What exactly is "stimming?"

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I've seen that term used a lot around here, but I don't know what it really means. What are some examples of stimming? What is the actual definition? Would randomly drumming on things with my hands for no apparent reason(sometimes while listening to music, but not always) be considered stimming? What about repeatedly clicking a pen for no apparent reason? Is stimming just a lack of sitting still and not doing anything? What exactly is it? Somebody please explain. I think it's something I do, but I'm not entirely sure because I don't really know exactly what it is.

For me, stimming is a repetitive movement that lets me create some sensation for my mind to focus on in order to make itself feel good or help it think.

The best stims are the classic autistic stims - rocking, swaying, spinning. These involve large body parts and get my mind smoothly into hyperfocus. Rocking is my favorite.

Other stims are like leg bouncing and head shaking which feel good but are not really hyperfocusing stims.

Yet other stims I do when I am out in the world, and there is a lot of info flooding in, and I flap my hands or flick my fingers or do all these smaller movements while walking about to give my mind some movement to feel, like if I am bored, but I can't hyperfocus because there's too much crap around me. Also, it's dangerous to hyperfocus while walking around.

These are some of the movement stims. A lot of people, usually NTs, say that stimming is used by autistics to relieve anxiety, but I don't feel that way at all. I am rarely anxious, and I do not stim to relieve anxiety. I do it because it feels good and gives my mind the movement sensation that it uses to focus on what I am thinking or doing or better yet, hyperfocus so much that the world disappears entirely, at which point I also stop stimming.

I tap with my fingers in my face or put one hand at my forehead and start turning it around. When I am among people I always play with my fingers or have to touch my arm or neck. When I have to wait for the train to see my psychologist I have to walk in circles and I forget that there are people around
When I realize that there are people I stop the circles, but then I start again, it just happens.

Would thinking the same thought over and over be stimming, because when I get nervious I start thinking the same thought over & over.

And I also rub/scratch my face and arms when I get nervious, is that stimming?

Also when I'm doing something I'll stop get up walk around the room again then go back to what I was doing.

I never realized what "stimming" is until I visited this forum. A friend commented that I have a weird habit of randomly clicking and highlighting things on my computer screen continuously when I'm reading something on the computer. Is that "stimming"?

Stemming from my early teen years, I started to have a weird urge to push people's ears (and my own) forward and let them spring back into place in a quick motion. I call it "ear biddying," and I made a bit of a joke of it, and it even caught on with some of my friends and they were biddying each others ears. I get the urge to do it, when something occurs around me that annoys me, or that I've got no interest in. After reading the accounts of people on this site, I now have a suspicion that what I've actually been doing all these years is stimming.

For me, it involves tapping my foot to whatever song is in my head (and there is always at least one song in my head at any given time). Or it can involve rocking in my chair, drumming my fingers (or hands) or maybe even some others that I'm not aware of. I mostly do this to hyperfocus as another poster mentioned. Sometimes I stim when I'm anxious, but usually it's to focus or sometimes just when I'm excited. If I get my hands on a swivel, rocker office chair, watch out! he he he

Did any of you ever play with "sit and spin" as a child? It was my favorite toy as a toddler.
Lydia

I looked up the sit and spin just now. I desire it.

I wasn't familiar with the term "stimming" until I started working with Autistic and other Special Needs people and I didn't realize I was stimming until this past summer. I think there is still a lot of debate on what stimming exactly is and what it does, but the word "stim" is short for "self stimulation" which is basically any behavior used to stimulate oneself. Stimming is usually used as a means of comfort but, I have noticed, often is a sign of how a person is feeling and is a way for them to nonverbaly communicate.

A lot of people stim when they are nervous. It's a way to calm them down. And sometimes it seems people stim for no apparent reason. I stim and don't know why.

Some of my stims include:

* Chewing on things, especially my bottom lip. I eat a lot as well, though it's more out of a desire to have something to chew on than out of hunger.

* Picking at my nails.

* rubbing smooth things.

* Rubbing rough things against my lips/face.

* clapping.

* Tapping things against other things, like a metal spoon against a stone counter.

* Sometimes I like spinning things in liquid to make a whirlpool. This past summer my brother caught me doing that at a restaurant and asked me what I was doing, so of course everybody stopped and stared at me. Thing is, I wasn't even aware I was doing it until he caught me. I think it was because I was nervous.

* I sometimes make strange sounds, like growls and such.

I am sure I have more things that I just can't think of.


When I went to daycare I LOVED those sit and spin toys. Even when I was older I would steal them from the younger kids:)

Well,when I have to study for an exam I began rocking or walking in circles, because It helps me to focus on it.I don´t think about this I just do It but when I am alone.When I am with people, I bit my pen or put and take out the top of the pen.I open and close my mobile phone many times, sometimes I disarm my cell phone or I look many times the hour.Sometimes I bounce my legs .Is that stimming?

Does fiddling with a disk drive count? Does pacing count?

Walking around the room in circles is a stim.