2 year old hand flagging & jumping on tiptoes

[Anonymous]

When she is excited or gets bored, my early 2 year old DD would do hand flagging & jumping on tiptoes all the time. She also does it when music is on the background, it is her dancing move. She is a cheerful kid & laugh a lot. If you ask her to sit, she would sit down immediately & she understand commands. Developmental psychologist from dc children hospital rules out autism & adhd, and he says my DD has no diagnosis, just need to work on her speech delay. Is it just a phase or anyone's LO doing it? Sometimes I get some stares at library storytime from other moms when my DD does that, and I always try to ignore it & don't know what to say.

[Anonymous]

What is hand flagging, is it the same as flapping? My 2.5 yo DS never did that but often toe-walked when he was excited. I haven't seen him do this in a couple of months now.. He also has a speech delay (diagnosed at 24 mo through EI) but has now nearly caught up. I strongly suspect he has mild sensory issues and the speech issues that go along with that. I also toe walked as a child on occasion, as did my father. My hunch is that my son will just outgrow these issues (though I'm still addressing them through speech therapy) as I did.

[Anonymous]

You can't rule out ADHD at 2. And your doctor did not do that. Also did you do the ados? If not what she actually said was she does not see signs that are obvious now. What you are describing are stims. Kids with neurological issues of all kinds from learning disabilities from a speech delay to asd and all others may have them. Sometimes kids with no issues have them too but if youre seeing them in combination with delays it's likely a neuro issue. What that is at 2 is almost impossible to say. Could be something could be nothing. You may need an ADHD screening at 6, when you can actually test for it.

[Anonymous]

NP. My child is 7 now and sometimes (at times occasionally and at times frequently) hand flaps and toe walks, sometimes together and sometime separately. He's had some behavior problems and we've considered screening but haven't been convinced it's been serious enough to warrant that. Should the stimming plus some behavior problems (mostly at school) point to a screening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. My child is 7 now and sometimes (at times occasionally and at times frequently) hand flaps and toe walks, sometimes together and sometime separately. He's had some behavior problems and we've considered screening but haven't been convinced it's been serious enough to warrant that. Should the stimming plus some behavior problems (mostly at school) point to a screening?

The standard for an eval is if it is interfering with daily life. It sounds like it is so yeah I'd get a screening. If he's 7 and been fine til now I'm guessing he's fine though. Common sense and all that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is hand flagging, is it the same as flapping? My 2.5 yo DS never did that but often toe-walked when he was excited. I haven't seen him do this in a couple of months now.. He also has a speech delay (diagnosed at 24 mo through EI) but has now nearly caught up. I strongly suspect he has mild sensory issues and the speech issues that go along with that. I also toe walked as a child on occasion, as did my father. My hunch is that my son will just outgrow these issues (though I'm still addressing them through speech therapy) as I did.

What speech issues "go along with" sensory issues? That's not really a thing, btw.

[Anonymous]

That type of behavior is usually considered normal at that age, from what I know. It's when it continues into older ages that it's considered an indicator of a problem.

[Anonymous]

Also op you don't need to say anything. You can't control what other people think about your child and it does not matter. It truly doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When she is excited or gets bored, my early 2 year old DD would do hand flagging & jumping on tiptoes all the time. She also does it when music is on the background, it is her dancing move. She is a cheerful kid & laugh a lot. If you ask her to sit, she would sit down immediately & she understand commands. Developmental psychologist from dc children hospital rules out autism & adhd, and he says my DD has no diagnosis, just need to work on her speech delay. Is it just a phase or anyone's LO doing it? Sometimes I get some stares at library storytime from other moms when my DD does that, and I always try to ignore it & don't know what to say.

My kids did/do this, mostly when excited about food, and I have no developmental concerns. You don't have to say anything (and I doubt anyone is really staring), but find a smiling, "Boy, kids are weird, hunh?" is great.

[Anonymous]

It can be normal in all kids and a phase or it can be a symptom of autism. Some kids just do it when they are excited but can stop if you tell them to stop. If its a speech delay, you will get some similarities to autism but generally the kids will outgrow them at some point as the language gets better. Get speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can be normal in all kids and a phase or it can be a symptom of autism. Some kids just do it when they are excited but can stop if you tell them to stop. If its a speech delay, you will get some similarities to autism but generally the kids will outgrow them at some point as the language gets better. Get speech therapy.

My daughter did some things like this at that age and my ped told me that if I ask her to sop and she stops, it's not a sign of autism. Also, she didn't talk till 23/24 months, but it was clear she understood everything that was going on, was engaged, curious, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It can be normal in all kids and a phase or it can be a symptom of autism. Some kids just do it when they are excited but can stop if you tell them to stop. If its a speech delay, you will get some similarities to autism but generally the kids will outgrow them at some point as the language gets better. Get speech therapy.

My daughter did some things like this at that age and my ped told me that if I ask her to sop and she stops, it's not a sign of autism. Also, she didn't talk till 23/24 months, but it was clear she understood everything that was going on, was engaged, curious, etc.

that is ridiculous. neither of these things means that your child does not have autism. Good lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It can be normal in all kids and a phase or it can be a symptom of autism. Some kids just do it when they are excited but can stop if you tell them to stop. If its a speech delay, you will get some similarities to autism but generally the kids will outgrow them at some point as the language gets better. Get speech therapy.

My daughter did some things like this at that age and my ped told me that if I ask her to sop and she stops, it's not a sign of autism. Also, she didn't talk till 23/24 months, but it was clear she understood everything that was going on, was engaged, curious, etc.

that is ridiculous. neither of these things means that your child does not have autism. Good lord.

True, but I think the ped's point was that if a kid this age is doing it and stops when asked not to, it probably isn't really stimming -- just playing around and doing something goofy. Hell, my neurotypical kid at this age could be asked repeatedly to stop doing something like hitting the dog and would be unlikely to do so. A kid this age who is stimming is not going to quickly and easily just stop because you asked.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My LO did not do ADOS, but the developmental psychologist from dc children hospital told me that my LO does not have consistent eye contact. I need to work on her on that part, like playing with her & interacting with her more & cut down screen time. I will sit and observe & hope she will outgrow the hand flapping & jumping part on tiptoes.

She will have an another follow up appointment 6 months after. Hope by that time, things would get a bit better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When she is excited or gets bored, my early 2 year old DD would do hand flagging & jumping on tiptoes all the time. She also does it when music is on the background, it is her dancing move. She is a cheerful kid & laugh a lot. If you ask her to sit, she would sit down immediately & she understand commands. Developmental psychologist from dc children hospital rules out autism & adhd, and he says my DD has no diagnosis, just need to work on her speech delay. Is it just a phase or anyone's LO doing it? Sometimes I get some stares at library storytime from other moms when my DD does that, and I always try to ignore it & don't know what to say.

My developmentally delayed kid would get looks too. Take heart, OP and ignore any raised eyebrows.

I would encourage you to visit with a developmental pediatrician in a year if she continues to certain delays. (2 is real early to diagnose ADHD.)

In addition to speech therapy one of the best things we did is speech camp. Expensive but great for my kid. Lots of options exist in DC, VA, or MD.