Stimming information please

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Can rubbing a piece of material (usually between finger and thumb or sometimes on other areas of skin), especially if you do it frequently throughout the day and at night before sleeping, be considered to be a form of stimming?

Also what about flicking the ring finger with the thumb but less frequently?

Also swaying/spinning and or jumping when excited?

What sort of thing counts as stimming and what does not, what are possible examples of stimming that are not listed on the most common lists?

If you have stims, what are your most unusual ones?

I would say yes to all of them, particularly if you are doing them for some sort of self-regulatory reason.

I don't always know why I rub the piece of material, but I always have one nearby and I will rub it often. Sometimes it is a soothing thing, sometimes I just like the sensation and sometimes I just seem to rub it for the sake of it. The downside is the fuss that breaks out if I am not able to find a piece of material with the right texture to rub when I want to rub it lol.

Flicking my finger happens more so when I am stressed, most of the time.

Jumping up and down, spinning, swaying and sometimes clapping when I am excited.

My daughter is a happy flapper. She also jumps and...well...I guess the best word is "prances" when she is excited or happy.

I swish my pointer and middle fingers together. When my daughter used to stim more, I used to "try" them to try to understand why she did it. She used to finger swish, and I tried it. I have not stopped doing it since (she has). I like the feeling and the sound it makes. Sometimes it is calming, other times, I just absentmindedly do it.

I'm also curious where the line is between stim and the more NT "nervous habit." When I'm nervous or waiting for something I often touch the tip of my thumb to each of my fingers, and count each finger (in my head, not aloud). I've done that one on and off for about ten years. I'm also a foot tapper/shaker, but this seems like a common enough thing to do.

My oddest stim (or is it a stim, idk) is probably toe-walking. I've done it almost since I learned to walk, and I often do it without noticing. My son does it too, and I wonder sometimes if it is an ASD symptom or if he just does it because I do.

I think NTs stim. They tap their fingers, bounce their legs, twirl their hair.... some ASD stims are just less "normal" so they are stigmatized. I don't think there is any functional difference between an ASD stim and an NT "nervous habit." Just a difference in how they are seen and viewed by society.

Yes what you listed are examples of stimming.

Also like the above poster said NTs stim too just not as much, it doesn't interfere with their lives and they often don't have as weird stims- for example rocking would be a weird stim, tapping your foot would be a socially acceptable one.

My own stims- I do the happy bouncing too. =) I also twirl my a string in front of my face -that's my main stim from childhood -I just do it in private now. Also I hum to myself to cover up noise. When I was a kid I also did spin and hand flap but I don't do those any more or have any urge to-they just went away. I also do more socially acceptable ones like shaking my foot when sitting down.

yea those are stims.

in public i try to limit mine to the "socially acceptable" ones. (ie the ones my mom doesn't yell at me for). mostly I tap my right foot whenever i sit down, rock, and sort of play the air piano by my legs when I walk.
when it's just me, I spin, vocalize, snap near my ears, wave my hands by my ears, and rock more pronouncedly.
i also have this sort of green air filled ball that is squishy and has "tentacles" all around it. I sort of roll it between my hands and in front of my eyes.

makes me soooooooo much calmer.
makes my parents think I'm nuts.

I'm not diagnosed, so no idea if I stim or just have a release of nervous energy.

I tap fingers, rub the top of my head, rock back/forth on chairs that freely recline, pick things up and play with them, bite my bottom lip. When I'm more agitated I can thump my legs with my hands or bite my fingers (things that give a little more pain than pleasure).

When in a more unbeat mode, I might slide about on the wooden floor in the kitchen instead of merely walking (bare in mind I'm in my forties ), spin on the spot and make silly sounds.

This morning I caught myself sucking on the edge of my Dressing Gown whilst watching the early start to the Formula One.

Before, during or just after "Meltdown" type states (again, not diagnosed) I can flap hands, hit my head and have the urge to rock (which I might indulge in a gentle minute motion).

Right up to my teens I'd suck a thumb when I thought no one was looking

definitely - all the things you described fit exactly with stimming

People carry flat stones in their pocket to rub. They're called worry stones. Stemming I think is more of a reiterative action such as hand flapping or hand wringing or rocking back and forth or bobbing your head. Something people would be inclined to call a nervous tick.
NT's do all sorts of stemming type things such as twiddling their thumbs, rocking back and forth on their heals, tapping their fingers, twirling their hair etc.

One girl in the private school for kids with problems I attended, had more pronounced autism and she was continually moving her hands and fingers, almost as if she were performing sign language, and I mean continually. That's one that stuck out amongst a sea of mainly autie/aspie kids.

I never did like worry stones or stress balls. I like the sensation of rubbing the material I rub so its not really just a stress thing anyway. I just like continually rubbing it.