Autism Wiki defines stimming as “a repetitive body movement that self-stimulates one or more senses in a regulated manner.” Stimming can involve one or more of the five senses, the vestibular system (which controls balance, movement, and spatial orientation), and the proprioceptive system (which provides information about the relative positions of the parts of the body).
Stimming is generally an unconscious nervous system response. In psychiatric terms, it is a kind of stereotypy, a continuous movement without apparent purpose (although it certainly serves many not-so-apparent purposes). It is one of the symptoms of autism listed in the DSM-IV, although many autistic people do not stim.
Common Forms of Stimming
There are many different types of stimming. The following list provides some examples:
- Visual: Blinking, looking at fingers, staring at a light, lining up or spinning objects
- Auditory: Snapping fingers, humming, grunting, echolalia (repeating words spoken by another person), repeating rote phrases
- Tactile: Scratching, touching objects, biting nails, twisting hair
- Taste: Licking objects or placing them in mouth
- Smell: Smelling one’s own body, objects, or other people
- Vestibular: Rocking (back and forth or from side to side), spinning, pacing, jumping
- Proprioceptive: Wrapping arms inside shirts, hand flapping, toe walking, tapping fingers
Some also count perseveration (our Aspie fixation on one or more special interests) as a form of stimming.
My Childhood Stims
For me, stimming is a mode of self-soothing. It helps to calm my senses and acts as a barrier to stimulation from the outside world.
When I first started learning about Asperger’s and saw references to stimming, I couldn’t believe my eyes. So many of the behaviors were ones that I had manifested as a child and some had even come along with me into adulthood. My childhood home was constantly overstimulating: loud voices, poor boundaries, erratic behavior, and a TV that came on at 6 am and went off at 11 pm. So I needed a lot of soothing.
Here are some of my childhood stims:
- I would lie in bed and squint at the light coming from the ceiling fixture in the center of my room. I enjoyed seeing all the little rays of light that seemed to shoot out in all directions.
- I loved lining up objects, such as different types of candy, dolls, coins, and baseball cards.
- I liked spinning the wheels on my Tonka trucks far more than I enjoyed playing with the trucks themselves. I still like looking at bright spinning things.
- I constantly twisted my hair by winding it around my fingers. It used to drive my parents up the wall. One of the recurrent imperatives from my childhood was “Stop playing with your hair!” But I never gave it up. I mainly loved the softness of my hair and how the ends felt against the tips of my fingers.
- Remember those big fat green number 2 pencils from grammar school? The kind where you could see the lead on the bottom because there was no eraser? Every day in class, I used to chew on the ends of those pencils and lick the lead on the bottom. Between the lead-based paint and the pencil lead, it’s amazing that I have any brain cells left.
- I always enjoyed wrapping my arms and hands inside my shirt or sweater. It made me feel very secure. I do a more adult version of this stim now by putting my hands in my pockets when I’m out walking. When I wear a skirt or jacket without pockets, my poor arms and hands feel forlorn and just don’t know what to do with themselves. It makes me very nervous.
- I loved to tap my fingers and do complex patterns, alternating fingers and counting in different sequences. This stim is another that pops up in my adult life from time to time.
My Adult Stims
Here are my adult stims, most of which I do only at home:
- Toe walking and hand flapping. I have no memory of doing either of these stims as a child, although I can vividly recall the day my principal told me to start walking by putting my heel down first. Clearly, I was walking toe first, but I soon stopped. (I was a very compliant child.)
- Twisting my hair (even though it’s pretty short now).
- Counting the buttons on the TV remote control by tapping them lightly with my fingers in different patterns, pressing my fingers against the sides of each one, and figuring out how many even sets there are. (This stim drives my husband nuts when we’re watching a movie. He generally takes away the remote control and holds my hand instead.)
- Eating foods with soothing textures, like almond butter, peanut butter, and tahini. I’ve been noticing lately that it’s not the flavor I’m after with these foods, but the texture. It’s the tactile experience that makes the stim work.
- Riding my bicycle on a stationary stand. I like the repetitive circular motion.
- Looking at a “magic wand” with lights that spin when I push a button.
- Organizing objects of any kind, any time, anywhere.
