What is the difference between stimming and fidgeting?

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Lots of people drum their fingers-- is it stimming?

What about jiggling your feet or twiddling your fingers?

How is this differentiated from NT fidgeting?

I think stimming is something everyone does to some extent, but my understanding is that those with ASDs or ADHD do it more frequently, and in more varied ways. This page has some good info on the topic:

http://insideperspectives.wordpress.com ... /stimming/

In my case, I'm constantly fidgeting/stimming somehow, even if I'm otherwise calm or relaxed.

Interesting. They consider talking to oneself a stim. In that case, I stim ALL THE TIME.

I think what makes stimming different from fidgeting is that it is done in an effort to calm oneself. I have AS/ASD as well as a panic disorder so I stim a LOT. I also just tend to be a fidgety person but there is a difference between fiddling with my necklace while I'm reading, for example and rocking back and forth when I'm overwhelmed.

Not necessarily. My stimming is on by default; in fact I get more stimmy if I'm in a particularly good mood.

Honestly, about the only time I am not stimming in some way is late at night when it's really quiet.

Is stimming also an OCD thing?

Sometimes I find myself doing something imperceptible, like touching holding my hands together but using one thumb tip to touch my other thumb in three specific spots of an invisible line, back and forth, over and over again. I'm not sure -- is that stimming or something else? Also when I'm preoccupied I draw literally dozens of the same pattern over and over again - it is a flower that I keep trying to get all the "petals" perfectly symmetrical. I will fill up a whole page of it at a time. I guess some people doodle, but this is a little more on the obsessive side, like an automatic trigger goes off in my brain and all this junk just comes out of my fingers.

There is no difference. Twirling keys is twirling keys.

to me stimming in the autistic sense is a way of controlling pent up stress.

I think NT fidgeting is another form of non verbal communication, to express anxiety or boredom.

OK now what is the difference between being anxious about something and being stressed about it? I often find it is the same feeling.

Stress, anxiety.....is there that much of a difference?

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I guess I stim quite a bit, but mostly in socially acceptable ways: drumming my fingers, jiggling a leg, playing with my ears/beard/jaw. When very stressed I sometimes rapidly rotate my hands at the wrist--"shake out the feeling"--and when I am energized by some interesting new idea, or on the track to a solution to a difficult problem, I tend to twiddle my fingers (rapidly rub the index and middle fingers together) or touch my thumb to each of my fingertips in sequence. I also flex, stretch and clench my toes... this all seems natural to me, so I was not sure if it would make sense to think of this as stims.

OMG! I can't believe you do that too!
I also have a terrible habit of cracking knuckles. It's very hard to stop once I start. especially my toes!

I stopped attempting to list all my stims, as they are so numerous.
At my factory job, I talk to the machines, run through various processes aloud, watch the machines functioning, touch things and run my fingers along the various grooves and textures of the parts I make. At my other job, I bring things that have a pleasurable texture to touch. I reserve more noticeable stims (relating to deep pressure) for the privacy of my house. For me, stimming is not associated with anxiety or anything negative; it is merely a means to "grease the gears" in my mind.

I do not even know what "stimming" means

It is not a commonly used English word is it?

I never ever heard the word "stimming" before.

But now that i know the meaning, i am definitely stimming.

When i am sitting, i usually bounce my leg up and down rapidly.

NTs stim too, just less frequent and varied stims. Both of those behaviors are essentially NT stims.

Fidgeting differs from stimming in that it's less repetitive. Fidgeting comes from a generalized urge to move, while stimming comes from a specific urge to do that movement.