Stimming behavior in 3 year old

I have a 34 month old little girl that's very loving, playful and fun to be around.  She hit all her milestons on time and some ahead of time. About 5 months ago she started playing a lot with her hands and fingers, I noticed that when excited she jumps and flaps her hands and also when bored she hums or makes some vocal sounds.
We had her evaluated by the early intervention team in our state and they said she might have some sensory issues since she also experiences a lot of anxiety, fear and gets visually overloaded easily, she will start blinking and make a humming sound when she's had enough.  We are concerned about Autism but she does not fit the classic autistic spectrum, she has joint attention, reciprocity, she imitates us or other kids; she responds to her name every time; she's a little delayed in speech but is improving everyday.
Is the stimming behavior a crutial sign of Autism or is there kids with sensory processing disorders that show similar stimming behaviors as a way to block or deal with sensory overloads?  Shall we push for another evaluation to rule out autism?

Thank you!

Lucia

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

No, the symptoms you describe do not lead in the direction of autism or any other condition along the PDD spectrum. While there has been some welcome progress in recent years in the area of diagnosis and intervention for PDD spectrum conditions, an unfortunate byproduct has been undue alarm by parents in relation to isolated symptoms that their children might display. I agree with the feedback you have received and would not pursue any addditonal assessment in this area.