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Stimming

Image from Live Strong[1]

Stimming is a repetitive body movement that

self-stimulates one or more senses in a
regulated manner. Stimming is known in
psychiatry as a "stereotypy", a continuous
movement.

Stimming is one of the symptoms listed by the

DSM IV for autism, although it is observed in
about 10 percent of non-autistic children. A few
autistic people have no stims. Common forms of
stimming among autistic people include hand
flapping, body spinning or rocking, lining up or
spinning toys or other objects, echolalia,
perseveration, and repeating rote phrases. [2]

There are many theories about the function of

stimming, and the reasons for its increased
incidence in autistic people. For hyposensitive
people, it may provide needed nervous system
arousal, releasing beta-endorphins. For
hypersensitive people, it may provide a
"norming" e!ect, allowing the person to control
a specific sense, and is thus a soothing
behavior.[3] It can also serve as a way to
communicate,[4] or to calm down.[5] Stimming is
a natural behavior that can improve emotional
regulation and prevent meltdowns in stressful
situations.

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Examples

Some common examples of stimming

include:[6][7]

Sense Stimming Actions

Visual Flapping hands, blinking and / or

moving fingers in front of eyes;
staring repetitively at a light

Auditory Making vocal sounds; snapping

fingers

Tactile Scratching; rubbing the skin with

one's hands or with an external
object

Vestibular Moving body in rhythmic motion;

rocking front and back or side-to-
side

Gustatory Licking body parts; licking an object

Olfactory Smelling objects or hands; other

people

The above is only an illustrative list, and there

are many di!erent ways to stim.

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Benefits of Stimming

Increased ability to remain calm[3]

Reduced meltdowns
Increased tolerance of challenging sensory
situations
Increased focus, attention span, and task
management abilities[8]
Self-acceptance as an autistic person

"Smiling Autistic Girl Flaps Hands" by autistic artist Miss Luna

Rose

Autistic people should be allowed to stim as

needed. Accommodations can be made to
environments, such as sitting on an exercise ball
for wiggly autistic people, or stim toys kept in
the classroom. Parents and educators should
encourage stimming as long as it is not
harmful.[9]
Autistic people may benefit from various
stimming tools: tangles and other fidget toys,
stress balls, bracelets, chewy jewelry, and
beanbags.[10] People who have trouble sitting
still can use an exercise ball as a chair, and
spend plenty of time exploring or exercising
outdoors.

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Issues with Stims

Most stims are purely beneficial, but a few cause

injury or invade others' personal space. If an
autistic person uses harmful stims, the autistic
person or a parent/caregiver should discuss
with a therapist how to replace that stim with
something less harmful. For example, banging
the head could be replaced with vigorously
shaking the head.[11][12]

Autistic people and many loved ones are critical

of the idea that stimming should be suppressed
simply because it considered "socially

“
inappropriate."

"Oh, wait, I know: socially inappropriate stims

are ones that draw attention to us. If you rock
in public, people will stare.

“
And whose problem is that? Try out these
sentences instead: If you sign in public,
people will stare. If you use your wheelchair in
public, people will stare. If you limp in public,
people will stare. If you use your assistance
dog in public, people will stare.

“
And if people do stare, other people will think
they’re rude. Who would tell a Deaf person not
to sign in public or a paraplegic not to use
their wheelchair in public? But people tell
autistic kids not to stim in public all the time."
— Cynthia Kim[13]

If a child's stim looks unusual,

parents/caregivers may wish to casually and
nonjudgmentally inform them that it looks odd.
This allows the autistic person to decide
whether it is worth the e!ort to redirect it.
In some cases, stimming can be mistaken as a
sign of drug use.[14]

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Stimming in Autistic
Culture

The Stimtastic logo aims to capture the joy and movement of

stimming.

“
"Last night as I was waiting for the pasta to
cook, I found myself twirling in the kitchen
and instead of stopping, I let myself enjoy it. I
kicked out my foot and make a full spin to the
right, then kicked out my other foot and
twirled to the left. I did it again and again and
soon I found myself laughing out loud.

