odd forms of stimming

Post Reply New Topic

I'm wondering about different forms of stimming other than hand flapping.

I whistle, make a clicking sounds with the back of my tongue, make a tick tock sound with my tongue tip on the roof of mouth, and several other forms of sound effects. I do it so often that it is one of the first things people notice about me. I even try to make my noises and whistles as quiet as possible to avoid some of the negative social aspects I run into. I've done it all my life, and it's one of the reasons my mother had me tested as a toddler.

Since I discovered I was autistic, (by the modern definition, not the 60's definition) I've called it my form of stimming.

I'm wondering what other forms of stimming people do...

I do the tic-tock stim.

I spin, rock and pace primarily. Sometimes I do a combo of spinning and pacing where I walk in a circle while spinning.

I, and I see it as a stim, bring my hands up near my chin like a t rex, and then mess with them while hunched over.

Sometimes I meow or growl (Like a dinosaur)

I sometimes (Under significant stress) Bite myself and scratch myself.

I stand on one foot as a stim sometimes.

Standing on one foot, I like that one. I used to do something similar in boot camp when standing in formation. I would stand on the sides of my feet, with my ankles bent at 45 degrees. Something I could do while standing in formation with out the drill sergeant noticing. I totally forgot that I used to do that.

Last edited by FallingDownMan on 02 Aug 2018, 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I used to walk on the sides of my feet during gym

I'm not sure there's really a 'normal' form of stimming. Hand flapping and rocking might be the one often cited by professionals, and the most easily recognised, but people can and do stim in all sorts of ways.

See: http://what-is-stimming.org

When I'm alone, I verbally/vocally stim a lot (which is funny because if you asked most people that knew me they'd say I was pretty quiet, except by myself I rarely shut up). I make all sorts of noises (today appears to be smacking my lips to make a popping sound which is quite frequently my go-to sound, yesterday was going 'buh-buh-buh' over and over), hum, repetitively sing lyrics from songs, quote TV and film shows, make my own 'sound affects', echo other things (self service check outs, animals...). I try not to do those things in public because I know it makes me look like a weirdo, though I do sometimes under my breath. My other most common ones are scrunching my toes, jiggling my ankle, and I repetitively rub the side of my middle finger against my thumb.

Hand flapping and rocking get mentioned the most because those are two telltale signs doctors look for in very small children.

The form of stimming doesn't matter. What matters is why it's happening. If it's happening because of autism then it's autistic stimming, whatever it is.

Making noises is a common autistic stim.

I‘m making weird noises. My alltime favourites are the star wars laser, the helicopter, the pistol and the horse

Sometimes when I‘m worried, I pace alot and touch two specific points at both ends in the room, maybe that counts as an obsession?

I rock and also jump or move around a lot and walk in circles.

When in public I only walk fast which helps

I do something very similar, but with a light switch. I pace back and forth while turning the dial thing. I have never really considered it an obsession (obsessions for me are more intense than that) but I definitely see it as a self-stimulatory behavior.

What are obsessions for you? I don‘t think I ever had any.

Obsessions for me can be positive or negative, but they basically are intense and pop into my head throughout the day without concious effort. Special interests are an example of obsessions, although they don't have to be to that degree all the time. It's like something that you just can't ignore until you perform a compulsion, whether the compulsion is negative (needing to repeatedly ask for reassurance that you didn't hurt somebody, or constantly needing to wash your hands) or positive (researching a lot about a favorite topic that is obsessive in nature).

some that come to mind are alternating stretches, hand mudras, pressure point kneading, playing a shinobue/ocarina to make pleasing repetitive melodies/noises, following the grain of wood/bamboo with fingertips, pacing patterns on tiled floor, and dragging a granite pestle around the inside of the accompanying mortar for motion, sound and feeling.

I pace, circle the room, hum a bit. I rub my feet together. Shake my leg.

When it comes to rocking never done it.

Hand flapping yes but have not done that for years not since I was a child. If I do it is involuntary.

pacing, rubbing my hand back and forth across my knuckles quickly