Twitching and Flicken.....good grief.

140 Days since my son was last on medication. Ah the changes we have seen, some good some.....well not so good. Recently on our way to Tween Night at the Chico State Autism Clinic I looked over at my son. He was talking away happily about something and his hands were making this weird lobster movement. I laughed in the middle of what he was saying, and told him that it will be hard to convince people that he doesn't have autism anymore if he is doing that! He looked at his hands and just laughed. He said he doesn't even know he is doing it. That is a tad worrisome. He is literally moving his fingers back and forth in a constant motion like a crab or lobster hoping for a snack. It is just weird. I think I first saw him do this when we were at Disneyland. The crowds made him a little uncomfortable so the natural thing to do is imitate a crustacean.
     I have seen him go through this before. He has had various "things" that he does over and over again. The hair pulling was the most distressing because he managed to pull out his hair in just one spot right in the front of his head. It reminded me of when my friend Andrea hit her head on the bottom of the pool and skinned off a patch of hair....nice little bald spot right in the front of her head. I did what all good friends would do and gave her a nickname, Pool Sweep. Hard to believe but we are still friends to this day.
My point is that I don't have a lot of patience for this behavior thing with my son. It is just weird. I know why he does it, I know he can't just stop but it really bothers me to look over at him and see the hands twitching. Studies show that stopping the repetitive behaviors in autistic people actually increases their stress levels. It is best to just let them be. Let them calm down by what ever means possible.  If I do succeed in stopping this behavior it goes with out saying that another one will probably appear.
     It's like when you are trying to get the best possible seat at a concert and you have to keep clicking "next option". Sometimes you get a better deal, but sometimes you end up in the nose bleed sections. Which reminds me, we did have a short time of some serious nose picking. I don't know how long that lasted. Perhaps the horrified screams of his sister and I were enough to break that one...I digress... I just don't know what the next tic will be. I think this is what the Depakote was helping with. Of course the Depakote is also what caused him to loose ten pounds, gag when he ate any food and actually throw up after he did manage to eat. Hmmmmm finger twitching doesn't seem so bad now...
     Perhaps we can instill a positive trait in the place of this annoying one? Could it be that nice and easy? A yo-yo or a Rubix Cube could go a long way to keep busy hands doing something "normal".
     I must sound greedy. Here we are in a place that is a hundred times better than our life in November and I still want more. His handwriting and concentration have improved. He now tells us things that happened at school, he remembers assignments, he has started to make friends....ah yes. That is why the finger twitching bothers me so much! I am worried that other kids wont be able to see past the odd quirks, to enjoy the whole package that is my son. Kids are downright mean after all....so I want my son to change so that he can be friends with mean kids? Wow. Sometimes saying something out loud or writing it down really makes a difference.
     I guess I am okay with the flicking and twitching when all is said and done. My son is better off now than he has ever been. Kids will get to know the wonderful person we have known all along, and his fingers will be more nimble than a concert pianist.
Win win? Maybe so......maybe so.