rocking back and forth

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Id say the rocking and other forms of stimming are just stress relief. You dont have to be in a particularly 'stressful' environment since your body carries that tension in it at all times. Your whole body aches and you cant just sit and be relaxed. You cant just lay down and be relaxed. You need stimulation to distract you from all the tension you feel inside. This has been my experience. Your own thoughts become annoying after awhile as they well up in your brain. Its almost like a headache but doesn't hurt. kinda feels like your forehead is stretching and you want to pound it into a wall until it stops

You lack the ability to tune out information

Hell I do it all the time too. Rocking, pacing, all that. I know that I'm just repeating what others have said but I just seem to do it, hell most of the time I don't even know I'm doing it. Though I usually seem to do when I'm stressed or really exited.

I do it just to relax me and it doesn't necessarily mean I'm nervous. I don't do it a lot but just slightly and I only do it when I'm alone. Sometimes when I'm around people I have the urge to do it an it's hard not to and if I do do it I do it as slightly as I can because I'd be embarrassed for someone to see me doing it. If I am waiting in line that is hardly moving with a lot of people I get REALLY anxious and I sort of move from leg to leg and pace in place. That's due to anxiety.

ya he does it when he's listening to music. And you can tell he's having a good time because he's smiling or trying to sing. Also he complains of headaches like a numbness in the front part of his head.

I recommend you show him the real diagnostic criteria for AS, and also the circumstances in which someone would be diagnosed with autistic disorder or PDD-NOS instead. You don't have to be a genius to be diagnosed with any of these things, most people are not in that category. If you show him documentaries or interviews with autistic people, show him a good range of people, including those who can appear quite normal at first as it sounds like he probably does, so that he knows that it can be more subtle than he might realise. Most important is to see the real diagnostic criteria though, because it's easy to get the idea from more mainstream sources that everyone with it has every or most possible signs and symptoms, which is far from true, hence it's called a syndrome, or that certain things are always signs of autism, when they could be related to other things entirely.

If you search on Youtube for autistic people 'stimming', 'rocking' and 'pacing' he might recognise himself more clearly, especially if there are even more unusual stims that you're not aware of (some of mine only happen when I'm very engrossed in a daydream or train of thought, which in turn only happens when I'm alone). Before finding them by chance on Youtube I had no idea other people did them, even though I knew about stimming in general. Alternative explanations for rocking and pacing are severe stress or trauma. Most other stims are not related to these though, to my knowledge.

For me, I don't have to be stressed to rock, and not all stress triggers rocking, but not being able to rock when I want to can cause stress. This might make it seem like it serves to relieve stress in the first place, but I find it just helps my mind function more effectively in general. It helps me stay alert yet calm, helps me daydream or think creatively, helps my thoughts stay on track. The stress I experience when I can't do it is actually caused by my mind not feeling capable of whatever task it's got to get through, instead I start to feel overwhelmed by competing physical and psychic sensations suddenly swarming around and refusing to be tamed until more rocking can 'clear the fog'. I have no problem not rocking if my mind seems capable of whatever it's doing without it, even if stressed.

A very nice person is helping me with sleep issues. She says it is to get your vestibular system modulated.
If using one ward calming would the best one.

Good description. I sometimes feel like my head is going to explode.

uncertainofhim, what roseblood said makes a lot of sense. Find a DSM-IV-TR in the library (should be available by now--it's been out for a while) and read the diagnostic criteria for all ASD's. Pay attention to the sections that describe the other conditions that certain symptoms could indicate--there's a lot of overlap.

When i am excited/nervous

I also do it a lot while listening to music, usually in the privacy of my own home. In public, I tend to pace, or rock standing up; I think it was ingrained in me in childhood that I shouldn´t rock sitting down, so I am a "closet rocker" (I remember my mother accusing me of "looking like an autistic person"....this was back in the days when mild autism, like AS, wasn´t known about).

I may rock, or do any kind of stim when I´m either very happy or very stressed, as other people mentioned. But I also notice I do this for another reason, which I don´t think has been mentioned: it helps me to focus, or it "grounds me". I tend to stim more in difficult social situations where I need to be very concentrated, for instance.

I agree that maybe you could encourage your boyfriend to look into more info about Asperger´s Syndrome.

I rock to music sometimes, too. I like moving with music in general, but I usually don't do it when anyone is around - because even though I can hear the rhythm perfectly well, I can't for the life of me actually get my body's movements to match up with rhythm that I'm hearing. It's like there's some sort of delay. Not to mention that all my movements are extremely awkward and I trip over myself.

I don't intentionally rock in time to music, but if I am rocking and music is on in the background I cannot help rocking in time to it. I just involuntarily sync up with it.

[quote="roseblood"][Alternative explanations for rocking and pacing are severe stress or trauma. Most other stims are not related to these though, to my knowledge.

Yeah he was very physically abused as a child by his father. I looked on youtube but couldn't find anything similar to what he does. He did watch some video's with me and saw ppl sitting and rocking which he does too. We also found a video of a child playing with a blanket between his fingers,something he does while he sucks his thumb and slowly destroys the blankets corner. The closest way to show how he rocks is to watch"rainman"and how Dustin Hoffman's character rocks standing.

I wanted to know if you knew any online diagnostic criteria for "a.s"
I know there could be lots of different explainations for the way he does things
thanks for the replys everybody

[quote="uncertainofhim]We also found a video of a child playing with a blanket between his fingers,something he does while he sucks his thumb and slowly destroys the blankets corner. [/quote]

That's my number 1 stim too, I destroy clothes, blankets, pillowcases in the same manner.

link: Asperger's Syndrome Diagnostic Criteria

I have mild Aspergers and I do rock back and forth, but I didn't start doing it until I was 12 or 13. It felt really good for whatever reason I was doing it, but people who saw me doing it would always be like, "What's with the rocking back and forth? Are you Autistic or something?" and back then, I barely knew what Autism was. Now that I have been diagnosed, I feel more comfortable doing it whenever I feel like it, but I'm in control..I try not to do it so much around people so I don't freak them out. But if I had my way, I would do it all the time even for just no reason at all because it just feels good.

I think I've always rocked, but before I learned about AS, it was so subtle that no one commented on it. Now, I do it without even realizing I've started doing it. I don't really try and stop myself anymore unless I'm around people.

I think equating it to rocking in a rocking chair is the best description. It feels good. I LOVED rocking chairs when I was a kid. I'd sit cross legged in my grandmas chair and rock.