Question RE: Stimming

Post Reply New Topic

We are currently in the testing phase of obtaining a dx for Aspergers. My son is 11, and for the last 4 or so years he has made a high-pitched humming noise. It is not all the time, but I notice its gotten worse since school started this year.

I was wondering if anyone could give me insight into why he does this? He said that he realizes he does it, but when asked why he just says..."I don't know"

Any information would be useful, and appriciated!

Well, if it's gotten a bit worse since school started...I'd say its him probably being nervous.

I don't really know much about stimming situations, cuz I don't stim and I don't know anyone who stims.

It's a habit--like tapping your foot or chewing on your pens... all in all, pretty harmless; maybe socially unacceptable at worst.

Stimming, for someone on the autism spectrum, is a way of calming yourself--not because you're upset, but because there's a lot of sensory input coming in, and you're trying not to be overwhelmed. Repetitive actiopns are predictable (which is calming for somebody who likes predictability), they can "drown out" the irritating sensory input coming in, etc. After a while, they become habitual; they're associated with positive emotion (the calming effect) so they're reinforced.

My theory on humming:
--originally started to drown out annoying background noise (the hum of flourescents, air conditioner noise, noises from the next room or down the hall, traffic outside)
--became a calming behavior, and then habitual, done even when there wasn't any noise to block out

Bottom line: it's nothing to worry about. Non-autistic people stim, too (ex. foot-tapping, pencil-chewing, nail-biting, finger-tapping); it's just more pronounced and takes less socially-acceptable forms with Aspies.

If your son is becoming embarassed because he hums in public, and wants to stop, you might work with him to help him do so. It's often better to "deflect" a stim into something more socially acceptable than to just try to stop... for example, tapping your fingers instead of flapping your hands, or rocking very slightly rather than vigorously... in your son's case, perhaps humming very quietly, or humming a tune, could be more socially acceptable.

If he's still bothered by background noise, getting a white noise machine or turning on a fan might help--but only if he can tolerate the noise from the noise machine or fan. I turn on a fan to block out extraneous noise and help me sleep at night... it works wonders, but I had to spend a summer getting used to it.

Hmm. I always turn on my ceiling fan every night, because the sound of the fan itself is actually comfirting.

When I was about 11, I repeatedly cleared my throat and made grunting noises. Much later I figured out it was due to the stress of being expected to conform to expectations that were not right for me. I was the quintessential square peg being pushed by loving but misguided parents into the round hole. Just didn't fit.

The question is, do you accept any responsibility for stress in your son's life? The whole family (everybody) should see a good shrink and discuss all your roles. You don't fix the problem child. He's just the symptom. You fix the family.

My friend's son does this. He says it helps him concentrate.

when i was in school i used to play with my elbows and hands constintly if i had to concentrate like on a test or something

I think I would agree with Callista. I have a completely non-professional layman's theory partly based on what I think is going on in my own head when I do these things that the hyper-sensitivity, the ADD, and the stimming are all related. If the part of your brain that helps you stay focused on a task is kind of lazy, then your mind wanders and any little sensation becomes very noticeable. The sensations from a noise or something against your skin tends to be much more distracting and irritating. You stim to drown out that sensation. If noise is irritating you, you might hum to drown it. If it's a touch sensation, you might do a physical stimming like bighting your nails to drown it out and feel better. I think itching is like this. It's a tiny little sensation of pain on your skin so you scratch the area to flood it out.

As for the ADD, I bet this is not a new revelation, but it seems to me that the part of my brain that helps me focus is weaker than normal or gets tired easily and my mind seeks distractions from the burdensom task so it wanders into "easier" things or else I just get tired. Daydreaming is my mind's way of telling me to take a break from mental "jogging" into mental "slow walking". I have no trouble reading actually, which I consider a MUCH less demanding mental task than writing because it's kind of passive. It's not as passive as watching something, but I'm still just taking in information as opposed to trying to formulate words into something understandable which is extremely exhausting for me even though I love to do it. However, I notice my pattern when I'm reading is to read a little while, then almost always I get tired so I take a little nap, then wake up and read some more, back and forth. It's great when I WANT to sleep. Reading is an almost surefire way unless I'm totally wired. Short writing tasks don't bother me as much and short burst reading tasks, like forum posts, aren't as bad either. Sleeping happens when I'm reading a book.

