Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How has everyone's summer been and question

How has everyone been this summer. Its been interesting here. Alot going on this summer. We got to go on vacation, first one in a long time. We went to Assateague island in Maryland and got to camp on the beach with the wild horses. Lots of pictures taken. Getting DD9 ready for National Young Scholars in August. New puppies in the house, new goat and the quick birth and death of a little wild rabbit DD9 was trying to take care of.

Now for the question. We have noticed this "hand flapping" from DD9. I remember in late spring she came up to me and said "look I can fly" and started flapping her hands, didn't think much of it at the time. But this thing has continued. I don't notice any other habits, problems with social interactions or anything else.

Anyone else's child show symptoms (for lack of a better word) when bored?

DS7 hand flaps, but he was diagnosed with an ASD and that behavior can be associated with that. He does it when he is excited, not bored...so unlikely what your daughter is doing. He just did it this morning when I dropped him off for his first day at a new camp when the instructor greeted him. She said hi, and he said hi...flap, flap, flap and bounce. It is much less now than it was years ago!

Our summer is going great so far. I wish I was a kid with the cool camps DS gets! Chemistry, chess, skateboard, aquarium, etc etc!!! I hope everyone else is having fun, too! Nan

It sounds like it is a new habit formed from perhaps boredom? Hand flapping marked as a red flag is usually witnessed in toddlers and since you have seen no other signs I really wouldn't worry about it. Just bring it up at your DD's next appointment.

Sounds like you have had an action packed summer. The camping trip on the beach with wild horses sounds amazing.

Ours has been rearranged a few times. We planned a few vacations which included camping but those didn't pan out due to the Gulf oil spill. DD goes to school year round so we don't have summer camps scheduled beyond her school and a swim lesson once a week. But we are definitely taking advantage of our weekends. DH bought a boat or I should say DH and DD bought a boat since she has made it abundantly clear that it's her boat. Might as well be since she picked it and named it. DD, who for the most part is a girlie girl, loves exploring the lake. She likes to fish ... okay, she likes to play with the worms while her Daddy fishes and she loves to jump off the boat and swim around in the lake which is my favorite activity too.

haha, worms and fishing, I love it!

I tryed to get my DS4 to touch a worm, he said "its gonna bite me!"

Yes, I'm more inline with your DS: worms are just gross, but DD could play with them for hours, yet freaks out if a dragonfly comes near her. And don't get me started on the fear of spiders she possess. Strange child that one.

Summer is flying by - only another 4 weeks and school starts again - crazy !! We had a busy start to vacation back in May - we spent 10 days at Disney World, which was wonderful Since then, back to the usual - I run a daycare, so ds7 is home with me all the time - which to start with was hard work, but once we got into the routine, it's been fine I've been trying to have him do a little school work each day (meaning about 20 minutes math/reading), but some days we somehow manage to skip it all. Not too worried about it though He started playing summer soccer last week (3 games a week, for 3 weeks) - he LOVES soccer, and scored 12 goals one game last week, so is having a blast ! Other than that, we try and get out and about at the weekends - zoo, pool etc - and in a few weeks he's going camping with dh and scouts - which should be fun. I really must buy a tent ! Back to school Aug 16th - then Labor day weekend we're heading to the Black Hills for a long weekend, which we're looking forward to

Our summer overall has been good. The 1/2 day camps are the best weeks. DS really needs that every week.

When DS was little and playing with trucks he would fill up the back of worms, collecting as many as possible.

Well, DS7 ended the school year horrifically bored with school, and now he's equally bored with summer and ready for school again--seems I did the same thing when I was a kid.

He's taken to reading newspapers, and I have to bring him home a copy of everything we print every day to add to his collection. Fast as he is, he gets sidetracked too easily and doesn't finish one day's bunch before I bring home the next day's--sometimes half a dozen or more!

We had hand flapping about a year ago when DH lost his job and DD then 6 got stressed about what was happening. This has morphed into clearing her throat and making other strange noises when she is stressed, or senses that I am stressed. We asked her doctor about it and he said that she is just one of those highly sensitive kids who does this without realizing it to deal with tension (we knew she was highly sensitive to my moods already so this wasn't a surpise).

As for our summer - we decided to grow a garden this summer, in hopes of getting lots of veggies for canning and preserving and baking - but we've been most successful growing catepillars! Which has turned DDs into catepillar "owners" complete with a butterfly house and the daily "chore" of feeding them and cleaning their house and basically keeping track of them. It has been great for them, but not so great on DH's ego - he was really hoping for a banner crop of tomatoes.

We've also got swimming and soccer and yet another move, with another job change (hopefully this one will last longer than the last one.) So life's crazy here, but the whole family is off for the summer, so lots of family time , which will make school starting a bit tough on DD2, but is great while it lasts.

My 12 year old son who has some sensory processing issues used to do something like hand flapping when he was very excited, and he got excited easily. He did it mostly at home, but he stopped as he got older and he never did it on stage during a performance so he could control it when he needed to even when he was 4. He did do it backstage once and he said one of the older girls caught him doing it and showed him how she could do it and make a clicking sound and she said she did this for fun sometimes. She was a very smart, very social girl.

I am much older than my son and I think I was doing a little flapping and jumping last night when I saw a huge spider on the curtain inches from where I had just put my hand. I automatically do this when I am totally creeped out. I think I have sensory issues and creepy spiders cause some kind of sensory overload. I had to have my husband do something with the spider.

Our summer has been busy with the 5 day a week rehearsals for Seussical. My son is having so much fun now that he is being given more responsibility and he is doing his first lead role. As one of the older boys he has to remember to move props quickly on and off stage in addition to doing his lines and singing his solos and the hardest part of all--making sure all the little Whos get on stage when they are supposed to. He has done all rehearsals in a very hot and uncomfortable scoliosis brace and with headaches and foot pain.