I am wondering if any of you have kids with psychomotor excitabilities. My DS9 has a whole bunch of them, plus a tic occasionally (like after he's had a cold, he has a coughing/throat clearing tic but it seems to go away pretty quickly now.) He tends to pace or lope across the room, jump on the couch, but in a repetitive way. He is not autistic, he has great sensitivity and depth of feeling and can read others very well. However the other kids are starting to notice it and ask him what he's doing. I told him to just tell them he likes to run/jump/etc when he's happy, and then ask them what they do when they are happy.

He has a few other, I guess "stims", that make him look different. He's getting to an age when other kids are noticing. Has anyone else been through this?

Hi LAF. Yes, my DS6 never stops moving, even in his sleep. He is also not on the spectrum but does spin or twirl when talking about something he's very excited about. He also has sensory processing difficulties, which ties into all of that.

We haven't been through the other kids noticing part yet, but I'm sure it will happen soon. He can be "too much" at times with other kids and the kids do notice that. He gets too excited/active and needs to calm down. If that makes sense.

You aren't alone!!

My six year old does the same thing. It is like a "thing to do" for him. He calls it "thinking".

When he wants to entertain himself he'll say "I'm going to go think" and head off to go lope around somewhere in a repetitive loop.

He thinks about all kinds of things -movies, books, meaning of life, how to create comfortable armor for his chickens so they are protected from predators .

We've been talking about not "thinking" in public.

Thanks KTPie and KJP! Glad I'm not alone-

My DS9 calls it "thinking" too- I just have never seen another kid do it.

KJP I like the idea of chicken armor- in fact, tell your son I'll buy 5 sets please (my hens will thank him).

Regarding not "thinking" in public. I think my DS9 generally controls it in public now, but every once in a while I will see him do it at school. In fact, right now he is having a "thinking" marathon...

One of my DS15 favorite activities for years has been to twirl a stick while daydreaming. Is this similar? It's kind of hard to explain. He has curtailed this behavior over the past 6 months and I asked him why. He said because he doesn't think it socially acceptable and since the only place we have for him to do it is the front lawn he is worry about what others think.

I've never seen any harm in it. He knows it's something he does when alone and helps him de-stress. Partly because I've always told him that he can't play with the stick with other kids. (It's like a broomstick length) I always figured it was easy to injure others with the stick, and a lot harder to hurt yourself.

Yes! DS8 has always had psychomotor overexcitabilities. He needs to move constantly when he is "thinking" (incidentally, when we heard how still DS was in school, in K, it made us wonder if he was thinking at all in school). When he is really excited about something, he has to move around and act it out, with lots of sound effects. When he is watching a video or someone doing something interesting (like a show at a museum), he jumps continually. Sometimes he flaps his arms a bit. The jumping though - oh! - it can go on for hours (usually on and off). At home, for video watching, we have put an old mattress on the floor and just let him have at it (cushions the sound for the people below him). So far, in social situations, sometimes kids will ask him about the jumping or will even tell him to calm down. DS has really strong social skills and is generally sought after socially, so he just takes it in stride. He doesn't try to hide it and will even say things back to kids like, "Why aren't YOU jumping? This is exciting stuff!". He is good at deflecting. I suppose someday, if it bothers him, he will attend to it. I see no reason to correct it as it is not affecting him socially or in any other way. (And actually there are days that I am grateful for the jumping. Like if he's had one of those marathon 6 hour reading days because it's raining, at least he gets a lot of good cardio in.)

Generally, I love the OEs. Sometimes, he is so happy with me, for whatever reason, he will knock me down with his giant loving hug.

Dd4.8 has to move most of the time. When she is excited, she too walks back and forth on the couch, suddenly jumping, hopping and twirling and spinning. It is hard to focus on her words because it is so distracting. But asking her to sit still while she is talking about an idea is impossible. When she is in public, she knows she can't do all that action. So she doesn't. But it must be stressful because she starts to suck her thumb. As soon as she gets home, she lets is go.

So how does everyone get their child to remain seated during meal time?

When she gets excited, she jumps up and starts twirling around, even during meal time...make it especially during meal time since she has our undivided attention. Same goes for bedtime reading. Must we settle for dull conversations and boring bedtime stories?

I thought this was just us We've been told DS7 is a "kinaesthetic learner"... doesn't bode well at school where you're expected to sit for x many hours a day.

I'm guessing it'll pass as they get older, or they'll find a more "socially appropriate" way to expend all the energy?

My boy is a good eater. He needs a lot of fuel for all his movement. So he actually sits and eats very nicely.

I think there might be two different things being described here.

1. A kid who is constantly moving and moves even more when they are excited. This kid is moving and still engaged with the people and activities around them.

2. A kid who uses a repetitive movement (like pacing) to get lost in their own thoughts. While doing this, they are not interacting with anyone.

The results are similar (kid moves around a lot). A Kid 2 could be Kid 1 when not "thinking" but the "thinking" time is pretty different.

I am not sure if one or both are OE's as OE's seem very broad.

There was this post that seemed to fit Kid 2 also.

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....typic_Movement_Disorder_.html#Post194825

DD is kid 1. In fact, when she is engaged in her own thoughts, she does not move much at all. She just sits in one place sucking her thumb. Maybe sucking one's thumb falls under the OE category.

Mana, re: eating, I provide dd with a lot of food she can eat while running around and sometimes, have DD read a book while she is eating so she will actually sit in one place. Not good habits, I know, but she is on the skinnier side and I worry about her weight gain.

There is also this to consider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2010.03627.x/pdf

Stereotypic movement disorder (SMD) and its differentiation from tics and autistic stereotypies and even ADHD. It's nothing pathological and is very often misdiagnosed and misunderstood.

What my DS15 does is #2, and he doesn't do #1. When he is busy twirling, he doesn't want anyone to interrupt him. Oddly when I was filling out all the "questionnaires" for my son's testing this past month. I didn't see this asked about anywhere, not one question even alluded to this kind of behavior. Even in the ASD questionnaire.