Is this a stim?

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I know exactly what you mean. Right on!

At the age of 8 , I was diagnose with ADD ( without hyperactivity) Which was in fact part of Asperger syndrome in a later diagnosis.( In 1972 the diagnosis of asperger syndrome was nonexistent.) I was doing a lot of stimming by shaking my leg. Less now, except in stressful situations. It does calm my brain when I do it.

I've known about AS for 4 years now, and I never realised that the leg shaking thing was a stim! But it makes sense; I only know two people who do it as much as me. One of them is definitely an aspie, and the other one is my mother, who's probably an aspie. I don't know how I missed this.

WOW! If you think that shaken a leg is bad. You odda check this kid out. He really knows how to stim.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oukupxRUA84[/youtube]

That was fun to watch. The kid looks so happy. Leg bouncing is a stim. It's a more socially acceptable stim that NTs are more likely to do than say rocking or hand flapping or twirling a string in front of one's eyes but it is a stim. I shake my leg and so does my friend who is not autistic but has ADHD.

^^^ He's got it all figured out! :0)

Yup, same here. I know a lot of other people who shake their leg/legs but I've never seen anyone comment on it, but I irritate people all the time with it and do it more intensely it seems or oddly.

i do this and it's very hard to stop and very irritating when i'm asked to.

used to have teachers in school try to squelch it, and some bosses.

dammit what harm is it doing REALLY?

I do this quite a lot,unconsiously of course,i think it shakes faster wheni am stressed

I shook my leg so much that my mom could feel it. We were sitting on the same couch..

I do this too!
I'm undiagnosed (primary care JUST messaged me today saying she was finding me a specialist), my biologics (thank the void i got rid of them...) would always say i was trying to get attention by doing it after my little sibling was diagnosed with ADHD and would otherwise shame, bully, mock, or chastise me for it. I literally do it constantly and have to put active thought into stopping to avoid attention. Im so afraid of getting looks.

However ive noticed since getting my braces off and being able to eat my favorite food (popcorn!) Again i will straight up start BOUNCING when genuinely happy. My husband noticed and commented i did the same thing on our honeymoon at various activities (buffetts mostly XD) and again at a vacation in the bahamas- whenever i'm overwhelmed with positivity i dont smile, laugh, or shout i bounce *harder*. Since connecting the dots we've found ive done this forever.

But when im stressed or nervous i hold very still except for the vibrating tap of my right leg, which i'll force myself to stop out of fear of more attention which will equal more stress.

Veterans and experts, and OP, is this a stim??

I would say "probably not."

It's common for people to fidget.

Cool! Thanks for the reply, I can believe I'm just fidgety

I find it hard to distinguish the line between "fidget" and "stim," especially when discussing possible ASD or ADHD stims.

I find that noting frequency is really helpful. As an example, I have something I *do* consider a stim, which has been exhaustively discussed here (Leg shaking/bouncing/bobbing, however you wish to describe it). I also have a friend who can't really be described as ASD who does the same thing. As has been noted here, many NT people shake or bounce their legs.

The way I explained it to my friends, based on what I know about ASD, is that an ASD stim vs a NT stim is the frequency, severity, and causes. I am *always* shaking my leg, and I also rock forward and back slowly when I am alone (I have a rocking chair I sit in when I am around others so it doesn't seem odd when I do, but when by myself I will rock forward and back even in a stationary chair). I also shake my right hand a lot, especially while walking. Subtle as these might be (And I do not in fact know if they are subtle, they are easily overlooked by me), the fact I am pretty much stimming constantly is the difference, regardless of circumstances (though their intensity increases when I am anxious or frustrated). My friend only shakes his leg occasionally when he is frustrated or anxious.

Other stims may be more severe or noticeable...shaking or rocking or flicking that is visibly obvious. The causes are also different. Someone with ASD may stim because of overwhelm or too much stimulus or some other obscure cause, or sometimes without *any* notable cause. For an NT, their stim behavior can always be tied to another event that usually is one that causes anxiety or frustration.

hopefully that helps.

To me, a "stim" is something which is at least rather difficult for the autistic person to control AND it gives the autistic person pleasure or calms the autistic person down. Not only that, the "stim" must upset the autistic person noticeably if somebody restrains him/her from performing the "stim."

To me, Occasional Seagull described fidgeting.

It does cause distress to stop, but really it was conditioned in me very early on that nobody *needs* to act weird (their words, please be patient as I'm trying to un-learn what I'm slowly realizing was toxic parenting) to calm down and all you need was to "suck it up, get over yourself, and sit still".
Usually im able to put *all* of my focus into stopping my fidgets, which makes me even more irritable than normal to anyone who tries to interact when im focusing.

I understand that I don't really have a choice in my behavior when it comes to whats acceptable and whats not, and as I was taught: 'if you dont want attention don't draw attention', or 'if you dont want to be treated like a freak dont act like one'.

I do have impulses that cause physical pain that actually causes deep distress when I desperately show my husband *where* it hurts and he promises theres nothing there, but those *have* been diagnosed as OCD- specifically trich. I've just shaved my head for the umpteenth time are these symptoms of excruciating pain and distress what autistic people feel when their stims are supressed?

I hope I dont come across as argumentative or pushy, quite the opposite- I want to fully explore and understand. If I am wrong please correct me, but be patient as I am very new and can be very dumb