How do u control your stiming e.g flapping

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I don't know really what stimming is, and I hate the word. I can tell you that when I am overwhelmed with happieness I hit my head, and also when I have this sensation I can't explain. I don't have any sensation before I need to rock, but if I don't I either just start rocking or I get shaky. Hitting my head I do in private or when I am in public I make a joke of it. Rocking I just do. I dont know if I do other things because I am a private person and no one tells me what I am doing is unusual. I grew up thinking everyone rocks. There was a time when I did less of this; it was when I was running marathons. Maybe that is why going into the navy helped.

Neuroman, those things you do are stimming. AFAIK, stimming is basically something repetative that you do to stimulate your senses.

I don't really control my stimming at all. Most of it is innocent enough that people just don't care. I guess they just think I'm really fidgety because my legs are always moving even when I'm seated. (I like to wear my mp3 player when I'm on public transit because then people just think I'm grooving to the music.) I almost always have something in my hands that I can spin or disassemble/reassemble. My weirder habits come out when I'm deep in thought at the computer, particularly at work. I'll drink a (plastic) bottle of pop, put the cap back on and then start absent-mindedly bouncing it off the top of my head while I think. The people at work are used to it by now.

The only time I ever rock is if I'm very drunk and manage to get myself into a stressful situation or if I'm very bored and tired and trying to stay awake. In either case, however, it's because that's the only time I really want/need to rock, as opposed to losing the ability to hold it back. I almost never flap any more at all.

I just "tone things down",
instead of rocking or shaking
I will shake my legs or hands more gently,
or clench my fists, and tap my fingers

I just try an stim in my room except for rocking which I do in class sometimes.

I have very obvious handflapping that I do, and I will do it in public so long as it's not at school or in a situation I'll be expected to talk/communicate significantly. I will do it in the car, grocery stores, in crowds, on walks, etc. I would try to keep my hands busy with writing during school and sometimes tap my feet or hands or rock *slightly* but not enough that anyone would ask about it. I'm really shy so I don't like people asking me lots of questions. I don't think more subtle stims are likely to be thought of as strange considering lots of people fidget and most people wouldn't think about it too deeply. More obvious stims (eg. heavy rocking/hand flapping) are still fine as long as you're not interferring in someone's personal space or something, but if you're uncomfortable with doing it in public, maybe trying to convert to a less noticeable stim would help.

I think that if you need to stim you probably should. IMHO, squelching the urge to do so will simply make a meltdown more likely to occur.

I would like to ask NT's whether not crying when they feel like it, or not sleeping when they're exhausted, would be healthy or make them feel any better?

I pretty much stim when I need to, because i can't cope at work unless I do. One day I was feeling especially stressed and flapping quite a lot, very visibly. One of the store managers looked at me and said very critically, "What's wrong with you?!" I don't remember what I said, probably just that I was stressed...

I don't. I stim blatently in public constantly.

I try not to stim in public, but occasionally I do. With me its more rocking or complex whole body movements. Also I tap my legs whenever I sit down.

I rub my arms, pick at my zits. Keep crossing and uncrossing my legs. Chew on my lip. Pick my nose occasionally. Pick at my hair. Rock. Click my pen or pencil over and over and over. Tear off scabs. Smell my fingers, ect.

I think i am the portrait of repulsion.

Honestly, this is one of the few aspects of Asperger's that confuses me. I don't quite understand the stimming concept or symptom (however you phrase it).

I know I have a lot of compulsive habits. It's not uncommon for me to flick my feet back and forth. I chew my fingernails and the skin at the tips of my fingers, (where the nails would be if they weren't chewed upon). I sucked my thumb until grade 7. Is that stimming? How do you define it?

Thanks...

"Repetitive sensory stimulation"-- anything which stimulates the senses, but typically in a semi-repetitive manner. The more obvious ones in the autty spectrum would of course be rocking or hand flapping and such. But other smaller "stims" can be seen, too.

-rocking
-flapping
-pacing
-leg shaking
-wringing of hands or other movements
-head banging
-other smaller stims which most people wouldn't even think of as a "stim" but are such as chewing on a pen, etc., biting nails, the list goes on

I think I get it now...

I can say I (for inexplicable reasons) liked my pillow because of an overlap on the stitch end that I liked to flick back and forth, because it had a nice sensation on my fingers. Also rolling my hair around my fingers is something I've done for over 5 years (and it irritates everyone around me, too).

Thanks Sophist!