Stimming

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Talking to oneself can be a stim depending on how/why it is done. When I get very upset about a social situation, I will say certain things to myself over and over again, such as "no, no, no," or "I hate myself" repeatedly (even though I don't really hate myself) to deal with the anger, frustration, and embarrassment. I think that counts as a stim.

Common visual stims are:

Waving pieces of cotton or other fibres in front of the eyes.
Waving pieces of newspaper, handkerchiefs, tissues, watchbands, thin chains or necklaces etc in front of the eyes.
Watching sand trickle through the fingers or pouring sand from one container into another repeatedly.
Pouring water repeatedly and watching it as it moves from one container, piece of fabric or whatever to another.
Hand flapping.

Some people watch fans and other moving objects. Personally I don't, because I like the tactile sensation too and there is no tactile sensation if you just stare at a fan.

Any one of these things it is possible to do for hours. They are a good way to reduce stress after you have been with people too long. As a child I always used these stims to activate my private world. I have heard on the internet that other people do that too.

If you interpret the word widely enough everybody stims. Even smoking can be a visual stim and certainly was a stimming substitute for me when I used to smoke.

I also used to kill many music cassettes (in the old days, before CDs) listening to a favorite group or song(s) over & over...
This also drove my parents nuts, but was socially acceptable to my peers!

Matt

Can staring be a form of stimming? I tend to zone out and stare when distressed.

The more you actually think about it, the more 'stims' you might remember...

I'm not diagnosed, not sure if I have an ASD, but I think everyone must stim to a certain extent anyway...

I spin things... When I was a kid, I used to always (if I had access to) spin pot lids, coins, spinning tops... Anything that would spin, and also multiples at a time!

I still to this day spin things including ear phone cords - and yes even pot lids sometimes.

I used to turn on the tap and watch the water going round and round, then down the drain...

I'm almost always moving/fidgetting/tapping my feet off the floor - sometimes for a long time and people often comment and it's embarrasing, I don't even fully realise I'm doing it until someone reacts...

I bite/pick my bottom lip...

I make noises too, it's very embarrassing and I'm trying to stop it, I have managed to only do it mostly in private...

I can't think of anymore at the moment, but I know I've missed lots!

As I kid, my shampoo bottles flicked open when you pressed on them, and I would sit in the bath repeatedly flicking open the bottle and closing it again. Until the water got cold and my mom got mad at me for taking so long.

I roll my stomach. As I kid I was always too skinny to do it but by the time I was about 13 I had enough fat to do it. It became a habit and now I do it when I'm bored.
I also rub my fingernails against my teeth, bite my lip, make like squeaky noises in my throat or pull out hair in my legs.
No one notices me doing me doing it, well at least no tells me they do.

is it stimming if i tend to only do it when im listening to music? ex: tapping my foot or pointer,middle and ring finger mostly in tune to the music the difference being i will play the same song over and over and over again i know it annoys ppl. i can shake a minivan while doing it just by the force of my leg lol

I have a few, some that I do only in private though.

I tend to chew everything, nails and pens etc. I like dragging soft plastic against my teeth and nails. Chewing food on my gums too.
I smell my fingers a lot. I try and be subtle in public. My mom always used to tell me off, saying it looks dirty.
Picking at my face at home, and rubbing my nose and chin when in public or in stress situations. If I'm stressed my skin itches like mad and I end up zoning out and scratching my skin raw.
I rock when I'm at home, but sometimes can get away with it in public if I have headphones in.
I talk to myself all the time too. Whole conversations between characters in my head, accents, the works.
I flail my hands around when excited, and tense and flex my fingers when nervous, sometimes tapping them against my thumbs.
When I'm on the verge of a meltdown I shout at myself and slap my head repeatedly. It doesn't make me feel better but it's automatic.

I am not diagonosed yet, but some things I do a lot of...

Biting (not hard, but I always have to bite down into things for some reason)
Smelling (I constantly smell everything, people think it's weird)
Spinning objects such as bottle tops, toy car wheels (I have a son who may be autistic who is obsessed with cars so we have plenty around the house lol)
Throwing and catching things (eg if i am holding a hairbrush I will just sit there for ages throwing it up and down and catching it) same with my mobile phone I will sort of throw/flip it up and down constantly.
Writing names all the time, I have an obsession with names, it started when I was a child, I always write down names on paper or if I have my phone and no pens around I will type them in there
I will flip lids and things constantly like pens, my old mobile phone was a flip top one and I would constantly flip the cover on and off.

My youngest daughter is a toe walker
My eldest daughter sort of spins half way with her hands in the air (does this when she's excited)

I do the arm stuck up in the air thing .Had no idea others did it , I did not even know I did it myself until my wife started pointing it out to me.
It feels rather silly to be told you have had you'r arm stuck up in the air for the last hour and have no idea.

I also always sit with my left leg tucked under my right.

I tap my fingers to my thumb and count off the fingers in my head 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1

Clicking nails .

Tapping two of my teeth together.

The other odd thing I do that my wife pointed out to me is , I stick out the toe next the big one on both feet . She pointed it out by kindly
grabbing the protruding toe yanking on it and proclaiming with delight " I wanted to do that for years , they are always sticking out"

I constantly talk to myself , I just do it in my head like a constant monolog