Stims

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Today I somone asked me what are my self stimulatory behaiviors and I had to sit and think about it for a minute and I came up with a smallish list. I am cureous What are are your forms of stimming?

Mine

Rocking (ussually when up set or excited)
Pacing (same as when I rock)
Hand flapping (this only when I am realy excited)
Spinning objects(umm bored stressed or excited)
making noises ussualy animal sounds( I end to be alone when I do that)
chew on or "mouthing" things is a big thing with me)
watching blinking objects

I think that is about it

What about everyone else?

My usual stims:
Moving fingers
Biting lip
Messing up my hair
licking or touching teeth.
Leg shaking.

Under stress:
Hand waving/twisting, staring upwards, scratching head, rocking, humming.

drum play drums so id say air drumming is mine big thing

I didn't know bitting lip was a stim. I do that too!

rub my index and middle finger rapidly(right side)
make my big toe(right side) move up and down inside my shoe
hair twisting when I drive
biting the skin in my mouth behind my lips
biting the skin around the edge of my nails
pacing when needing something to do. I was at a job site today and i walked around this house probably about 3-5 times in a matter of about 5 minutes...
hand tapping to certain instruments in a song, rarely do I go with the actual beat.
When a vocalist is singing in a song, I usually go from index to pinky(sometimes thumb) for each word the artist sings, long drawn out notes and vibrato voices make whatever finger I stopped on wiggle like a guitar player making his guitar make a wah wah sound.


I try to hide anything that will catch attention too much.

I apply pressure to the ball of my feet, or the top of my palm in various ways.. Sometimes extending my fingers back, and tapping on a surface with the top of my palm, or clapping them together, or just rubbing it on a surface. For my feet, I'll hop on my toes.

My stims are:

(In order of things I do the most to least)

hand flapping when I'm alone and excited
touching my thumb to each of my fingers over and over, usually when I listen to music
pacing, usually when I'm on the phone
staring at patterns and tracing them with my eyes over and over, also tracing my own patterns in my head over and over
chewing on the side of my mouth
making noises, usually when I'm alone
sometimes, I'll hear a word or phrase and repeat it over and over in my head
staring at a ceiling fan, when I have one




Is talking to yourself a stim? If it is, that would be close to the top of the list.

I believe talking to yourself i a stim not sure but if so I have that one too

I like to see my hands pass in front of objects in very specific ways, or other objects move in front of each other, usually in a perfectly straight line. I also like temperatures, either hot or cold, and I love looking at things, especially certain colors or color combinations.

Rocking (usually side to side when standing but sometimes back and forth when sitting)
Flapping my right hand
Pacing (this one I feel helps the most)
Tapping

I also line things up to calm myself down does this count as a stim or is it something else?

Pacing, especially when I'm listening to music.
Leg bouncing. Usually just my left one.
Rubbing my face with the tips of my fingers.
Scratching the fronts of my teeth.
Heavily examining objects up close, and visualizing what they look like inside.
Observing the specular and diffuse lighting on an object shift as I and/or it moves.
Feeling surfaces and pushing on them to test their stuctual integrity.
Pushing on cabinets, doors, and windows to insure that they are 100% closed.
Lining objects up at 90° from each other and whatever they are on.
Needlessly clicking the buttons and using the scroll wheel on my mouse.
Shifting my focus between close and far range.
Cracking my fingers.
Twirling objects between my fingers.
Curling my toes on carpeted floors.

These are a few of my favorite things.

I crack with my knuckles. And with all other available joints. I use my fingernails or the rim of a piece of clothing to clean under my fingernails (when nervous), I bite the inside of my cheeks (also do this while asleep). Don't know if anything else ...

I also like touching surfaces with my fingers, symmetrically.

Heh. I am sitting, kind of folded on my knees on the floor while on the lap top now, trying to think of stims... the whole time I have been bouncing up and down on my knees and elbows. Heh heh heh. I bounce a lot. I bounce my calf muscles a lot too. I pace, flap my hands, bang things on my knuckles, fuss with my hair, pull my ears, tap my lips, touch my fingers to my thumbs... I do all kinds of weird things with my hands... too many to list... I have 'squishies' I fuss with, granny squares I fuss with (I crochet them with extra yarn on the end so I can pull them and spin them), I whack myself with my hands or pens or crochet hooks (I have a big, green plastic one I love), if talking to yourself is... then I certainly do that, I smell my hands constantly and clean out under my fingernails obsessively... I am sure I have more. I keep finding out I have more stims than I knew I did. I often say, "Really? That is a stim? I thought everyone did that."

Does Patting a dog repeatably count as a stim?

rocking (back-forth and clockwise-counterclockwise)
hand-flapping
rubbing legs with hands
bouncing my legs
swinging my arms back and forth
pacing
lip-biting
repeating words, phrases, or song lyrics over and over