The last time I saw my OT, she mentioned that engaging the proprioceptive system includes putting different sorts of pressure on the joints. The right amount of pressure is very soothing. For this reason, weighted blankets, weighted vests, and other objects are often very calming to autistic people. I asked her whether toe-walking is soothing because of the pressure it puts on the joints, and she said, yes, that toe-walking puts more pressure on the joints per square inch than walking heel first. Hand flapping is also calming for much the same reason.
On the advice of my OT, I’ve been wearing a weight on each of my ankles, and I’m finding it very calming and grounding. I’ve also ordered a weighted blanket and a weighted vest. I’ll post more about using them once they’ve come in the mail and I’ve had a chance to try them out.
© 2009 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg
I pace, esp. when I am thinking. I can get very lost in my thoughts, but I like it, Often I come up creative ideas I can incorporate later, into writing, or teaching, etc. I don’t pace as much with the Beta blocker, but I still pace enough not to miss it. (The BB helps with my tantrums).
I had a whole plethora of stims when I was a kid, esp. if I was playing with my toys alone in my room. As I was coached out of them in therapy, a friend discovered recently that when I am nervous or in a hurry I rub my thumb and forefinger together, kind of like Hot Lips Houlihan in MASH playing “the world’s smallest violin.” I had no idea I was doing it- now I catch myself doing it all the time, in those situations.
[...] Asperger Journeys » Blog Archive » Stimming [...]
this really is THE MOST fantastic blog.
so much to relate to. i stim in public and at home and i always have and always will. it was always just presumed it was one of my little eccentricities.i rock a lot and i tap my body – thrum it with my hand – up on my chest – when i get overwhelmed. I pace when talking on the telephone, and i swing my hads right up and back when walking – like a toddler does. When i get upset i flp my hands around my head.
i toe walk when in bare feet and i crave joint and muslce stretching and stop in the middle of the stretch the joints in my shoulders and in my hips. i also do a back twist to stretch my back out and create pressure for the spine.
i too have been told my whole life to “stop it” and I presume many in the over 40′s age bracket who have recentl ybeen dxe’d would have had similar experiences.
it is just wonderufl to identify with others.
I love learning from this blog.
My husband carries a Rubik’s Cube with him everywhere. If his surroundings become chaotic, he will solve the Rubik’s Cube. It is theraputic in many aspects but he does it mainly because he finds comfort in organization.
As an NT I find you all amazing!
Pencil “lead” is really just graphite. You can’t get lead poisoning from pencils (unless they were coated in a leaded paint, which is unlikely).
andrea
Why is it that these are stims when you’re autistic or an aspie and nervous habits if you’re a neurotypical? It’s getting to the point where I feel like compiling a list of things that are disabilities or symptoms when you’re on the spectrum, but perfectly normal if you’re not. (Maybe I’m just in a bad mood this morning.)
(Maybe I’m just in a bad mood this morning.)
Or maybe it’s another symptom
Just kidding; feel better,
Many of the things you listed I do or did as well… I still love walking on my toes, I carry a beaded bracelet with me at all times so that I can play with it. It’s made of tiger’s eye (my favorite stone). I l the smoothness and the way the beads feel in between my fingers. I used to constantly play with my hair sometimes chew on it when it was long enough. Now, it’s short, but I still play with it. I love spinning objects, spinning in a swivel chair and bouncing on my yoga ball. I really enjoy knitting because of the counting. I love having weight on me. When in public if I get overwhelmed, my boyfriend holds me really tight till I can calm down enough to leave. I’m looking into making my own weighted blanket. I would love a vest though, not sure how I would make that though.
recognizing past stims and current ones was a bit of a shock after learning about my AS. i used to walk and run on the balls and toes of my feet when i was little. most of my stims revolve around repetitive smelling/sniffing, and clicking buttons and retractable pens. sometimes my partner has to say ‘stop!’ when i get stuck trying to figure out where an unusual smell is coming from
mysterious cigarette smoke is the worst.
what determines whether this is part of AS, though? i know lots of people who have ‘nervous’ habits and tics, but who do not have AS.
I know some people with AS also have Tourette’s. (Not me, life is complicated enough with AS, ADD & depression).
Catana: Interesting point. I usually think of nervous habits in a negative light. When I thought I was NT, I saw them as signs of neurosis. Now that I know about the AS, I see them in a much more positive light. They’re signs that my neurological system is trying to regulate itself. Another psychological explanation tossed out the window. What a joy!
GD: Having your boyfriend hold you really tight when you’re overwhelmed in public–brilliant! I told my husband about it, and he said he’d remember it the next time we end up in a crowded space together. It will be a terrible trial for both of us, but we’ll get through it somehow.
