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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
amr1218
member
LO crosses fingers - should I worry?
amr1218
member
First - this is my first time posting to this board...moving up from the 9-12 mo. boards. Hello to all!
Just made the epic mistake of googling 'toddle crosses fingers' and the search results make me feel like I've been kicked in the gut. I am hoping that you guys can put my mind at ease.
DD (in my opinion) has hit all of her milestones on time (or early). She is walking, babbling, can say bottle, etc. She is not overly affectionate but does give 'Eskimo kisses' and does interact with people. I say all of that to add - this weekend she started crossing her ring and middle fingers repetitively on both hands. I just read that crossing fingers and autism are linked.
Before I over-react and call the pediatrician for this - do toddlers that do not have autism cross their fingers - or should I be concerned? TIA
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Re: LO crosses fingers - should I worry?
I am still curious if your LO crosses his/her fingers.
I have worked in the field of autism (hands on & research) for 6 years, so I can totally understand worrying. My DD had a brief finger-crossing phase, but it only lasted for about a week and then she stopped. She's had some very odd phases, but I can say she's probably the most non-autistic kid out there. Don't worry until you're positive you have a reason to! At this age, kids do strange things.
AshleyMF1983 - your comments give me much comfort. We are just getting our feet wet in 'toddlerdom'. I can only imagine the strange things that are in store!
Please don't worry your self so much. I say that sincerely.
Toddlers are mysterious creatures. They go through the damndest phases and crazes. It's how they learn about the great big world.
Toddlers do weird things like finger crossing simply because they can and it's cool to them.
Step away from Dr. Google as well. Everything causes autism according to Dr. Google.
Just because something is symptom of autism doesn't necessarily mean it is. As a teacher who has been scared silly by practically being overtrained in autism awareness it took me awhile to realize this. The list is ridiculously long to diagnose autism and if I went by one thing on it we'd all have autism.
I'd be more worried if your toddler wasn't weird at this stage.
If she's otherwise happy healthy, interacting, doesn't show a drastic behavior change...she's just fine.
Its funny you mention this. DH and I work in the education field. He just had training on the autism spectrum last week. I guess it is still fresh in our mind. In one respect, I tell myself not to overreact, and on the other...I don't want to be the parent stuck in denial and ignore something that is significant.
Maybe I will google hypochondriac next - JUST KIDDING.
Hooray for reality therapy!
I feel that googling and analyzing symptoms will just make me crazy, so I just try and chill though it's hard. I'm sure she is fine, especially if she doesn't fit any of the other descriptors. My DS's favorite word is dooooown. He just wants to explore and isn't into being held or kisses at all right now. Hehe.
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I hear you. I've come to look at this way though. All the parents I've worked with who have Autistic kids had a whole set of warning signs that led them to an autistic diagnosis. In ten years I have yet to have one parent say, "We knew Little Johnny had autism because he crossed his fingers." It's more like, "We knew Little Johnyy was autistic becuase he started to withdraw from us, would line things up for hours on end, cross his fingers, had to have his socks just so, stopped looking at us in the eyes, would only eat red foods...etc. etc. etc."
This is the advice my pedi gave me once when DD hit an odd stage. She said all toddlers are weird little beings and if adults acted like them we'd all be in the loony bin! She will stop this finger crossing stage just in time to start something else odd.