What is Stimming and Why do we do it? Q&A
What is Stimming and Why do we do it?
By: RainbowTrie
What Is Stimming?
Stimming is repetitive movement to stimulate one of the five senses in a controlled way. Its heavily associated with autism but, actually, everyone stims to some extent (ex. Biting your nails, clicking a pen, bouncing your leg). Autistic people usually stim in different ways and more often than non-autistic people.
Why do People Stim?
There are several reasons why people stim. First, we all stim to some extent to help us manage anxiety, fear, anger, and other negative emotions.
People with autism are typically highly sensitive and can experience ‘sensory overloads. When an autistic person feels overloaded with sights, sounds, tastes, smells, or textures, they can stim to introduce a new, pleasant, sensation that will soothe and ‘override the previous, negative sensation.
Autistic people also stim because it feels good, its fun, it helps regulate their moods, and its a natural way they express how they feel - just as automatically as your brain tells you to smile when youre happy.
How do People Stim?
Here are some stereotypical examples of stims but there many more.
• Visual: Staring at lights or ceiling fans; repetitive blinking; moving fingers in front of the eyes; hand-flapping, gazing at nothing in particular; tracking eyes; peering out of the corners of eyes; lining up objects; turning on and off light switches.
• Auditory: Vocalizing in the form of humming, grunting, or high-pitched shrieking; tapping ears or objects; covering and uncovering ears; snapping fingers; making vocal sounds; repeating vocal sequences; repeating portions of videos, books or songs at "inappropriate" times.
• Tactile: Scratching or rubbing the skin with ones hands or with another object; opening and closing fists; tapping surfaces with fingers.
• Vestibular: Rocking front to back; rocking side-to-side; spinning; jumping; pacing.
• Taste: Placing body parts or objects in ones mouth; licking objects.
• Smell: Sniffing or smelling people or objects.
Is Stimming Healthy?
Yes! Autistic people should never be discouraged from stimming. In fact, there is a market for ‘Stim Toys specifically designed for individuals on the spectrum to stim in a more convenient socially acceptable way.
When people, especially children, with autism feel continuously pressured to resist the natural, harmless urge to stim, it can lead to a loss of self-confidence and can even lead to depression. The worst harm most stimming does is look a little funny to people who are not used to it.
As long as the stim is not hurting anyone, it should be encouraged. You can even view stimming as a form of communication and a mode with which to learn more about the other person.
More Resources:
1. What is stimming?
3. How I stopped worrying about stimming, and started to love it.
@ RainbowTrie This is informative. Thanks for sharing!
I'm more of a tactile stimmer because I really like to feel objects when I'm stressed to help my brain calm down.
@RainbowTrie - Another fantastic and informative post - thank you!
A reminder of how awesome this post truly is.
I hope you are well!!
This is awesome! Thank you for posting such an accessible resource for people to understand stimming!
I'm auditiory
I hardly if ever stim, and never really have. The only thing I do is I love to play with my curly hair... but that hardly counts as an autistic stim since a lot of regular people play with their hair too. In fact people who I've told I have autism have challenged me, "but how can you be autistic when you act normal?" which hurts my feelings a bit despite the fact I am used to it already. Like I don't have autism unless I'm curled up rocking in the corner.
@RainbowTrie Thanks for sharing this! I now understand stimming a lot better than I did before. Definitely for me the ones I engaged in most as a child were rocking or spinning or pacing, but sometimes also scratching.
@RainbowTrie
Thanks for sharing this is really helpful and interesting !
The term "stimming" is short for self-stimulatory behavior and is sometimes also called "stereotypic" behavior. In a person with autism, stimming usually refers to specific behaviors that include hand- flapping, rocking, spinning, or repetition of words.Stimming is almost always a symptom of autism, and it's usually the most obvious. After all, few typically developing people rock, flap, pace, or flick their fingers on a regular basis.While autistic stimming does look unusual, however, it's important to note that subtler forms of stimming are also a part of most people's behavior patterns. If you've ever tapped your pencil, bitten your nails, twirled your hair, or tapped your toes, you've engaged in stimming.The biggest differences between autistic and typical stimming are the type, quantity, and obviousness of the behavior.
Which Behaviors Are Considered to Be Stims?In general, behaviors are described as "stims" when they go beyond what is culturally tolerated. In other words, a "stim" is a behavior that is culturally unacceptable.While it's at least moderately acceptable in the United States to bite one's nails or twirl one's hair, for example, it's considered unacceptable to wander around flapping one's hands. Mild and occasional rocking is usually acceptable, but rocking one's entire body back and forth is considered to be a stim.There's really no good reason why flapping should be less acceptable than nail biting (it's certainly more hygienic!). But in our world, the hand flappers receive negative attention while the nail biters (at least to a certain degree) are tolerated. Some stims can be quite extreme, and are legitimately upsetting or even frightening to typical people.For example, some autistic people stim by making loud noises that can sound threatening or scary. Some hit themselves with their hands, or even bang their heads against the wall. These types of stims are obviously problematic for a variety of reasons.
When Do Autistic People Stim?For most people, stimming occurs only now and then. People with autism, however, often find it difficult to stop stimming, and may do it during most of their waking hours. They may stim because they are excited, happy, anxious, overwhelmed, or because it feels comforting. even the spinning of a ceiling fan can trigger this. Under stressful circumstances, they may stim for long periods of time.Most of us are aware of and can control our stims (we wouldn't bite our nails, for example, while having a romantic dinner). If we feel the need to stim in a stressful situation, we are usually careful to be subtle about it. For example, we might tap our toes under the table rather than rock back and forth. People with autism, however, may not be aware of and responsive to others' reactions to their stims. There seem to be circumstances in which some people with autism are not able to control their stims, or find it extremely stressful and difficult to do so.