“
Twirling around in the kitchen feels good. It
feels right." — Cynthia Kim[15]
MisslunaRose

Celebration of stimming is a common aspect of

neurodiversity, acceptance, and autistic culture.
They argue that stimming is not only an
important coping mechanism, but an action as
natural and beautiful as smiling or laughing.[16]
This can help autistic people recover from abuse
and accept themselves as Autistic.
Autistic people routinely exchange advice about
finding helpful ways to stim, redirecting harmful
or unwanted stims, and relearning to
stim.[17][18][19]

Stimming plays a noticeable role in autistic art

with many Autistic artists drawing illustrations
of diverse and often happy stimming people.

The Loud Hands anthology is titled as a direct

rebellion to some people's desire that autistic
people stop looking autistic.[20]

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Quiet Hands and Abuse

Some therapists, especially in ABA, believe that

stimming should be suppressed, so that autistic
children will appear more normal. They use the
words quiet hands to train autistic children not
to stim. Frequently this involves physically
restraining the child until the child complies
automatically.

"Quiet Hands" by autistic artist Miss Luna Rose

“
"Quiet Hands is... the equivalent to duct
taping [a non-autistic] person’s mouth shut or
preventing a nonspeaking D/deaf person from
signing."[21]

Many individuals in the autistic community

believe that this training is abusive. Julia
Bascom wrote an oft-cited personal essay on
the trauma, shame, and fear that Quiet Hands
instilled in her.[22] Suppression of stimming is
believed to impair executive function,[23] making
it more di"cult for autistic people to pay
attention, collect their thoughts, and focus on
tasks. Many autistic adults protest the
suppression of stims in children.[24]

“
“Quiet hands!”

“
I’ve yet to meet a student who didn’t
instinctively know to pull back and put their
hands in their lap at this order. Thanks to
applied behavioral analysis, each student
learned this phrase in preschool at the latest,
hands slapped down and held to a table or at
their sides for a count of three until they
learned to restrain themselves at the words.

“
The literal meaning of the words is irrelevant
when you’re being abused.[22]

Advocacy groups such as ASAN and the Autism

Women's Network seek to end abuse and
promote therapies with a more accepting
approach towards autistic people.

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References

1. ↑ http://www.livestrong.com/article/1003008-
examples-stimming-behaviors-children-autism/
2. ↑ "Prevalence of stereotypy among children diagnosed
with autism at a tertiary referral clinic", K.A. Crosland,
presented at the Association for Behavioral Analysis
annual conference, May 25, 2001.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Stereotypic (Self-Stimulatory) Behavior
(Stimming)", Stephen M. Edelson, 1995.
4. ↑ Cynthia Kim: Behavior is Communication: Are you
listening?
5. ↑ BBC: Stimming: What autistic people do to feel
calmer
6. ↑ The Stimming Checklist
7. ↑
https://web.archive.org/web/20080502211058/http://
web1.greatbasin.net/~sprang/stimming.htm
8. ↑ http://musingsofanaspie.com/2013/06/18/a-
cognitive-defense-of-stimming-or-why-quiet-hands-
makes-math-harder/
9. ↑ Squag: De-Mystifying Stimming
10. ↑ http://www.wikihow.com/Stim-Discreetly
11. ↑ WikiHow: How to Replace Harmful Stims
12. ↑ WikiHow: How to Redirect an Autistic Child's Harmful
Stims
13. ↑ Cynthia Kim: Socially Inappropriate
14. ↑ "Family of teen with autism mistakenly tackled by
police calls for better training". Retrieved on 14
September 2018.
15. ↑ Cynthia Kim: Unlearning to Accept
16. ↑ Real Social Skills: Stimming is not just a coping
mechanism
17. ↑ Way-To-Stim-Wednesday: Classroom
18. ↑ Tumblr: #stimming
19. ↑ Real Social Skills: Stimming
20. ↑ Lydia Brown: Having Loud Hands
21. ↑ The Ca!einated Autistic: On Stimming and why
"quiet hands"ing an Autistic person is wrong
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Julia Bascom: Quiet Hands
23. ↑ http://musingsofanaspie.com/2013/06/18/a-
cognitive-defense-of-stimming-or-why-quiet-hands-
makes-math-harder/
24. ↑
http://kirstenlindsmith.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/sti
mming-101-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-
love-the-stim/

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