharon x