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Stimming Has a Function

4/6/2014

13 Comments

 
"Stimming," or self stimulation, is a repetitive motion or sound that autistic people make. Common examples involve hand flapping, rocking, spinning, making repetitive noises, etc. Autistic people aren't the only ones who stim - if you've ever tapped your foot, doodled, or played with your pen, you've stimmed, too.

Stimming is not a meaningless behavior. Talking to autistic people, over and over they've told me that being able to stim helps them focus and navigate their environment, and feel better overall. If a person is stimming, it's to serve an internal need - a need for sensory stimulation, a need for emotional self regulation, a need to express anything from frustration to joy. And by fulfilling that need, stimming helps autistic people to navigate our neurotypical constructed world.

Because stimming is not generally physically harmful (the pro-stimming argument is only intended to apply to non-harmful stims), many autistic people see inhibiting stimming as an effort to force a person to hide their autism and, therefore, hide and be ashamed of what many consider to be an inherent part of themselves.

I have heard many reasons as to why stimming should be eliminated or controlled (again, back to the "quiet hands"). But in the end, that's all they are. Excuses. Justifications for forcing a person to stop stimming towards the goal of making them seem "normal" even if it's by repressing something that they, adults and children alike, so clearly say they need.

Caley stims. Flapping, vocalizing, picking at a blanket, she's done it all for as long as I can remember. If a stim was hurtful, we worked to find another outlet, but other than that if Caley's stimming, I don't try to stop her or even redirect her. She's using a behavior to serve a function to help her and that's more than okay, that's great! I might offer a great big bear hug (the best I can do in that regard, at least, unfortunately my "little" sister is now bigger than me) to provide sensory stimulation and help support her if she wants it, but I wouldn't dream of telling her "quiet hands." Luckily Caley and I grew up in a household where the idea of quiet hands didn't even exist, but not every autistic person is in that situation, to their detriment. Below is an article from an autistic woman describing her experiences with "Quiet Hands" and how negative it was for her.
http://juststimming.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/quiet-hands/

Hopefully after reading this post you understand. Autistic people stim, and that's not just okay, that's a good thing because stimming is a behavior that can help autistic people self-regulate and just plain feel good. Efforts to try to eliminate stimming are misplaced and, in fact, many autistics say that such attempts are hurtful.

Instead, I propose that we use our energy to eliminate the stigma of autism and therefore the stigma associated with stimming. Because unlike stimming, stigma actively harms autistics, whether at home, in the workplace, or at school. Share this picture to teach others the important function that stimming serves to help autistic people and comment with your loved one's favorite stim. Together we can make the world a better place for autistics and in this case that means a world where they can stim to their heart's content without worrying about how "loud" their hands are.

-Creigh
Picture
13 Comments
Maria
1/20/2015 07:17:51 am

I hear such varying opinions on how to handle swimming behaviors in my elementary school child. I'm never sure what the right advice is. Many say that even unharmful stims will interfere with learning and socializing. Others say it serves as an important function for processing information. I worry that if my son stims too often that it will negatively effect his learning and progress in school and with friends. I want my son to grow up happy and not developwe anxiety because of stopping g a stim. However, I dont want to look back and realized his stunning interfered with his learning progress.

Reply
Creigh
4/19/2015 08:02:11 am

Maria,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you - I don't get alerts for comments on the website, only on Facebook. I've heard it both ways, too, and it's hard. So what I did was I went on WrongPlanet.net, an online forum for autistic adults and I asked them what they thought about these claims that stimming was bad for them. I'd recommend you read through their answers:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=254039

If you don't have time to read, here's the brief summary. They're pretty overwhelmingly in favor of allowing stimming. I particularly liked what Vicky Gleitz, who gave me permission to use her quote, said. "When I stim, happy becomes happier. When I stim, creatively, entire worlds in vivid detail pop into my mind. When I stim, scary goes away [or at least gets smaller] as does confussion. When I stim, I'm fairly sure that my IQ rises significantly. Just thinking about how so many want to inhibit our autisticness I get so angry, Thankfuly, I am able to stim when this happens. And that helps."

I hope this helps!!!!!!! Let me know if you have any more questions!

Reply
Ettina link
4/23/2015 10:58:08 am

I can see a justification for telling a kid to stop stimming in specific academic settings, if you have good reason to believe it negatively affects their concentration. (Stimming can be distracting for some kids - for others, it has no effect or actually helps them focus. So be sure you know which camp your child falls in.) However, I can think of no good reason to stop a kid from stimming 24/7.

Reply
AspieJenna
6/10/2018 06:24:00 am

Why should a child have to stop what helps them because it distracts others, yet NT kids can twirl their hair, whisper to a friend, etc? Why is it that Neurodiverse kids have to conform to Neurotypicals?

Jamila
10/21/2015 11:05:29 pm

Thank you so much for this article. Being a mother a child with Autism, stimming has always been a subject of conversation with people. Why does he do that? I was at loss for answers sometimes. I am glad I am not forcing it to stop. I accepted my son for who he is and my aim is to spread the acceptance for people like him. Thank you.

Reply
Ronmom
1/22/2017 12:31:57 pm

Would you have any advice/ideas for parents of children with stims that, for lack of a better word, negatively impact the people around him?

An example would be not just making repetitive sounds, but very loud repetitive sounds. Loud to the point you might calling it wailing or short screams, over and over. And insisting on doing this whenever, wherever, he wishes.

What to do when how someone chooses to express themselves is impinging on someone else's ability to function during the day? How to respect that someone needs to express themselves, or needs regulation, but also respect other people's needs, too?

I have struggled with this, with our autistic child, because I want him to be able to express himself, and have a way to help regulate emotions or sensory input. But the way he is doing so is making life very difficult for everyone else.

Any ideas on how to solve conflicts like this? Is there a way to help find OTHER stims that would work for a person, but would not cause so much impact on the people around them? To help him restrict this particular stim to a time and place?

I just don't know if it's that controllable, but I do know that it's making life in the family very difficult right now, for everyone.

Reply
LL
6/24/2017 06:30:53 pm

What would Jesus do? What would God do? I am sitting in the front right corner of the hall: 50m diagonally from the back of the hall is a teenager with verbal tics. Imagine verbal tics or stimming during congregational prayer. Imagine sneezes or coughs. Verbal tics can be like that - involuntary or they can be contained. You can set it to 5-10mins per hour if it happens based on overload or tiredness. Autistic people may not sleep very well so they need to know the optimum amount of slee for them

Reply
Traci Lawrence link
7/4/2017 10:44:56 pm

My 14 year old son has autism. He has started (about 1 year or less) asking me what he is doing when I try to calm him down or redirect him from stimming. I don't know how to answer his question. I FEEL LIKE I'M MAKING HIM FEEL SAD EVEN THOUGH I'M NOT TRYING TO. I have tried telling him that zip don't want people to to be mean to him because of the stimming How do I explain it.

Reply
Karolina
5/11/2018 06:52:51 am

Thank you so much for sharing. It makes so much sense. My 6 year old son hasn't been diagnosed with Autism but he's always been stimming. Fast finger flicking when thinking...I have been told to ask him to squeeze his hands instead - as more socially acceptable. I would like to know what are the benefits of the diagnosis as he is a very able boy and doesn't need any support at school. Thank you again

Reply
Rose
5/13/2018 03:46:53 pm

Creigh, I found your blog by searching the value of stimming in order to tell others better what I believe and observe to be important expressions and openings to creativity, as they are for anyone. Your reply to Maria, above, is especially valuable. I believe that the need to quiet the stims by others is more their need than that of the autistic person's. People are uncomfortable with things they don't understand. When (autistic or other) people can't express themselves as "normal" people learn to do in their particular society (which also often quiets creativity through fear of being different or judged) the reaction is to stop it or condemn it in some way. Most 'artists' have experienced some form of this. Many autistic folks have particular gifts of sensitivity or connections to realms that others are closed off to. We must allow, as much as possible when it does not interfere with the safety or learning of others, for this wonderful expression. I would also add that ("normal") people nowadays need constant chatter, and stepping back, and just "allowing" others to be themselves, is hard in American society, too. One of my favorite books is "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" Allowing...with necessary boundaries....helps people find themselves, love themselves, express themselves, and ultimately be able to give back to society that which it needs.

Reply
Elena link
4/4/2019 07:23:40 pm

Great explanation, thank you.

Reply
Anita
9/14/2019 08:30:29 pm

My grandson has been stimming since before he was a year old. I noticed way before his mom did. I have been babysitting him since birth. When he gets excited he stims. He is 7 years old now. When he watches tv and sees certain things he gets excited and starts with flapping his hands and jumps around. I tell him to try to calm down so he doesn't get to close to the tv, and he might hurt himself. He never gets in trouble. I have read so much about autism and stimming. I home school him. His mom is going to enroll him in school next year. I worry about him coping with him being out of his comfort zone. What can we do for him that would make him more comfortable being in a classroom with other students. He is a very smart boy and trys so hard to please. He seeks approval about everything. We constantly tell him how proud we are of him.

Reply
donald86 link
8/24/2022 02:22:47 am

Great Article! Thank you for sharing this is a very informative post, and looking forward to the latest one.

Reply



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    About Creigh

    I'm a college student who grew up with my Autistic younger sister, Caley. I've got a bachelor's degree in Psychology and I'm currently studying for my Master's in Speech Language Pathology.

    Neither of those, however, have given me an understanding of autism. All of my understanding comes from learning from the many autistic people that I know. As a result, I have a very different outlook on autism than most, and a burning desire to tell the world what I've learned. This blog is one of the many areas in which I attempt to do that.


    *Note, none of these make me a professional, so advice I give is not professional advice.

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