Repetitive behaviour/Stimming

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Twitcing my head/face,(not sure when or why) bouncing my foot, (when I'm relaxed) spinning fingers,(changing from one task to another) grinding my teeth- (at night)

.... mizkathy, Im shocked!

Sing ALL the time, flap feet, bite nails, pick at things, look in the mirror repeatedly, say "doh doh doh" or "dopey dopey doh" pace and pace and pace...talk to self

bounce legs,sing and whistle to self,talk to self,glosalalia and noises(to self),bite lip,click tongue,shake out hands,tap and roll fingers,roll shoulders,pace,drive,shake head,fidget with small objects,trace patterns with fingers

This one is probably really weird, but when I'm on the computer, I constantly copy blank spaces every 5 seconds or so (which on my laptop, I have to press command+c rather than right click > copy). I don't even realize I'm doing it most of the time until I get to a site that has right click disabled and a message box appears.

I also spin in my chair, not all the way around, like half-way, and go back and forth, but I've seen "normal" people do that a lot too.

I used to pick at scabs/pimples/etc (ew! but I couldn't help it), but I've mostly replaced that with picking at the rubber grip part of my mechanical pencil. Both of the pencils I have in my purse are pretty much destroyed, but it's almost the end of the school year, so I'm not going to replace them yet.

I click my pen when I'm using actually using one (I usually use pencils though, since they can be erased), and sometimes I press them against the desk so they will like jump up when I let go. That's always fun.

and I also do that thing where I open and close things too.

there's probably even more that I don't even realize I do.
I didn't even know that all those things were "stimming" until I found this site. When I first read about that, I was like "Stimming? What's that? I don't do that!" but apparently I do it a lot...

I dunno. What counts as a stim?

I do lots of ridiculous stuff I guess, but the only things I can think of that fit the definition that I know for stimming are finger snapping and opening and closing my pocket watch.

I mean, I also wiggle my fingers, grind my teeth, but my nails and skin, pull my hair, pace, I sing all the time, bounce my leg, and I dunno what else. I see that other people posted stuff like that too. So, what counts?

I too pick at stuff, open and close containers, pull my Palm's stylus in and out...I could go on and on. Didn't realize I had "stims" until I got it defined for me on this site

At work I'm always scratching my head/hair and stuff like that too. I think I do little things with the (computer) mouse too, like highlight and unhighlight text, click it randomly, etc. It's stuff I never really thought about until I started finding out about stims.

Last edited by Wolfpup on 29 Apr 2007, 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Heh
I've ben known to bounce my foot on the ball of it, try it it's fun. It's like an anchor in a way half the time I am not even aware I do it. I rock some I rub my hands togeather I stim on cenrtain words, if I am "crashing" I'll rub my head really fast and hard I have no idea why but I've noticed I do it. By the way I love the rhythmic sound of keyboard keys while typing
M

Ummm ... stupid question but what is stimming?

Smelena

Stimming is a repetitive behaviour that you find yourself doing. Read all this post there are a wide variation. I would say to be a stim it has to be fairly automatic but not always uncontrollable. it can be fairly subtle or very noticeable. As to what role it plays that is open to debate. Pacing for me can be distress or just thinking. Sometimes it helps to calm you down.

chain smoking (even though I hate smoking), bouncing leg, touching facial hair, scratching even when it doesn't itch, tapping fingers to my thumbs, hunching over when I walk, slouching so much when I sit that it looks like I'm almost lying on my back, sniffing (but I'm getting better at this one), humming/whistling/singing to myself without realizing it, talking to animals and plants and inanimate objects, reading every word in sight no matter what, compulsive counting, staring at nothing (but sometimes in someone's direction which can be embarrassing), clenching my jaw shut, inability to pause a movie when I"m watching it, rubbing my eyes, incessant hand washing (but only if they get oil/grease/butter on them), too many others

hand flapping when I initially walk into any store, I tap my thumb to my index finger on/off all day long, bouncing my legs, every single time I pass by the computer I move the mouse to turn off the screensaver, I tap my fingers on the keys of the keyboard lightly while thinking, if I have a pen in my hand I'll swing it back and forth in a way that both ends keep hitting my leg over and over (does that make sense?), I always have the end of a pen in my mouth if one is nearby-not really chewing it, just resting my teeth on the end... pulling the ink part out of the ink pen and pushing it back in over and over, "stretching" out my hands (looks like pulling taffy, lol), and if I have something that opens and closes easily, I won't open it all the way, but will repeatedly shove my nail under it to hear the little click noise when it opens, then shut it back... there are probably a lot more, but that's what I can think of right now

At eating time, I spin my empty glass, I love watching it and enjoy the sound . My sister thinks it's annoying but I continue doing it, sometimes it's relaxing.

I click pens when I'm on classes

I do pens sometimes too. Clicking them or putting the cap on and off.

My stim is kind of weird...

I run around in circles in my backyard while listening to music. I do it everyday, rain or shine, especially when I'm stressed or excited. I've been doing it for years too.

I also like cracking my knuckles and bouncing my leg. I used to flap my hands, but I made myself stop after I got teased too much for it.

Actually done similar. My pacing usually follows some fixed route like circular, or some path. Over an over. There is something about the rhythm.