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Stereotypic Movements

My 20 month old daughter twirls her hands and feet while holding her breath, making an "o" facial expression. There will be days she only does it once all day, while other days are more frequent, such as once per hour. She does this more when she focuses on something, such as: trying to press a button, configure an iPad, trying to paint or trying to draw.

There are NO other red flags developmentally. She has a great vocabulary, understands direction, can detect feelings in others and express her own feelings. She seems quite bright in all her developmental milestones. In researching online (bad idea I know), I'm thinking she may be doing "stereotypic movements." Also, she slightly bangs her head to soothe herself to sleep, every night. Has anybody else had experience with this and if so, please elaborate. I am sick to my stomach in thinking "the worst." Any comments are appreciated. Thank you.
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Avatar universal
Hey there, my son does the same minus the head banging...that's possibly just a phase as my son went through a phase of smacking his forehead.  Anyways, if you haven't found the info already, it's called "complex motor stereotypies". Not formally diagnosed but pretty obviousure once you see and read about it, although there is hardly any research on this,there is a great Facebook group under that name wroth lots of first hand cases.
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189897 tn?1441126518
COMMUNITY LEADER
Thats a very good question.  My granddaughter is about the same age and is also very smart.  And that "O" facial expression is right on.   Her dad is a doctor who will research the hell out of everything.  As far as I can tell, he does not seem to be worried about it.  So I guess its kind of normal?  But what is the "worst"?  And I will be looking up stereotypic movements.  Thanks, I think :)
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