How do you know if a certain behavior is considered a stim? Does your child enjoy when he is stimming? Do they ever smile or laugh while doing it? Is it bad or wrong...should we stop the stimming behavior?

Thanks guys!!

I don't know how others feel but I guess it would depend on what the stim was and how the child is when it's happening. A stim is a repetitive behavior used for the pupose of self stimulation. Some are okay and some need to be redirected. For example, many people twirl their hair when tired, that's a stim and then theres the spinning of an object and zoning out. It depends on what it is whether it needs to be redirected.

My son has food issues. When stressed at meal times, his little fingers are flicking a mile a minute. I would not think of trying to redirect that stim because it's a sense of comfort for him. He began spinning in circles about a year ago and I was able to redirct him and stop that behavior. Now if he finds himself starting to spin he tells himself no spinning. My theory has always been if I find it's something he's fixated on or zoning out on I try to redirect, if it's something that's happening out of stress or excitement I let him continue until he has worked it through.

My son loves to jump and hand flap. His pre-school teacher(at an autistic school) told me that it his form of relieving stress. He does enjoy doing this and he sometimes laughs while doing it. I don't have any problem with him doing this as long as it doesn't interfere with him learning. He doesn't do it all day, just after he has been sitting down for long periods. So as long as you don't mind what he or she is doing I wouldn't worry about it because it is probably just their way of dealing with stress issues.

My DD used to suck on my ear, but we had to put a stop to it. It was very hard for her, it was such a comforting thing for her. Now that she is older, she will rub my ears, rock under a blanket, sing You are my Sunshine, or go through her treasure chest rubbing each item in it. She has other odd behaviors that she only does once in awhile, but we let her do it, it makes her feel better.

I dont think my son even relizes hes doing it. He does the hand flapping sometimes. He also hold and folds his ears back. and makes sounds with his mouth.

my son has been flapping his arms above his head since he was a baby. Now that he's in first grade -- he is doing this behavior pretty much all day long. The teacher suggested we use weights on his arms to reduce the behavior, since it affects the other children. He is totally zoned out when stimming. How can we reduce the stimming during school? Does anyone have any ideas. Academically, he's doing great. If we could stop the stimming, he would not suffer some of the social implications of his awkward stimming activity.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. He is currently mainstreamed, but we have a teacher willing to work with him.

Ellie

My experience w/ my son and stimming, is him using a jargon no one else can understand at a rapid pace and in a soft voice. It tunes everything else out and he's comfortable and familiar w/ what he's saying. A line from a movie,or a song. It softly drowns out what the person is requesting from him, or a new situation he's put in...it's what he knows vs all this stuff coming at him he's unfamiliar with.

We were at a festival w/ lots of people and towards the end of the street fair it got really crowded. His face was at strangers legs and rear ends(he's 5). So he started doing sign language for all the animals he knows 2 inches from his face. The poor kid, I looked at him and said to my husband, "Put him on your shoulders" then he was ok. Up and out of there he could relax.

So I think some stims you can look for a reason and ease the stress for him, make it easier, and for other stims, maybe it's not so important to do that. Sure he may turn heads, but what part about autism at some point DOESN'T turn heads. Pick your battles.

Hope it helps!;)