Stimming-What is it?

This is a really short simple blog post.

Well the definition of it is...

According  to the urban dictionary:

"Stim, stims or stimming is short for "self stimulation". Almost everyone does it(tapping feet, cracking knuckles, twiddling thumbs), but in autistic people these behaviors are more pronounced and may seem downright strange. Autistic people often engage in stimming when they are stressed, to self regulate and sometimes to express emotion.

Common autistic stims are: rocking back and forth, headbanging(not the music kind), finger flicking/rippling, spinning, humming, repeating words or sounds and complex body contortions.

Good music makes me stim a lot. Stimming shouldn't be discouraged, it's a means for me to understand my environment."

What does it look like?

For different people it can look like different things.

For me it could look like any one of these:

• Foot bouncing 
• Leg bouncing 
• Foot rocking  (heel on ground and foot swaying back and forth) 
• Rubbing tips of finger together 
• Pressing or tapping tips of finger together 
• Rubbing finger nail with tip of finger slow or fast like flicking
• Rubbing legs with my hand
• Pressure on legs or arms
• Playing with my necklace in all kinds of ways. Like moving the pendent back and forth across the chain. Putting it in my mouth between teeth or placing my lips in the open part of the puzzle. Rubbing the necklace across my lips.
• Rubbing my cheek with a finger or scarf or other clothing or blanket.
• Putting hair or clothing in front of my nose and mouth. 
• Until I was 10 I sucked my thumb.
• Making figure eights with my feet together. Heel of one foot comes between heel and front of other foot and then other and over and over it goes.
• I don't often chew gum because it becomes really hard to stop and I tend to do it not so quietly. 
• Scratching. 
• Tightening and loosening individual muscles. 
• Scrunching up toes then straightening out.
• If I am wearing a ponytail holder on my wrist, pulling it back and releasing it. 
• Pulling on my ear lobes.
• Rubbing on my ear lobes
• Finger tapping 
• Finger twitching 
• Hand flapping 
• Jumping up and down
• Letting out a sound(sound varies)
• Rubbing tongue on teeth
• Rubbing tongue on roof of mouth
• Rubbing nose
• Humming
• Humming not a tune but a single low sound
• Singing
• Spinning my wedding band
• Petting Midnight our cat
• Twirling finger around Midnight's ear
• Tip toe walking
• I always climb stairs on my tip toes
• Pacing when talking on the phone-I am talking miles of steps when it is a long conversation
• Baths

For Josiah it can look like any of these:

• Head butting floor or wall
• Ticking his tongue
• Smacking his lips
• Biting his hand
• Biting his clothes
• Chewing on a chewy
• Playing with his nose
• He used to pull at his eye lashes
• Petting Midnight our cat
• Playing with Midnight's fur between his fingers
• Tip toe walking
• Pinching himself
• Spinning around
• Walking in circles
• Hiding under the couch cushion
• Hiding in pile of stuffed animals
• Throwing himself backwards
• Chewing on the palms of his hand
• Climbing up or on things
• Jumping off of things
• He also fancies using elevators and escalator 
• Licking glass
• Rubbing his forehead down glass
• Jumping on trampoline
• Running around nearly naked or naked
• Swimming or bath-swimming wins for best
• Tongue sticking out
• Licking bottom lip-sometimes to chapped
• Lining things up
• Toe sucking

Some of the major ways we stim differently is I do not actually cause harm to myself when stimming and mine are usually less noticeable then when he does it.