People with autism often flap their hands, rock back and forth, pace, chew on hair or clothing, or otherwise move around in unusual ways. This type of behavior is called self-stimulation (or stereotypic behavior) - but it's almost always referred to informally as "stimming."
While we don't know for certain why stimming is so common among people with autism, the most prevalent theory is that it helps to regulate sensory input. That is, stimming helps the stimmer to block out uncomfortable sensory input (noise, light, etc.) and/or allows the stimmer to experience the sensations he craves.
Of course, people with autism aren't the only ones who stim! Every bitten nail, twirled lock of hair or chewed up pencil tells us that all humans need some form of self-stimulation.
Read more about stimming and ways to help manage inappropriate self-calming behaviors:
- What is Stimming and Why Does It Happen?
- Sensory Integration Therapy and Autism
- Does My Child with Autism Have Sensory Processing Disorder?
- What Do Sensory Integration Therapists Do for Children with Autism?
- Where Can I Find a Qualified Sensory Integration Therapist?
DS stims a lot. He has flapped his hands since he was 2 years old, and has now moved on to repeatedly touching his nose. He also jumps up and down a lot, especially when he watches a movie.
At night, right before bed, we snuggle on the couch and he grabs my hand and rubs my knuckles. He has done this since he was a newborn, and I didn’t know why until he was diagnosed with autism at age 3 1/2.
I would love to understand stimming better. In your article you mention self-regulation and anxiety as reasons for stimming, but it also seems to me that my son really enjoys stimming. He used to stim a lot more, and at that time it seemed that he was oblivious to much of what we would focus on and instead focussed on his “narrow range of interests” such as fans and pebbles. It seemed like he could not process more complicated perceptions but was able to process these certain things which fascinated him.
In your article you mention ABA, OT, and meds as ways to reduce stimming. In some cases biomedical treatments reduce stimming quite a bit, too. My son certainy stims less than he used to — how much of this is due to diet and supplements and how much due to age we will never know. He still loves spinning objects, but he is also much more involved in whatever is going on around him.
If anyone with autism is reading this and is able to write a comment, I would love for someone with autism who loves to watch spinning objects (or enjoys other stims) to try to explain why, and/or how it feels!
Try reading articles or books by Temple Grandin. Her books are a great resource on this topic.
Thanks, Sandy — good suggestion.
I just read a disturbing story out of the carolinas. When this wave of autistic children reach their teen years, will their stimming , meltdowns, behaviors get them shot by the police? Perhaps our country should be responsible enough , given the large numbers of autistic children, to train the police to recognise autism and not shoot first.
Many police departments are trained or have been getting training, but since every person with autism is different, the behaviors a police person may see once may not be what they see again. Police should never shoot unless threatened with a weapon anyways.
Well , it seems there was a weapon, but no one seems to know what provoked the child, if the child was at first being defensive or if the child was the agressor, I’m guessing as more unfolds the truth will come out. I can’t imagine why a child, autistic or not should have access to a knife in school.
Some cities have programs to train police about autism:
http://www.asa-la.org/LAPD_update.html
http://www.policeone.com/communications/articles/1717440-Autism-training-helps-police-tailor-response/
http://www.policeone.com/corrections/articles/1705010-The-Autism-tsunami/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/nyregion/21autism.html
Since this comment contains four links, I know it will be a while until it is posted.
If you’re talking about the South Carolina 16 year old boy, I’m not sure where anyone get’s stimming , meltdowns, behaviors as being a result of this.
It’s hard to say who provoked who but that 16 year old had a knife and stabbed the officer multiple times prior to that officer shooting. That boy had asperger’s, not autism and that only really matters since a year or so back another teen with asperger’s stabbed a typical peer to death in the bathroom at school. That typical peer had no gun to defend himself. That teen didn’t really know why he stabbed that boy. He just snuck a knife into school and for whatever reason, killed another child. He showed no violent behavior either up until that day.
Disability or not, if you were being stabbed I wonder what your reaction would be. People with autism and or asperger’s tend to have a high tolerance for pain and tend to be overly strong, so this officer may had really feared for his life. One has to more wonder where that 16 year old got the knife, and why he stabbed that officer to begin with. As for provoking, unless you know the person with ASD well, one never knows that persons interpretation of verbal language and many times my own kid takes it the wrong way, in fact way off.
I myself do not think this is a case of training police. I think this is a trend with some kids and maybe not thinking past their actions to the real life consequences of actions and that life is not a video game. Parents need to watch what their kids are leaving the house with (the boy I mentioned brought the knife to school from home) metal detectors should be in all schools and disability or not, the reality is the outcome can be just the same as it would be for any other person. I’d be surprised if that officer who shot the boy didn’t wish he had not been in that situation to have to make the choice to draw his weapon.
I have to say that I’m rather baffled by these occasional of autistic teens “going violent.”
It’s my belief that these kids are suffering from mental illness in addition to autism – something which is not all that rare. Bi-polar or schizophrenia would – I believe – much more readily explain sudden and unexplained violence on the part of a young person with no history of violent tendencies.
Lisa
My son is 4yrs old. He likes to stim his hands and fingers. He jumps up & down when he sees or get excited when seeing a exciting show.
My son waves his fingers in front of his eyes & keeps repeating eh..eh…eh….eh…eh for long periods of time as he looks completely hypnotized but his own fingers. Can someone please explain this to me?!
Heather – my guess is that he enjoys the sounds and sensations he’s producing, and that it calms him down.
Lisa