Stimming

/ Stimming / By

Key characteristics of autism include deficits in emotional and mental processing speed and sensory sensitivity. Accordingly, autistic people get overwhelmed when there is too much chaos or sensory input to process. This dissonance causes (sometimes intense) internal discomfort. Autistic individuals try to find ways to compensate and reestablish order to assuage anxiety. One way they try to assert control is by repetitively stimulating one of their senses. This is usually audio, tactile, or vestibular. These repeated, self-stimulating actions are referred to as stimming. Stimming happens for other reasons too, but the primary reason is for comfort.

Stimming Examples

Both autistic and non-autistic people may have self-stimulating habits, but it is more extreme and prevalent in individuals on the spectrum.

Examples of common stimming in all individuals:

  • Biting or chewing inside of cheek
  • Biting or chewing lips
  • Biting or picking nails
  • Chewing gum
  • Chewing pen or pencil
  • Clicking retractable pen
  • Cracking knuckles
  • Fidgeting
  • Pacing
  • Shaking leg or foot
  • Snapping fingers
  • Tapping fingers
  • Twirling hair
  • Whistling

Examples of common stimming in autistic individuals:

  • Bouncing
  • Clapping
  • Hand flapping
  • Head banging
  • Making vocal noises
  • Picking or rubbing skin
  • Punching or slapping
  • Repeating phrases
  • Rocking
  • Rubbing cloth material
  • Self-biting
  • Spinning
  • Swaying
  • Thumb-sucking

Here is an example of an autistic adult hand flapping, making vocal noises, rubbing her skin, self-biting, and shaking her leg:

Reasons Stimming Occurs

As discussed earlier, the main reason stimming occurs is to provide comfort to the person. Some situations are stressful due to unfamiliar surroundings or people, too much noise or visual intensity or change (for example), or emotional intensity because of conflict, disorder, or yelling. The repeated actions are self-induced and help to center the individual because they are the ones providing the stimulation and the other sources can then be ignored, overpowered, or reduced in intensity. It is a means of regulating the inputs to their senses – which are more easily ignored or managed by neurotypicals.

Once stimming is used as a coping tool to help regulate inputs or emotional disturbance, it becomes part of the human’s familiar behaviors. And because autistic people have a tendency to treasure order, patterns, and repetition, the stimming behavior also then becomes comforting because of its own familiarity. The familiarity helps reduce discomfort from chaos. Safety returns to the person to some degree.

For autistic individuals with difficulty communicating, stimming is also a form of expression (albeit not always intentionally). Grunts and noises can express joy or frustration. Spinning could show excitement or nervousness. Head banging (a potentially harmful stim) could be an attempt to display anger or confusion. Sometimes the stimming is for comfort or pleasure, but sometimes it is also or only for expression. Determining what the specific behavior means depends on the context and the persons. For people trying to support the autistic person, it will take patience and time to understand which stims can be ignored, which are attempts to communicate, and which are detrimental.

What to Do About Stimming

Most stimming is fine. It is just an alternative way to self-regulate. It may take a while to get used to, but trying to alter or stop can be unnecessarily restrictive (unless the behavior is harmful) and may interfere with an otherwise empowering tool for the person. Furthermore, trying to restrict the actions may not always be possible and could do more harm than good.

If the person is bouncing and hand-flapping (for example) when guests come over or when taking the individual to a public place like the store or the doctor, it may initially feel embarrassing, but it is important to learn to educate others and tolerate the behavior so long as no one is in any real danger. As more and more people become educated about autism, these stimming behaviors will be more widely recognized and tolerated.

There is an option to try and replace stimming behavior, and in some cases this is truly necessary because of the harm the stimming causes. Sometimes an individual may bite themselves or pick at their skin causing severe damage. Sometimes they may bang their head on a wall or punch or slap others or things. Such actions need to be addressed. Please consult with a medical professional on the best way to address these forms of stimming. But replacing the behavior with a more healthy one is a good place to start. There are fidgeting/stimming products out there which can be used in lieu of negative stims:

Just as there is a need to replace some stimming behaviors for safety, sometimes it may be best to replace the activity even if it is not harmful. A good example of this is for autistic adults in the workplace. Perhaps the person engages in stimming like clapping or grunting. This can be distracting to co-workers. Some companies can accommodate the autistic worker by giving them their own space (I will discuss autism at work in more detail in a future entry), but if not, perhaps the grunting could be replaced by more tolerable humming – or when the grunting begins, maybe go for a walk outside to relieve the excess energy. And playing with one of the above fidget products could replace the clapping.

My Personal Stimming Experience

I stimmed in several ways when I was younger. I would rub sheets between my toes and suck my thumb. I played with my hair and picked at my scalp. I repeated phrases to myself under my breath when stressed. I would mutate transformer toys to robot then machine then back over and over. I would rock and sway when really nervous.

I eventually outgrew and overcame the tactile addiction to rubbing sheets and sucking my thumb and repeating phrases to myself. Unfortunately, I still pick at my scalp – sometimes to a harmful extreme. This is called dermatillomania. It is a way for me to feel like I have control and can be safe after social interactions. The tactile sensation overpowers the pain from social anxiety. I wear a hat to try and prevent it (because sometimes it gets out of control) and I use thinking putty to give my hands something to fiddle with when I notice they are going for my head.

I still love to rock and sway in my desk chair. The motion is very comforting and helps me reduce the intensity of noises created by others.

I don’t think I will ever be stim-free, and that’s okay with me now (accepting autism). I only want to have stims that are not unhealthy – and ones that are not too distracting for others. It is a constant struggle with autism to try and find some way to be comfortable when social interaction is a seemingly essential part of survival. My minor stimming is a tool to help me cope and I think it is about as good as it will get. Trying to resist it too much creates a build-up of tension that eventually explodes, so I allow small actions as a relief valve to prevent overloads.

I hope this information can help you understand and manage stimming for yourself or someone you support.