What does stimming look like?

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I never really thought that I stimmed until recently. I hit myself pull my hair and scratch myself when I'm frustrated even when I was a little girl I did and my mom would tell me to stop. I dont know if that's considered stimming or not i never really thought of it.

What does stimming look like to you? Do you stim? I thought only people with "severe" autism did. I'm sti bit ignorant so forgive me.

I do more socially acceptable stims, like shaking my leg when sitting, and grinding my teeth when they're feeling sticky. Grinding my teeth isn't very noticeable, and I've seen NTs shake a leg when sitting, so it doesn't give away my AS.

Some autistics rock, or flap their hands. I've never done either.

I think more severely autistic people have more of a tendency to noticeably stim in public or in front of people. If I did take up a more odd stim, I wouldn't do it in public or in front of anyone.

Rubbing hair or face
Biting the inside of my cheeks
Hand wringing
Gripping fingers so tightly they turn white
Holding my own hand
Rubbing my thumb in fast clockwise circles on the inside of the rest of my fingers
Rubbing the inside palm of my left hand in clockwise circles with my right thumb
Rocking, but not that often
Undulating my fingers in rhythmic sine waves
Rubbing my cuspid/canine teeth together

After drinking tea, when the cup is still warm, I press it below my chin/jaw and roll it back and forth.


Sometimes when eating unpleasant food, I rock and simultaneously move my hand on my thigh so that eating would be easier.

I may use peculiar hand movements as a way to help me concentrate when trying to think/do something, kind of rhythming and orchestrating for the track of thought to move.

Just some of them, I may not notice many of them at all.

Playing with the satin trim from my baby blanket all day
Tickling myself with it on my hands, fingertips, face, eyelids thousands of times a day
Taking a piece of said satin in my pocket when I leave the house
Tickling my fingers with the hem of a shirt or jacket if I don't have my baby blanket trim
Every single one of Magna's "hand" stims
Playing with my hair or swirling it on my finger from the root, like a curling rod
Holding a strand of my hair straight up in the air (it's about as long as my arm reaches)
Sitting in weird twisty shapes
Touching my face far too much
Holding my toes and bending them around (in socks, or bare feet)
Making the pop sound / motion like a fish blowing bubbles (also echolalia)
Biting inside my cheek
Playing with my cuticles
Scrunching my face and eyes tight
Opening my mouth really wide and moving it around to stretch my jaw
Biting things (pen caps, especially -- there are none in the house that aren't destroyed)
Making head motions like I'm listening to funky music, when I'm not
Clapping (I do a fast "double clap" when I'm happy -- several times a day)
If I'm standing up waiting for something I tend to turn in circles (slowly) or bounce on my toes

I'm sure there's more.

I don't really rock either but I'm always in motion, particularly my hands and feet

These are the most common ones I do:

- Hand flapping
- Tense my body and at the same time press my hands together multiple times (if I'm sitting down I will most likely rock at the same time)
- Play with my hair
- Run my nails across seams on clothes
- Smell my hands
- Skin picking
- Singing (I usually sing the same song or bits of a song over and over again for a period of time and then switch)
- Running my fingers/nails across my scalp
- Nose picking, specifically rolling what I find into a little ball which I can keep rolling between two fingers for a period of time (nothing I'd like to admit and I know it's disgusting... )

Most of these I ONLY do when no one can see me.

stimming is any repetitive stimulatory behavior. It can be as obvious as self injurious behaviors or rocking or hand flapping, but they can also be unnoticeable. Like playing with your hair, your clothes, tapping your fingers and wiggling your legs. All of those are stims. Whether it's noticeable or not isn't relevant.

Everyone stims NT or not. It's not exclusive to autistics of any 'level' either.

The main differences are the appearances or how noticeable it is, and how intense. And not really with how frequent it happens or sometimes 'why' is this...



My stims are usually something from distracting enough to pass off as inappropriate, to mindless fiddling yet pass off as acceptable, and some to even pass off as productive, functional, or heck in some circumstances entertaining.
Some are done privately, some are done where and whenever.

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I've always thought of it as being quite literally anything that may keep the senses in check, as it were. It can be as subtle as lightly scratching one's arm, or as blatant as heavily rocking back and forth.

My own stimming routines have changed over time. As a toddler, I used to make various movements with my hands. One of my aunties has noted an occasion when I wanted a bar of chocolate from a shop. She agreed to buy me it and in response I shook my hands around in an excited manner.

Now, my stimming usually consists of excessive blinking and rocking my body (particularly when listening to music).

For me, mostly visual stims . Very hard to detect for someone on the outside, aside from the classic "side-eye", of course. I dis align my eyes so that I see double, then line up the double image in different ways. Make my vision blur and make the lights dance. Stare at intriguing patterns, trying to figure out all the ways they interlock. All sorts of things, and no one notices, at least I don't think they do

More obvious ones are usually reserved for when I'm very upset, excited, or concentrated. Rocking back and forth and side to side, head shaking, hand waving, arm swinging, head banging, biting, etc. Rarely ever in front of other people. When I'm anxious, or watching a gross scene in a movie, I lightly pat my head, or the air beside it.

Stimming can look like anything, or look like nothing.