Repetitive behaviour/Stimming

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Okay, so now I finally know what constitutes the elusive "stim," I realize I do actually have some. But I wonder...

Is it necessarily just an aspie thing? I mean, can't anyone have a habit of nail-biting or zit-picking or pacing? (Still can't visualize the ubiquitous "hand-flapping" thing, though.)

Also, do you tend to stim more when you're tired? I can't resist picking my skin when I'm tired. Or my cuticles, anytime I'm not otherwise using my hands. Would sitting with your legs all tangled up like a double-helix *all the time* count as a stim? (one leg over the other, and then the top foot behind the other ankle.)

And did you tend to stim more when you were a kid? I used to click my tongue on the roof of my mouth ALL the time, until my grandma made me stop. And I had this weird habit (when I was upset) of jumping on my bed--while lying down--over and over and over again. I looked like an upside-down inchworm, flinging my legs straight up into the air, while lying on my back, and then crashing my whole body down hard on the bed. A big temper-tantrum is what it was.

Geez, I guess I really am a weirdo.

I had quite a few when I was younger:

- Counting.
- Knocking.
- Rocking.
- Aligning the hangers in my closet. Had so much fun doing this one!
- Hair plucking (legs, pubes).
- Changing clothes repeatedly.
- Rearranging objects until I found the "right" spot for them.
- Thumb sucking

I don't do stimming any more, for the most part. Once in awhile I'll rock a little or suck my thumb, but I'm nearly thirty years old and none of my friends care at this point.

Wow, other thumb suckers beside myself! I thumb sucked off and on until I was 14. I stopped then, because my brother threatened to break my arm otherwise.

I also click my teeth together in strange rhythms (can't stop until it's right), suck the roof of my mouth (gotta stop that one soon, I'm about to start making my tongue bleed), pop all of my knuckles, pop my toes inside my shoes, there's this hand thing that I do in private where I extend all of my fingers in towards my thumbs and then rotate them outwards repeatedly. I also used to twist string unendingly (and chew on it sometimes), but that stopped when I didn't have access to the blanket anymore that I got the strings from . . . of course then there's the zit thing, chew on the nails/cuticles thing (I recently stopped chewing my nails; let's see how long that lasts *rolls eyes*). Oh and then I also chew on my bottom lip and I tend to pop my back a lot when I can't sleep.

This is a very interesting thread for me, because I'm facing that big question whether my Tourette's diagnosis was inaccurate and I'm just stimming or if I'm comorbid Tourettes/Aspergers.

Things that I do:
Tapping foot, tapping fingers, beating out rhythms on my legs or on a table
Biting my lips and the inside of my mouth
Singing
Clicking my tongue
Smelling things
Picking scabs/etc.
Playing with my hands


And these things..I don't know if they're stims or not:
Shoulder jerking (mild)
Nose twitching (think a giant rabbit)
Shifting my weight to make my chest/diaphram region feel less "tight"

And a question....what exactly is hand flapping? I do alot of weird things with my hands, but I'm not sure if I do that or not without a description.

Check this out (hand flapping) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wZw9BvT ... ed&search=

I used to do that intensively from 6-14 years old when I watched someone else play a video game... I could also do that for half an hour when I was in my imaginary world, thinking about an action sequence I made up in my mind and could almost see. I still do that sometimes when I listen to music or play a computer game (Im 25 now). I know it might seem quite strange... its no wonder I strongly believe I have AS.

Last edited by Bigbang on 17 Oct 2007, 5:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

My two main ones are a bit hard to explain. I tighten my right hand and rotate my wrist to make this clicking sound that my wrist has made since college.

The other one I've done since high school. I type things out on my fingers that I'm thinking in my head or someone is saying. Not typing in the air, typing against my own fingers. Hard to visualize but most people don't even see me doing it unless they really pay attention. That's the way I like it.

