Do you curl your hands?

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Recently I realized that sometimes, when I'm sitting relaxedly, I curl my hand near my chest. Thumb up, fingers curled in, and the back of the palm facing outside.

Then I realized how odd it might appear to someone. So I consciously try to look for it and avoid doing it.

In a book I read recently (whose title escapes me now. It was written by a British woman about his aspie boyfriend though from the book I realized that the man's bigger problem was his alcoholism) I read that aspies tend to use their middle finger more. I do that too and thinking about I realized that it makes sense. It's the strongest (or one of the strongest, after the thumb) on our hands so it's logical to use it more.

In the same book I read that aspies sometimes bend one of their legs and put the foot under the thigh of the other leg. I too do it to from time to time.

What other "odd" behaviors have you noticed in yourself or a fellow aspie?

I found Marc Segar's "A survival guide for people with Asperger syndrome" also quite helpful.

Thank you all for your virtual company and thanks to those who run this site!

books,

I don't curl my hands in any way like you mention but I do twisting / twirling motions with my hands and fingers when my mind is "somewhere else" and it can be embarrassing sometimes.

Just today I zoned out on the bus on the way back from work and when I came to, everybody there looked at me like I was a Romulan or Klingon just beamed down from the mother ship.

During that little time window I was zoned out, I don't remember what I was doing but I've been told by some of the better friends I have about falling unknowingly into a trance-like state and having facial expressions and bodily jestures that weren't in step with whatever everybody else was thinking. Going from the last landmark I remember passing to the first I saw when I came to again, I was "out" anywhere between 30 secs and 1 minute.

Since finding out and becoming aware of AS, I've been trying to map out the zone-out patterns I fall into. While there is no set rhythm or pattern, it does seem to get worse when I'm tired and / or over stimulated. The most irksome thing about is I have neither control nor any way of predicting its onset. It just happens wherever whenever.

During my schooling years it was a constant problem. I'd lose the thread of the lesson or whatever we were reading (when we each had a turn to read a sentence out loud) and get accused for daydreaming (or as known in French: être dans la lune).

So... fellow Aspies, do any of you experience anything like that or are we seeing a co-morbid condition here?

Last edited by Papillon on 10 Dec 2005, 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I curl my hands and fingers a lot. Sometimes toes too.

Also have the overlapping fingernails stim.

not really, when im nervous or excited i clasp my hands together a rub them, or i just move my fingers simultaneously.

LOL, i don't know if it is an aspie thing or not but it's the position i'm in right now.

the middle finger thing is true for me too.

I do that when I am sitting down!! !

I don't curl my hands either, but I clasp them or have my fingers interlocking alot without realising it. It just happens without me noticing it and then someone asks why I'm clasping my hands and I'm like "what!?". And I use my middle finger alot more as well. I don't tend to do the leg thing because I normally have my ankles crossed on the floor.

My hands are slightly curled when relaxed.

The only weird thing I do like that is to sit with one leg so my ankle is under my butt. I do this mostly when alone or in a comfortable enough chair, but rarely when my shoes are on (hence mostly when I'm alone and in my house/in slippers)

when i was a kid, my hands were almost always in a clenched fist (especially when walking). but i have noticed recently that they have unfolded a little bit. i always thought i did it to trap the heat that escapes from my palms (my hands feel really sensitive when they are cold).

Last edited by hecate on 09 Dec 2005, 9:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

That's an aspie thing? I know I do it - I'll have to watch NTs now and see how many of them do it. (Maybe that's part of my husband's frequent comment that I have an "awkward" way of doing things.) I think we tend to do physical tasks whichever way is the most logical at the time, not necessarily the 'normal' way of doing it. My computer mouse, for example (since I'm using it here), I have my first finger on the left button, my middle finger on the scroll wheel, and I use my ring finger for the right button. That way the two strongest fingers are on the two things that get used the most, and there's no shifting a single finger from one spot to another. Logical. Maybe that also explains why we tend to have a higher incidence of ambidexterity and mixed-handedness - I know I use different hands for different things, basically whichever one is available/more convenient at the time.

Edit: Now that I've been away from the computer doing other things for a while I'm noticing that I use my middle finger for everything - even more than I thought I did. (I think it's not only because that finger is stronger, but it's also longer.) Also now that I think about it, my dad (part-aspie) does too. For it to stick out in my mind that he does it, it must be something unusual as opposed to everyone being that way. Fascinating, something for me to keep an eye on today...

Hmm. I still do that sometimes (carry my hands as fists), though for me that is often not practical. (I have to carry a lot of things )

When ever I'm making something on the stove that requires flipping something, I use my left hand and flip it to the outside. My dad thinks it's weird, but I do the same thing with doorknobs. I turn my hand the opposite way that most people do, and use my wrong hand (the one I don't write with). *shrug*

I've never really noticed in what positions my hands are, but thinking about it I tend to lean on one or both hands (depending on whether or not I'm using them) and I clasp them a lot, in various ways. By 'overlapping fingernails stim' what exactly does that mean - is it just that; overlapping one's fingernails a lot? That's what I do ... I don't tend to use my middle finger though, but I'll point with my left hand whenever possible.

Sitting with my ankle underneath my thigh as I type. I tend to do that when I'm fully relaxed, eg nobody in the room when I'm on the computer.

Re ambidextrousness (should that be ambidextrosity?) / mixed-handedness - I'm fairly ambidextrous, although a little more right-handed. There are some things I will only ever do with my right hand (such as brush my hair) and others I will only ever do with my left (such as hold a drink.)

I do the sitting on one leg thing, and also have a habit of leaning on my wrists, with my arms straight and my hands folded so the backs of them are on my legs.

I know I've done the hand-curling thing in the past. People would point it out ocasionally. For a while, I was making a conscious effort not to do it, but I apparently must have stopped paying attention until I read this post. I guess I'll have to again now.

And I do the sitting on one leg thing too. In fact I'm doing it now. Which I know is bad because it could cause a DVT. In fact I've been paranoid about that for a while. (Sorry if I've scared anyone.)

I do both. I have all sorts of 'odd postures'