Hi,
I'm Kate, mother to a 5 yr old girl and a 3 yr old boy. My daughter has been stimming since she was 6 months old. I remember the exact day it started. I thought it was a phase and chose (and still do) to ignore it..not mentioning it to her once all these years. To my horror, my mother in law asked her why she did it the other day. She told my mil that her hands were her "toys". She stims by taking her hands in front of her face and contorting them all around her face, and she will make strange faces while she does this. She usually does this when excited, happy, opening a gift,while I read her a story that she likes..she will also do it while telling her own stories, which she does all the time. Her voice will actually change and you can't really understand what she is saying. That's how she plays, with a figure or plush animal held up to her face, contorting it and telling a story about it.
My whole family and my friends have been great about just acting like its normal and not asking (except recently the one time). I'm not sure she knows she's doing it. I do not want her to feel embarrassed or self conscious. She's homeschooled so I am not worried about what other children think or say.
She loves to socialize, the complete opposite of me, smiles,makes eye contact (all of which are hard for me to do) and I believe is actually smarter than the average 5 yr old. She is behind on some motor development (can't ride a bike, uncoordinated, but so was I).
Does stimming always mean autism? I have not brought it up to the dr because so far I have not seen it hurting or hindering her in any way.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated,
Kate
I'm Kate, mother to a 5 yr old girl and a 3 yr old boy. My daughter has been stimming since she was 6 months old. I remember the exact day it started. I thought it was a phase and chose (and still do) to ignore it..not mentioning it to her once all these years. To my horror, my mother in law asked her why she did it the other day. She told my mil that her hands were her "toys". She stims by taking her hands in front of her face and contorting them all around her face, and she will make strange faces while she does this. She usually does this when excited, happy, opening a gift,while I read her a story that she likes..she will also do it while telling her own stories, which she does all the time. Her voice will actually change and you can't really understand what she is saying. That's how she plays, with a figure or plush animal held up to her face, contorting it and telling a story about it.
My whole family and my friends have been great about just acting like its normal and not asking (except recently the one time). I'm not sure she knows she's doing it. I do not want her to feel embarrassed or self conscious. She's homeschooled so I am not worried about what other children think or say.
She loves to socialize, the complete opposite of me, smiles,makes eye contact (all of which are hard for me to do) and I believe is actually smarter than the average 5 yr old. She is behind on some motor development (can't ride a bike, uncoordinated, but so was I).
Does stimming always mean autism? I have not brought it up to the dr because so far I have not seen it hurting or hindering her in any way.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated,
Kate
