Stimming

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I seem to have noticed a lot of people on the spectrum say they stim the most when stressed or upset. My son seems just the opposite. He stims the most at home when he's relaxed and content and happy. And also rarely in public when he's talking about something he's excited about. When do you or your child find yourself stimming the most?

Both when upset and when excited/happy. I pace a lot in both circumstances. Also I do stuff with music, e.g. sing songs, in both circumstances.

You know it's odd, before I got on this forum I never even thought about compulsively pacing as a stim. My father, brother and I all do this and I have since I was very young. I can do it for a long time especially with music. I notice my son does this quite a bit too. I guess it runs in the family

It may be that he is stimming at home because it is acceptable for him to do it there and he is actually blowing off built up anxiety from the day.

He has different stims for when he is excited and when he is overwhelmed.

My daughter has stims she mostly only does at home when relaxed and stims she does out in public. Her public stim is chewing-her neckline or sleeves or anything really. At home she has much more "typical" stims like flicking her wrists and sniffing.

Redacted.

Last edited by Willard on 01 Oct 2011, 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I didn't know that actually. Just about every aspie who I've talked to has said that stress is not the primary reason for stimming, although I wouldn't be surprised if doctors want us all to think it is. I stim a whole lot, rarely it'll be from embarrassment, but I have to be pretty stressed to stim from embaressment or nervousness alone (and I am quite sensitive to stress.) The mental state that precedes stimming (for me personally) is not one of being worn down by stress but one of being hyped up because there's some cool idea I need to explore that very instant. When I discover something that is so captivating that I cannot explore every facet of it fast enough I will stim like mad, sometimes even hurting myself in the process. If I'm stimming to relax it will look different and probably less weird.

This thread is teaching me something. My son's stim often is to act like a monkey - high voice and cute facial expressions. In class, the boys want to follow him, being silly. The therapist and I thought he was worried about having a new class. It's not that, it's that he loves the attention of the boys. We had decided to give my son gum and a squeeze toy to see they can replace the stimming, but Willard makes me think that's not the right solution. Tomorrow is the first day of bringing bum and the squeeze toy in the new class so we'll see how it goes.

I am quite new to all this, so I am slowly learning
My DS wiggles his shoulders really fast and flaps his arms (a bit) but more when he is excited or happy.
He also licks his hands and arms, but doesnt do that as much

Oh, and my son's stims are at home running back and forth, jumping and waving arms in front of TV and squealing and sometimes wrist flicking and flapping. In public when he's talking he'll shake, wave his hands and sometimes one arm when he's talking, but seems to be very aware of this and tries to lessen it. He also chews a lot at school but I always considered this a stress reliever or a reaction to anxiety. I agree he may very well be blowing off pent up stuff at home because he feels safe and comfortable doing so. I've also noticed, (not sure if a stim exactly) he spends time in his room 'practicing' conversations. Like if he got a new lego set I can hear him pretending to be someone else asking about it etc. and then he'll answer. It's almost like he's preparing ahead of time. My son used to have a variety of vocal stims when he was younger but they generally went away when he became verbal.

All this summer when wearing sandals my son kept licking his fingers then rubbing his feet because he didn't like the 'dirt' on them. He also licked his fingers then rubbed his cheeks and above and under his eyes because his skin feels dry constantly. I haven't noticed it as much lately. He has always really hated his skin feeling dry or dirt or sand (even if I don't see what he's talking about) on his feet.

The chewing thing was one of my younger son's stims--it got really bad when I placed him in daycare half days for about six months when he was two. He's doing better now on Prozac with the stimming, though.

He would get better and worse with the stimming depending upon how much stress he had. (Daycare apparently stressed him out). How much attention and distraction that I could provide seemed to be a factor, too. More stimming when left to his own devices with nothing to do.

My older son with classic autism flaps his hands, opens his mouth wide, and jumps up and down when excited and happy--like when he has just scored points on a computer game.