Stimming

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Wikipedia has this to say: "Stimming is a jargon term for a stereotypy, a repetitive body movement that self-stimulates one or more senses in a regulated manner."

When I think of it, I see people flapping their fingers/hands/arms and the like, but I do something else and I'm not sure if it's classified as stimming. When watching tv, a movie, or listening to music, I twirl my fingers.

autism.org has this to say on stimming: "Researchers have also shown that stereotypic behaviors interfere with attention and learning."

So why do I do it mostly when I'm trying to concentrate and follow something?

Usually I just raise my arm, point one finger in the air and twirl it, tracing the people/objects on tv, or letting my finger dance to the sounds, but it's almost unconscious. Even when my hands are hidden or down, I can still feel the muscles twirling and I don't know why I do this. My mother is the only one I'll allow to see me twirling full-force so far; otherwise I just hide my hands when with other people. The only time I've seen this action and can describe it is the young boy in Stephen King's Dreamcatcher movie. He twirls his finger too, but for a different reason I guess.

I also rock side-to-side quite a lot but not back-and-forth. Is this still stimming?

I stim in other ways, but much less and in much more controllable forms.

Do you stim? How?

I never thought of it until recently, but I drum my fingers incessantly on anything and everything. Especially when deep in concentration, or when bored.

I do all kinds of things. I particularly like to twist and lace things around and between my fingers. I'll use a string or thread of some kind if I've got it. Otherwise I'll use a hair elastic. I keep hair elastics in my pockets and purse and on my key chain- partly for this purpose, and partly so I can tie my hair back if I want to. But even if my hair is already tied back I carry hair elastics with me everywhere.

They're small and it's noiseless so I can do it anywhere.

Not everything in the wikipedia is true. They arejust people writing the information and you can edit anything you like on it so thigns you read, some of them are opinions.


I do lot of things for stimming, twirling my hair, pacing, rockng back and forth, tapping my foot,
flipping pages, chewing at the cap of my pen, sucking on my headphones cord, smelling, sshaking my hands or fingers, wriggling them, flapping my hands, etc.

I pick skin, I pull hairs out, talk to myself, sing out loud, sing in my head, repeat words in my head, I tap my foot like crazy, I flap my fingers and sometimes my arms, I clap, I sometimes swing my arm up in the air, I clench my fists. The more distressed I am, the worse it becomes. Lately it is happening whenever I am typing about anything that is a sensitive topic for me.

My stim inventory so far as I know

talk to self

internal sound track (machinelike accompanyment to my physical actions)

internal mono or dialog

internal music

pacing

spinning

does toe walking count?

finger tap

pen click

internal (sometimes mouthed or drummed) rthyms

geometric hand motion

exaggerated hand motion

fiddling with anything handy

eye motion to wipe light acfross eyes and generate visual patterns

toe tap

leg swinging

toe bounce whilst standing

rocking

head bouncie

most I can sortg of control until there is pressure or anxiety or boredom or. . .

good exercize, stimming!

Why, why, why do they insist stimming is distracting?! It HELPS me to concentrate, to tolerate stress, to basically function in a crazy world. They ought to teach AS/Autistic kids to stim in better ways, if they don't like them doing stuff like twirling aruond while they're being taught to read, or something. How much trouble can it be to hand out some squishy balls and shiny rocks and put up a hammock or two and put a kid in a mattress sandwich sometimes? (Seriously, have you tried that? Between the mattress and the box spring, head poking out, book on the floor... lovely way to study.)

If I'm not moving. I'm not happy. I have to be moving something at all times. Playing with a pen, leg bouncing, looking rapidly around the room, drimming fingers, twisting/flapping my foot or hand, chewing... It's supprising no one has really noticed it until now actually.

My most power stim is drumming - a form of the hand flapping. I'm able to picture really clear scenes when doing this. When walking, I find that my fingers twitch a lot, and I can change my reality slightly. When it is difficult to concentrate, I often partake in other, less intense versions, primarily to blot out distractions. I think that stimming is good for cutting input that is otherwise there, and focusing on things, but at its most intense levels (for me) it replaces my normal sensory input - it is a door into where I seek to travel.

Ya know? I have been doing all these kindsa things for most of my life, and I didn't even know that it was called stimming..just like i have only known what Aspergers was for less than two years..I didn't even know it was "abnormal"...I thought it was just being fidgety...

I can't even calculate all the different types of things I do that could count as stimming.
One thing I do is destroy things....like I will always unconsciously peel the paper off any glass container...I also am very hard on books and other paper products...they reach my hands..they get bent up..chewed...torn....all my pens and pencils...gnawed to bits...In school, I would roll a pencil on the floor with my feet until all the paint came off..would that count? I also caused so many pens to "explode" from chewing on them...my hands were always covered in ink..not to mention my mouth.....it is this need for constant stimulus...that i always associated with ADD.

My bandmate (who is on Social security due to his mental condition) is a super stimmer....he does this thing where he will be constantly bouncing and shaking his legs, and if you tell him to stop...like if he keeps kicking the back of the seat you are sitting in...he will insist angrily that he wasn't doing anything. His bouncing makes me seasick sometimes.
My constant singing I guess would be a form of stimming...I have gone over it on another stimming thread

Stimming helps me concentrate while working. I find I can be tapping out a tune with my hands and feet and yet be really focused. It must drive my coworkers nuts and I'm sure they wonder how I can concentrate. I write a lot of software and it helps me to solve logical problems. I also bite my inner cheeks a lot and my nails. Chewing gum helps save my gums when I have it!