Our 13 month old son has been flapping his arms whenever he gets excited or upset. For example, when we put him in his car seat and he doesn't want to go in, he will get mad and flap his arms up and down and yell. Or when he's in his high chair and sees food coming, he will flap his arms. If we are playing on the floor and he is across the room and sees a toy he wants, he will get excited and flap his arms before crawling over to get it. He loves our dog and if he sees the dog coming towards him he will sometimes get excited and flap in anticipation of getting to pet the dog. He only does it during times of excitement or frustration. But it happens just about everytime he experiences one of these emotions. It's like he is so full of emotion that he has to get it out!
He seems pretty typical otherwise:
He's beginning to say a few words, 'ba' for book, 'da' for ball, 'ba-ooo' for balloon and can sign 'more' and 'all done'.
He's just about ready to walk any day now.
He almost always responds to his name.
He plays with lots of different toys and especially loves balls.
He points at everything he sees and shows us toys.
He also will demonstrate pretend play by putting a brush to his hair or a bottle to a dolls mouth when we say the baby is hungry.
I would love to hear from any moms who have experienced anything like this before! We have two older kids who never did this so I'm at a loss! Thanks tons!
Both my kids did it before they had strong verbal communication skills. I even saw a good friend of mine do it when she was speechless after hearing she was going to have twin grand babies. It's a form of nonverbal communication.
Of course. They don't have verbal skills yet to express their emotions, so they wiggle around and flap their arms. People get all fired up about this because it's 1 of a zillion actions sometimes seen in kids with autism but that doesn't mean that 1 or 2, or j10 or 20, of those traits don't appear at certain times in every child. Your child sounds totally normal. They all do different things from their siblings - walk, talk in short sentences, potty train, sleep at night, handle anger and frustration, show focus on involved tasks (like puzzles or complex toys). For example, your kid is talking, but mine didn't until 16 months. But mine was on his feet and taking steps at 8 months. There's a HUGE range of normal.
Yes.
It's totally normal.
Something some where must be suggesting that arm flapping is a problem or some sort of a sign of something but it's getting WAY too much attention.
When kids are too young to have verbal language skills, they often 'speak' with their hands.
When our son was less than 2 yrs old, if he wanted me to come over and look at something, he'd flap his hands to have me 'come here!'.
After 2 yrs old he started talking non stop - and he didn't need his hand signal for me anymore.
It's hard not to compare kids but you have to do your best to see each of them as individuals with their own unique personalities.
Totally normal. I misread at first and though you said 13 year old lol. That would NOT be normal. 13 months? Totally normal. You have an excited little boy on your hands! If neither of your others did this you may be in for a wild ride, he might be more excitable than the first two ;)
It is one of the things they look for when evaluating for some disabilities on the spectrum. BUT it's also something that kids just do. If he continues it past age 2 I'd make sure to check for other signs on some sites that are for answering questions about possible disabilities.
For instance he might flap his arms forever but never have any other sign. SO they'd say there wasn't any need to evaluate. BUT if he was exhibiting other signs that fit in somewhere they might say let's do an evaluation.
I think at that age it's normal behavior. My DD used to wobble when she got mad (like shift foot to foot) but she has since outgrown that. If it persists, you can always seek an evaluation, but everything else you describe indicates a normally developing toddler.
My granddaughter still does it at 3 when she gets super super excited. Not nearly as much as she used to. She is a bright, normal, happy social little girl. Many kids do it because they do not have the words yet to say just how excited they are.
Are you looking for signs of autism?? Please stop doing that. This is a delightful and neuro-typical child. Stop being so worried and enjoy him!