Callista is also right about replacing stimming, I think. I conciously forced myself to stop a more noticeable habit of counting things out on my fingers and discovered I was tapping out the same pattern lightly with my teeth, which nobody (including myself most times) notices I'm doing. It's still highly preferable.

I agree with Callista too, but I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with ADD since I don't have it and still am bothered by sensory issues. Maybe ADD makes it worse but AS plays a big role.

Also, don't blame yourself or the family for your son's stress. He'll be stressed at least a little no matter how much you try, although you can try to keep it to a minimum. There will always be bothersome background noises and that doesn't make you a bad parent (although it always bothers me when my mom hums or listens to the radio without closing the door of the room she's in, since just my closed door isn't enough to block noises out - small house).

Thanks for all the responses, it helps knowing you are all here and willing to help.

maybe he's just 'checking out' testing, perfecting, exploring, his vocals.

I mean...who wouldn't-they're there.

when i was smaller and way b4 i was diagnosed or even heard of AS my favorite things to do were to rock my chair, bite my nails click my tongue and also thing i dont notice is that if i say something funny i will laugh at it afterwards....
my mum pointed that one out to me but i never even realise that i do it and i still do it because i cant control it.
i still rock my chair and bite my nails too. lol

Umm... I don't understand why you're calling a child with AS a "problem child" or "a symptom" of a bad family.

There's nothing in the OP's post that says "this is a stressed kid" to me; just "this is a kid with AS, and kids with AS stim". As we all know, AS is not produced by family trouble (though any child, especially one with AS, will be hurt by family trouble). It's genetics, brain chemistry... High stress levels don't help, sure; but this being the beginning of school, I'd say that if there's stress here, it's coming from school, not home.

If there *are* high stress levels at home--sure, go get counseling. But saying that the child with AS is a stressed problem child goes way beyond what that first post said.

My son, who is very high functioning, takes it upon himself to control his stimming at school, most of the time. I have not encouraged this, but his teachers have in the past and once a behavior is learned, it's hard to unlearn. We've talked about it a bit, and he wants so much to fit in that he tries to imitate others to a tee, which means sitting still, being quiet, and everything else that is expected for him to do, inspite of the fact it causes him stress. The first few days of school this year he had a rough time.

He came home on the bus one day and he was almost in a daze, with exhaustion from canning the stims. He still had in his hand, after a 30 minute ride, the Bus # ID that reminds the helper squad to keep certain kids together (and get them on the right bus) while waiting for the bus to come. He handed me the ID and collapsed on the floor with a smile, so glad to be home. I cried for him. After he recovered. We started just doing "fun stuff" for a while as I figured out what it was all about.

I really beleive that a little can be controlled/delayed, but the result is a more than normal stress level. We have tried to express to him that certain amount of stimming will be acceptable even to his friends, but he just wants to know why they won't join him in a good stim if it's OK to do. I see him using up his childhood trying to make others happy. I wish I had my hands on the ones who started him feeling bad for being himself.

I just found out that my son may have AS recently. I have always noticed a variety of issues but I, and Dr's had never put two and two together. My son's biological father (whom I hadn't talked to since my son was 1 yr old) mentioned a few weeks ago that he, and his nephew both have AS, and that my son had many of the same issues hes been dealing with.

My son is in no way a "problem child" he is quite the contrary. His stimming is sometimes irritating because of the high pitch of it, and I just wanted to know why he may be stimming. It does make sense that it is stress level, because school just started, and there is pressure to get good grades, etc.

Again, thanks for the support and comments!

Yeah most stimming is harmless so long as he isnt physically hurting himself (biting hard enough to draw blood, banging his head, etc) its not unheard of but normally only occurs in severe cases.

I have several stims myself I do and they seem to coincide with my stress levels.. my most common one is "leg bouncing" and my husband has learned he can tell my stress level and when to get me out of somewhere by how fast its bouncing.

In your case the volume of his humming is your indicator to how hes holding up.

If the humming bothers you though like others have said he can retrain himself to use something less noticable so long as its effective (you may have to experiment a little to find something hes comfortable with and works but generally any sort of controllable movement will work).