NT children stimming when stressed?

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I have a cousin, who's a grown man now, but when he was 12 he went through a phase of stimming very noticeably, even in public. This happened while his parents were going through a divorce and he was starting at a new school. He didn't express to people how stressed this was all making him feel, but his stimming told a lot. He would walk home after school shaking his head very noticeably (my mother once passed him in a car and saw him shaking his head very vividly). He'd also twitch his shoulders a lot, like he was shrugging. His stimming was so bad that his dad was concerned and considered on taking him to see a doctor or therapist, but he didn't. The boy stopped doing this after about a year and never did it again.

So this proves that NT kids can stim instead of expressing their feelings when going through stress and even change. I don't think he got bullied for it though, and he had a group of friends. But his stimming did seem uncontrollable, so he must have done it at school as well.

But he's definitely NT. He's grown up now and already has a career and a busy social life. I know my own cousin and he is NOT on the spectrum.

Interesting topic - I remember non-autistic classmates doing stims when stressed, like chewing pencils, twirling long hair in fingers and drumming fingers on the desk... I suppose when the stress gets intense enough, even NTs can regulate it some by repetitive small movements.

Of course! I have two kids, one is probably autistic and the other is not, and they both have engaged in repetitive behaviours at times to help them calm down. My son is younger and it's thought his may be either some sensory issues or just learned behaviour from living with me and my daughter.

You're forgetting that doctors rule out "recent changes in the family" before diagnosing autism because a behavior can occur right after a major change in their routine like parent being away for longer periods of time or death in the family or change of school, etc. I think they would call it an adjustment disorder and it's only temporary and it goes away. It's a diagnoses used only in the doctor's office for insurance purposes.