My nephew likes to hold onto belts, race car track, anything flexible like that and flap it up and down. I asked him about it once and the only explanation his 7 year old brain could give me was something to do with the way the arrows were traveling. I have no idea. LOL The only stim I really did as a kid was rocking back against the couch and hitting my head on it. I still rock sometimes for absolutely no reason but I try not to do it in public.

my leg bounces and I tap my feet without realizing I'm doing it. (aggrivates the hell out of the lady who's office is right below mine, she bangs on her celing and glares at me when she sees me.)

Whistle under my breath(again without realizing it)

pop my back, my knuckles (all of them including my toes) my ankles, knees, and sometimes my shoulders. It's best when I can do all of them in one long streach.

can't find music heavy enough (static X gets close)

Maybe it's cause I'm Aspie....but I just don't see anything weird about doing these things. Don't NT people bite their nails and talk to themselves and tap their fingers, etc?
I also watched that YouTube with the baby flapping his hands, and that looked normal as well. NT babies flap their hands when they're excited or angry, don't they? I just figured they have a lot of emotion and lack the words to express it, so they flap their hands. Granted, it would seem odd to see an adult flapping like that, but it looks normal for a baby.

In fact, the video I posted with the toddler flapping his hand never mentionned he had any form of autism. Its also true that NTs can have repetitive psychosomatic behaviors (bitting nails). So in a way you're right... but the thing with aspies is that they generally have more than one stim, and do them quite significantly more often than an average person, probably due to their particular relation with their keen senses. I read somewhere that about 10-20% of NT kids actually have stims too. Stimming is nothing more than a sign or a trait of autism, and no single trait can actually lead to a formal diagnosis, while a group of traits can (as expressed in the DSM-IV definition for AS). So in a way, all autistic persons have stims, but not all persons who have stims are autistic.

Last edited by Bigbang on 12 Oct 2007, 7:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Seems there is a fine line between stimming and ocds. Getting a handful of hair into each hand so that I can stroke the prickly tips is one I've had most of my life. That's probably a stimmer. Picking and scratching any bump off of a raised surface, whether its my face, a wooden table or scar on my boyfriends back. Thats gotta be an OC thing. Used to rock a lot, but not anymore - not for over 10 years, I think. Used to bounce up and down, face down, on my bed when I was a kid - only way I could get to sleep. Also used to pace, but haven't noticed that recently at all. So I'm mostly through the worst of 'em, I think, and just left with the hair stroking now. And even that is manageable - not as constant as it was in my late teens or early 20s when I sat in business meetings with a piece of my long hair in each hand, manically stroking the edges - totally unconsciously, mind you

Wow. These are some really honest posts. Thanxx everyone for posting the "gross" ones so I can too...face picking (totally obsessively as an acned adolescent- not so bad now); nose-picking; scalp-scratching (to the point of a noticeable baldish area), hair-twisting, near-trichitillomania but not quite- I only pull the loose ones out. _Obsessively_. Twisting hoops through piercings (ears only!) As a kid: eye-rolling. Not-so-gross ones: rhythmic teeth-clicking, finger rubbing on thumb, ear-wiggling (honestly, I thought nobody could see this one!), toes wiggling inside shoes (super-secret). Compulsive sipping on beverages (water and coffee always at hand). Lip-balm application and rubbing lips together. Pacing. Some other kindred soul mentioned rubbing (her?) lips on the cat's fur! And if I'm super-honest, I have to say, chronic compulsive rocking and masturbation from the time I was the tiniest kid. Really I don't think it was sexual at all, just comforting.

I totally do that too...that's a new one that's made an appearance recently, usually when I'm running on the treadmill. I try not to think about it and then I stop.

I grab my comcast remote and twirl it in my hand until its annoys my family. Also I cut myself during sophmore year of highschool with scissors. The principal had to call my mom. I just did it because it was fun sorry to all those who do it to take away the pain.

I also stomp my foot alot or wiggle my fingers or move them towards my hand. Now that I think about it I do have alot more stimming related issues.

I wasn't really sure what stimming was now I understand. Having a 10 year old aspie son who open/closes doors when he's upset with thunderstorms, consently pealing lables off of everything thank God he hasn't gotten to my can goods I'm so glad I found WP and know that I'm not alone.

I clap my hands together when I listen to music.