Ben: I do the clicking thing with the ball-point pens, too. I’ve done it my whole life. I’m surprised that no one has ever told me that it was driving them nuts. Must be a socially acceptable stim. I also rub my wedding ring with my thumb a lot. I don’t even realize I’m doing it until I need to take off my ring for some reason and notice my thumb looking for it.
As a child I used to pace and hand-flap for a couple hours everyday after getting home from school. I was teased so terribly about it, that I eventually trained myself out of it, though. I still rock almost all the time, whether sitting down or standing. I also do the pen clicking thing until my wife takes it away because it drives her nuts. I’ve never toe-walked though. My wife gets annoyed because I ALWAYS walk on my heels, so she says it sounds like I’m constantly stomping.
I am re-reading through these posts again and Craig’s comments made me giggle. I actually don’t mind you playing with the pens, but it’s the SOUND I can’t stand. I rather like playing with the retractable pens until my ears are screaming at me so badly that I can’t stand to do it anymore.
As for the heavy walking, occasionally the sound is too much but I comment on it on behalf of the cats. I have yet to be fast enough with the camera to capture their look of bewilderment and fright that the ceiling is going to fall in on their head when you are simply walking around upstairs. Although you do have to admit that you walk a LITTLE heavy when I can hear your barefooted heels thumping on solid cement.
I have always fidgeted A LOT and discovering they were autistic stimming was like a revelation. Rocking, hand-flapping, spinning (LOVED spinning on office chairs when I was little!) rubbing my hands over my body, scratching, fiddling with things, toe-walking, making clicking noises with my tongue, tapping my fingers humming songs to myself, lining up objects, compulsively organizing things, putting pressure on my body (I would LOVE to use Temple Grandin’s “Squeeze Machine”!), etc.
I could be just paranoid but I have to ask this and ease my own mind for the sake of my son. He’ll be 4 in March and was diagnosed with autism in June last year. He’s non verbal for the most part, walks on his toes, stims in many other ways but is the cutest, sweetest, happiest little boy you could ever hope to have. I have 5 other children from my marriage also, two girls and three more boys and none of them show any signs of being ASD. This is actually about myself. I’ve been doing research about different methods of stimming and come to find out in the past and even to this day, I have a lot of these characteristics myself. When I was younger I would bite my fingers, bite my nails until they bled (still find sometimes now that I’ve done that) and would do any manner of rhythmic motions like opening and closing my legs while I’m sitting in a chair during class without even realizing I was doing it until someone pointed it out to me or tapping my fingers in a rhythm for somethings minutes at a time. I have always been accused of getting lost in my own little world AKA: day dreaming and find myself constantly checking myself in social situations to make sure I’m not saying or doing something that isn’t normal. I had to teach myself to make eye contact with people and at first and sometimes now have to concentrate at it so hard that I can’t keep track of what they are saying or I lose track of what I was talking about.. I would sometimes bang my head on the wall and I remember having extremely severe tantrums, even when I was a teenager, I sometimes even feel myself losing control now, and just felt completely out of control and lost and confused. I know there is possibly a genetic component to ASD but didn’t think my son got it from me since none of my other children have ever exhibited any traits. Is it possible I could have something on the spectrum and not know it? It’s one thing to be told your child has it, it’s completely different if you find out you have it yourself, but it might explain a lot? I really hope I’m just being paranoid and reading things into situations or something. Any thoughts or advice?
Hi Venna,
It’s not uncommon for parents of kids on the spectrum to see some of their kids’ traits in themselves. After all, it’s not as though there is a hard and fast cut-off point between “typical” and “autistic.” The DSM may make it look like there is, but life is more nuanced than that.
If you’re feeling like your questions are opening up new ways for you to understand yourself, keep reading blogs by adults on the spectrum. You’ll find a list of some of them on the sidebar, and each of those will lead to others. If you want to get assessed yourself, make sure that you see someone who specializes in ASDs, and who has experience diagnosing adult women. If you just ask a regular doctor or therapist, he or she will very likely tell you that you can’t be on the spectrum because you’re a mom, or you can speak, or any number of things. I have a friend who called for an assessment, and the guy told her that she couldn’t be on the spectrum because she could make a phone call. Ridiculous.
Feel free to come back here and ask questions whenever you like!