hand flapping

[pink0529]

I have a son that is almost 4 yrs old.  He is very social, articulate, and loves preschool.  He interacts with his friends and adults normally and has a sweet disposition.  Since he was one year old I have been concerned with his "hand flapping."  Although, I call it hand flapping it is more like a palsy movement and stiffening of hands and arms.  He does this when he is excited or tired.  It appears he holds it in during school, but on the drive home I will see him flapping as if he has built up all this excitement and needs to get it out.  When my husband takes him fishing it is out of control or we go to an aquarium and see the fish in the tanks he starts flapping.  Sometimes while watching a movie he will start flapping when an excited part happens....cars racing quickly etc.  My pediatrician keeps telling me he will outgrow it.  By age 3 he was still doing it so we decided to take him to a pediatric neurologist and was told it is something he will outgrow by around age 5 and to allow him to do it at home, but try to keep it under control in public and school.   He seems to be getting worse, will do this on a daily basis, but again only if excited or exhausted.  We plan to take him back to the pediatric neurologist in a few months when he turns 4.  There is absolutely know other signs of anything wrong besides the flapping.  We feel very blessed to have a healthy, bright boy, but am concerned because it is not getting better as he grow older.  I have seen other postings from a few other mothers that have the same concerns and was hoping there was some feedback from some of you, particularly shelbydog.  Shelbydog had a posting about a year ago regarding her son's similar behavior.  Everything you described regarding your son sounded just like my son.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.  

[sarahelizabeth11]

Thank you Robbie!!! This has helped me so much in understanding my husbands behaviours! I always find peoples quicks (I'm an observer), its actually cute because my husband is sometimes keeps thoughts to himself or is thinking over something, but I can visually see when he appreciates it. He does it around me so much (and never around anyone else) that it makes me feel really good that he is comfortable with me - he is comfortable to act naturally around me as most people do when no one is around.

[sakarem]

Hello dear, i feel for you deeply, my son has the same condition but he's almost 4 now, other children imitate him, i know that at some point he will be teased about it, but what can we do? is there some kind of medication that they should be taking?  should we be motivating them verbally to stop it and remind them every time they do that? where can we find a professional who can help with this? is it a psychiatrist? a neurologist?

I really have no clue as to what i'm supposed to do, i feel helpless, and very very frustrated being unable to do anything for my son. There must be something that should be done, but there's no one to guide me.

Could anyone help me out and this poor little 10 year old boy, who should be enjoying his life and thinking about his future instead of thinking about ending his life??

[sakarem]

Hello, seems that my son has  sterotypical movement disorder too, could you plz tell me what the occupational therapy/sensory integration means?  
where do we do that? at a neurologist's?
and how's your son proceeding

Good luck :)

[Crystyal]

http://media.wix.com/ugd/fd5a88_9056e4cd9bc145f9bdb884873002fefd.pdf

Please read as it may offer further insights about how retained primitive reflexes affects our behavior as we grow.

My 10 yr old daughter retained all her primitive reflexes, was a breech baby, didn't crawl, was a late walker, has low muscle tone, and continues to flap her hands in excitement to this day.  Our chiropractor/applied kinesiologist worked on her reflexes 5 years ago and it did lessen the intensity of the flapping.  I am certain that the hand flapping behaviour is related to retained primitive reflexes.

[shooz916]

Hello. My daughter is now 19 and has done this all of her life and still does, flapping her hand excessively when happy or excited as well as kind of a jaw dropping face.  I blamed this on my mother for years as I caught her doing it with her one day long long ago when she used to babysit her.  I wondered why my daughter was doing this odd behavior, albeit harmless as it is, and when I saw that, I was so angry with my mother for encouraging her to make a spectacle of herself.  (My mother is a life long functioning alcoholic. Please reserve any comments about her babysitting. I grew up with my mother that way and didn't know any different being forced to accept an alcoholic parent in denial, you are told there is no "problem" and everyone else (me) has the problem. This was normal and the way life was to me until I was about 30 yo).  
Finding these posts is a bit comforting that my girl is not alone.  There has never been a diagnosis for us, but it has also never been brought up because she has had many other medical issues that superseded it.  My daughter has cerebral palsy (open lipped unilateral schizencephaly).  She's never been tested for any mental disorders either like autism.  She is more or less living a normal life, still at home with me, functions daily independently except financially due to her limited physical ability.  I wanted to write something here to let others know you are not alone.  And to not always listen to Doctors about the "they will grow out of it" notion.  The dr's said that about my daughter & her first couple of years in this world until I finally had a cat scan done of my own volition and we discovered her brain anomaly.
This does seem to be harmless behavior.  Still a bit bewildering to me.  I never ask her about why she does it as it's quite apparent why when it happens only when she is happy or excited.  She can still be quite immature, but I blame that entirely on myself having sheltered her a bit more than I thought I was doing.  Reading the above story from the guy who is 19 and described why he does this and still does has reassured me that it is just an idiom that some people have and makes them unique.  

[Kelli76]

Hi, my son is almost 4 and he flaps and he looks like he is zoned out too.  I am wondering the same question.  Are others showing this symptom?  Thanks.