Let's talk about STIMMING

WHAT IS STIMMING?

Stimming is commonly associated with Autism.  Stimming or stim, is short for self-stimulation. Stimming refers to specific behaviors such as repetition of words, sounds, and phrases, spinning, hand flapping, and rocking.  Stimming is an adaptive behavior which can help a person with ASD focus, cope, engage, etc.  It also helps with self-regulation and self-calming.  A lot of autistic people stim because they are excited, happy, anxious, overwhelmed, or it feels comforting to them.   

WHY DO THEY STIM?

• Stimming can help block out excess sensory input which can cause sensory overload.
• Stimming helps provide EXTRA sensory input when needed.
• Stimming helps with the management of emotions.  Positive and negative emotions may trigger a burst of stimming.
• SOME stims serve the purpose of soothing and comforting oneself. 

 Stimming can be very subtle and also a part of most people's behavior patterns.  If you have ever tapped a pencil, bit your nails, twirled your hair, tapped your toes, or bounced your leg up and down, you have stimmed.  Those kind of stims are "normal" and don't bother others.  A lot of people with ASD have stims that have been deemed culturally unacceptable.  "Scary stims" include: screaming, hitting oneself, and headbanging.  These stims are scary to see, and cannot be helped when an autistic person is doing them.  They are coping in the best way that they know how.

A lot of parents try to make their children stop stimming.  Doing that does more harm than good.  Stimming helps them regulate themselves and self-soothe.  Most of the time, when they don't stim, their actions are more distracting than the stim itself.  I know that if Jaxon had a lot of stimming issues, we would get a lot of stares and I would feel embarassed.  But even then, I  couldn't live with myself if I discouraged him to stop stimming.  I couldn't  imagine how it would feel to be told to stop doing something that helped you feel better.

When Jaxon was younger, he stimmed a lot.  He would flap his hands, tip toe constantly, grunt, screech, line up toys, and stare at his fingers out of the corners of his eyes.  At his young age, a lot of it I thought was him just being excited.  Of course once I researched Autism and watched videos, I realized that he has been stimming from a very young age.  Now that Jaxon is older, his stimming has changed.  I see him tip toe occasionally, and he likes to make a screeching sound sometimes, but mainly he stims by drawing.  He regulates and soothes himself by sitting at the table and drawing paper towel machines, maps of the world, grocery stores, and tons of other things.

 

This was Jaxon in 2012.  He was so little, but you can see the tip toeing and the flapping.

 By now, he was diagnosed with Autism and I was more educated.  I just love his little face and how excited he was to see the kids playing.

This is a more recent stim.  He would visually stim by turning the light on and off over and over.

This is how Jaxon stims now.  He draws constantly, and sometimes, I feel like it has become an obsession as well as a stim.

 Here is how Jaxon stims now. He will line the floors and walls with papers he has written or drawn!